It's a Sign---REALLY!

Don't you love it when a plan comes together? Isn't it great when the "good guys" win and virtue is rewarded? I am still a sixties girl at heart with some leftover, world changing idealism that comes to the surface from time to time. Every once in a while something whets my imagination and brings back that "We can overcome and do anything" feeling. This wave of inspiration came once again last week from the installation of a sign. I am not talking about any sign. I am talking about an electronic sign that has been installed at the end of our driveway near the soccer field. Each time I drive past it and see it's red letters blinking and the messages rotating, I think of how that sign came to be. So, it is not really the sign that has given rise to my nostalgia and my sense that "good' will triumph, it is a story...a Mt. Carmel story.
For many years it has been the job of the members of the National Honor Society to change the letters on the sign at the end of the drive. The sign, installed in the mid-eighties, had movable letters in a plexiglass case. Over the years, the door to the message board (which opened up and out) had broken. There was a high possibility that when changing the sign, one could get bopped on the head or need to fight with the wind and rain to hold the sign up during the letter changing process. Overall, the signage job was less than glamorous. Last year, the two leaders of the Honor Society (also the two who got the signage job most frequently) came to me and asked if we could get a new sign--a modern sign. I looked at their eager faces and then at our check book and told them "No!" "Signs cost $17,000," I told them, "and there is no money budgeted." They looked back at me,and asked if they could earn it. I said they could try and the story continued.
The National Honor Society leaders whipped up the enthusiasm of the students and they raffled, fundraised, and begged the money for their sign. We ordered it in June and it finally arrived last week. The final act of generosity to make our sign funtional was that of a young family. They read about the sign project at Church, realized we didn't have quite enough money and volunteered to help with the installation. Though the dad worked for a rival sign company, this kind family made the installation happen saving us the last dollars we were short and allowing the task to get done. So, the end of the story may seem to be that the sign has been installed and is working. Though that is quite an accomplishment and a good story, that is not the REAL story. The real story is about persistence and hope. It is that story that is the sign I was looking for last week and it is the one that inspires.
The REAL sign for me is that people, especially kids, can get behind a cause and make change happen. If we believe in our goal and are willing to work hard, the mountainous tasks before us can be conquered. Who would have thought that two seniors could rally a community? Who would have thought that someone with the exact skills needed would read an announcement at the back of Church? Who would have thought that in this age of pessimism and doubt, people would rally in support? I think we all need a sign now and then to remind us that anyting worth while takes work and that good is not always accomplished easily or quickly. Congratulations Ally and Robbie--The sign is blinking away! Thank you Salyers family for your generous help! Three cheers that hope exists in the world--We have the sign to prove it!