Points2Ponder

                                      "I met a man, who wrote a book.. they turned into a movie!"

                             Points2Ponder

                                                                                                       By Alan P. Scaglone

 
I had a conversation with a man… who really impressed me!
He wrote a book that got turned into a movie that was just released in the theaters…. That I just took my wife to see!
The name of the book is called “A Walk of Love” and his movie is “Unconditional”.

His name is Papa Joe Bradford.

You should check him out—he may just inspire you also.

Points2Ponder  When’s the last time you met someone whose life so inspired you and made you think—just what have I done with my life that would inspire someone?

Papa Joe talked about how he had this life of crime, did some time, came out and dedicated his life to the Lord and… dedicated his life to the forgotten kids!

He became their father.
He stepped into the role of Papa.
He opened his heart to love those kids.
He adopted them into his heart.

 And the rest, as they say, is history!

 He even has a movie to prove it!

 But it wasn’t the movie side of his life that impressed me most—it’s the stuff they wouldn’t put in the movie…

They, that would be the movie people, told him that some things are just better left “out” of the storyline.
But it was the “life” that didn’t make “the cut” that touched my heart the most.

I was prompted to ask him how he got his nickname “Papa Joe”?

He got teary eyed and said… “No one ever asks me that!”

He talked about a day when he and his wife were having a choir rehearsal and one of the older choir kids came in with bruises.

You have to know that he ministers to the inner city youth in Nashville.
He handled the situation for the beaten child, addressing it with the authorities and protecting that child and her siblings from future abuse.

He sat down after the incident, while his team fed the kids who came to choir rehearsal, and he was just quietly reflecting on what had just happened.

 

As he sat, the youngest sister of the beaten girl came up to him, sat next to him and said “Will you be my daddy?”
He just looked at her, startled and speechless.

Within a few minutes, another child who was close enough to hear the little girl, came up and said, “Will you be my daddy, too?”

It just multiplied from there… child after child, all from homes where the father was missing or Should Be, came up to him and asked, “Will you be my Daddy?”
Joe said he was so touched and moved by this… he took it to prayer.

A week later, God inspired Joe to walk back into the choir rehearsal and announce, “I will by your Papa Joe!”

 And all of it just made me wonder-- When’s the last time someone asked me to be their daddy? (You know what I mean!)

And the funny thing was… Papa Joe reminded me, “You know, I’m not young anymore—I’m 51 years old!”
I had to laugh inside me, thinking “You’re younger than I am Papa—I’m 52!!!”
 

Papa Joe told me that it’s never too late to make a difference in a child’s life.

You may not be able to “adopt” a child, but you can donate your time, your talent, your attention to a child in crisis!

 That “walk of Love” is the walk you take from your comfort zone all the way to their crisis zone!

 And as the holidays creep closer to us—NOW is the time to decide to help someone who needs to know—they matter AND you care!

Whether it’s a “ShoeBox Santa, Adopt a Family for Thanksgiving or Christmas, Secret Santa or Be an Angel” Program— Volunteers are Needed!

And the innocent children—they don’t judge or disrespect your efforts—they just need somebody to care!

 So maybe someday… you can inspire someone else to take that “Walk Of Love—from comfort to crisis- you helping them!”

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