A Glimpse of the Love of Christ...

Every once in a while, you do get a glimpse of the love of Christ at work in the lives of those in the world. Such is the case of a basketball game in DeKalb, Illinois.

It was a Saturday night in February, and DeKalb High School was playing a non-conference game on the road against Milwaukee Madison. The two schools, who were developing a friendly rivalry and planned to get together after the game and share some pizza. But, the game almost never happened.

Earlier that day, the mother of Milwaukee Madison senior captain Johntel Franklin died at a local hospital. Carlitha Franklin had been in remission after a five-year fight with cervical cancer, but that morning, she began to hemorrhage while Johntel was taking his college ACT exam.
Johntel and several of his teammates were at the hospital late that afternoon when the decision was made to turn off the life-support system. Carlitha Franklin died, only 39 years old.

The Milwaukee-Madison Knights coach, Aaron Womack, Jr., was going to cancel the game, but the DeKalb High coach, Dave Rohlman, told him he wanted the teams to play, even though the game would start late and the Milwaukee Madison team would dress only eight players. Early in the second quarter, Womack saw Franklin out of the corner of his eye walking into the gym, He had come directly from the hospital to the game to root his teammates on.

The Knights had possession, so Womack called a time out. His players went over and hugged their grieving teammate. Fans, too, came out of the stands to hug the grieving boy.

"We got back to playing the game and I asked if he wanted to come and sit on the bench," Womack said during a telephone interview.

"No," Franklin replied. "I want to play."

There was just one minor problem. Since Franklin wasn't put on the pre-game roster, putting him now meant a technical foul that would give the DeKalb team two free throws. It was a tight game, but Womack was willing to give up the two points because it was more important to help his senior guard and co-captain deal with his grief by playing. Across the court on the other bench, Rohlman wasn't willing to take the two free throws. He told the referees that he was willing to forget the technical, and they could just let Franklin play.

"I could hear them arguing for five to seven minutes, saying, `We're not taking it, we're not taking it," Womack said. "The refs told them, no, that's the rule. You have to take them."
That's when Rohlman asked for volunteers, and Darius McNeal's hand went up in the air. He went to the free throw line alone, dribbled the ball a few times. His first free throw went about two feet, and did not even come. The second barely left his hand.

It didn't take long for the Milwaukee players to figure out what was taking place. They stood and turned toward the DeKalb bench and started applauding this gesture of sportsmanship and love. Soon, everybody in the stands did the same.

"I did it for the guy who lost his mom," McNeal told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "It was the right thing to do."

It was the right thing to do... what a blessing to hear those words from any athlete today. The children shall lead shall they not. It is very sad to me that we have to go and search for these stories in our high schools because we will never find any of these stories in our professional ranks. There it is... a glimpse of the love of Christ, found in a place and at a time that is least expected. If you care to read the rest of the story, click HERE; it will do your heart good. Blessings!