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February 3, 2015
spirituality
T
he Valley Catholic
February 15, 2015 - Standing on the Other Side
In Fall of 2008, an ordinary high
school football game was transformed
into something extraordinary —not
so much by the actions of those on
the field as much as the actions of
those off the field and in the stands.
The two teams were Gainesville State
School and Grapevine Faith Christian
School. The Christian school was a
private Christian school and they had
an unbeaten season. They had not lost
a game yet and they did not lose this
game either. The other team was the
state penitentiary for juvenile offenders where they had 280 of the hardest
juvenile criminals in the state; they
had not won a single game yet and
they did not win this game either. But
what happened transformed not only
the state penitentiary but also the town
around it.
When the juvenile detainees went to
play a football game, they rarely had
any spectators and often entered into
an often-hostile home environment.
This time was different. The Grapevine
Faith Christian Church spectators divided themselves in half. Half left they
home stand and they went across to the
other side; they donned the jerseys of
the state penitentiary and cheered for
those young boys as if they were their
own, calling them not just by the numbers they wore but actually shouting
for them by their names.
It all started when the penitentiary
boys came out onto the field, they
were confused because a tunnel at the
40-yard line was created for them and
they came out to cheers and applause
for them. They did not know what to
think as no one had ever cheered for
them before. Nobody had ever been
because of the notoriety from his healing miracles, has to live on the outside
in dese