Picking Up Butch, by Rubel Shelly
"God created people in his own image; God patterned them after
himself; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27 NLT)
Children, you show love for others by truly helping them, and not
merely by talking about it. (1 John 3:18 CEV)
One of the most touching stories I've read lately was in Rick Reilly's
Sports Illustrated column for March 10, 2003. He wrote about a
tradition among the freshman athletes at Middlebury College in Vermont.
For 42 years now, men and women athletes from the school Pick Up Butch
for all the school's basketball and football games. Male and female
basketball players get him to the football games. Football players take
charge during hoop season. And they literally Pick Up Butch -- all 5'
3" and 170 pounds of him -- for 54-year-old Butch Varno has cerebral
palsy and can do very little for himself.
Butch has always wanted to play basketball. He won't because of the
devastating disease he has. But during basketball season, student
athletes go to his house about a mile off campus, load him in a car,
put his wheelchair in the trunk, and get him to the game. Once at the
gym, they roll him to his reserved spot at the end of the bench.
Sometimes he gives the pre-game speech: "I love you guys." He holds the
game ball during warmups and at half-time.
The players always see to it that Butch gets a hot dog and a Coke. They
have to put the hot dog in his mouth -- being careful not to get
bitten. They put the straw to his lips. They take him to the bathroom.
When Butch gets excited and his arms and upper body begin to thrash the
air, they just hold his hands.
It isn't only the athletes who help Butch. Students from the larger
student body come by his house practically every day. They have taught
him to read. They helped him get his GED last year -- then got him a
cap and gown to wear at the party students threw for him to celebrate
his accomplishment.
"These kids care what happens to me," says Butch. "I
don't know where I'd be without them. Probably in an institution."
Where would any of us be without somebody to care? And telling a sick
or lonely or downright difficult person "God loves you!" rings awfully
hollow -- unless somebody lets God use his hands to help him. Use her
lips to talk with him. Use his car or her money or their precious time
to make that person feel valuable.
God didn't create people in his image so they could live in dismal
isolation. He has lived from eternity past in the social setting of
love among Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That we are in his image means
we are meant for community.
I wonder who benefits most? Butch? Or the people who learn to care?
"God created people in his own image; God patterned them after
himself; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27 NLT)
Children, you show love for others by truly helping them, and not
merely by talking about it. (1 John 3:18 CEV)
One of the most touching stories I've read lately was in Rick Reilly's
Sports Illustrated column for March 10, 2003. He wrote about a
tradition among the freshman athletes at Middlebury College in Vermont.
For 42 years now, men and women athletes from the school Pick Up Butch
for all the school's basketball and football games. Male and female
basketball players get him to the football games. Football players take
charge during hoop season. And they literally Pick Up Butch -- all 5'
3" and 170 pounds of him -- for 54-year-old Butch Varno has cerebral
palsy and can do very little for himself.
Butch has always wanted to play basketball. He won't because of the
devastating disease he has. But during basketball season, student
athletes go to his house about a mile off campus, load him in a car,
put his wheelchair in the trunk, and get him to the game. Once at the
gym, they roll him to his reserved spot at the end of the bench.
Sometimes he gives the pre-game speech: "I love you guys." He holds the
game ball during warmups and at half-time.
The players always see to it that Butch gets a hot dog and a Coke. They
have to put the hot dog in his mouth -- being careful not to get
bitten. They put the straw to his lips. They take him to the bathroom.
When Butch gets excited and his arms and upper body begin to thrash the
air, they just hold his hands.
It isn't only the athletes who help Butch. Students from the larger
student body come by his house practically every day. They have taught
him to read. They helped him get his GED last year -- then got him a
cap and gown to wear at the party students threw for him to celebrate
his accomplishment.
"These kids care what happens to me," says Butch. "I
don't know where I'd be without them. Probably in an institution."
Where would any of us be without somebody to care? And telling a sick
or lonely or downright difficult person "God loves you!" rings awfully
hollow -- unless somebody lets God use his hands to help him. Use her
lips to talk with him. Use his car or her money or their precious time
to make that person feel valuable.
God didn't create people in his image so they could live in dismal
isolation. He has lived from eternity past in the social setting of
love among Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That we are in his image means
we are meant for community.
I wonder who benefits most? Butch? Or the people who learn to care?
