{"id":487,"date":"2012-10-03T00:07:01","date_gmt":"2012-10-03T04:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theholtrowlandfoundation.org\/?p=487"},"modified":"2014-12-09T20:51:40","modified_gmt":"2014-12-10T01:51:40","slug":"leaving-a-mark-for-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theholtrowlandfoundation.org\/?p=487","title":{"rendered":"Leaving a Mark for Good"},"content":{"rendered":"

You ever had one of those days where you feel like your walking around minding your own business and suddenly, without fair warning, somebody just walks up right behind you, without you even noticing it, and pops your balloon? Not an actual\u00a0real balloon in your hand\u00a0that pops but in a sense it’s like they take away something that you were holding on to that day, something that made you feel comfortable and happy.\u00a0Has that ever happened to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This very thing\u00a0happened to me today. I was taking care of errands, just trying to check some things off my endless “To do List,”\u00a0 when all of a sudden my balloon was popped without a warning.\u00a0I went to a store because\u00a0I wanted to get some things printed with “The Holt Rowland Foundation logo.”\u00a0You may not\u00a0have even noticed the logo but it includes Holt’s fingerprint. The name of the logo is in black print and his print is in blue to make it stand out. The fact that we even have a logo is a cool thing to me, so I am very proud of it. It’s like a\u00a0balloon that I like to hold because when I look at \u00a0it I feel\u00a0happier. <\/strong><\/p>\n

As I inquired about the cards that I wanted to have our logo printed on, a seemingly nice lady waited on me. She\u00a0was harmless and kind. I saw no reason to hold my balloon tighter or fear she might try to pop it, so I carried on with the questions I had about printing the logo. That’s when it happened….she said, “What’s that blue thing on the logo?” The question kind of caught me off guard a little and then I answered, “It’s a fingerprint.” She said, “Oh, well it just looks like a smudge; it’s all fuzzy and not clear.” At this point I not only could hear my balloon pop but felt it. I graciously expressed that I appreciated her help but didn’t think I needed the cards after all. She looked at me as if she realized that\u00a0something had upset me and she was definitely right. I thanked her for her time and quickly left carrying the pieces of my balloon along with the pieces of my heart out the door.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I got in my car I let out a few tears and then started thinking about all the things that I wish I had said to her. Not trying to be ugly to the lady but just to clarify I wish I had said,\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>“Mam, it may look like a smudge to you, but the young man who this print belongs to is far, far more than that.\u00a0 He’s\u00a0MY son, and he is loved more than you can imagine.\u00a0He has a smiile that can light up the darkness and a laugh that is contagious. His life honors God and honors his family. He loves his family and friends, but\u00a0his life also leaves a legacy of faith to strangers.\u00a0His\u00a0life is full of purpose\u00a0and although\u00a0that purpose\u00a0may look fuzzy now, one day it will be as clear as glass. His life represents hope and a future. And lady, if you know Jesus as your Savior, your going to meet the young man who this\u00a0fingerprint came from one day, and are you in for a treat!”\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>That’s only a little of what I could tell her about Holt Rowland. So very much more than a smudge.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ironically, our\u00a0motto at The Holt Rowland Foundation is “Leaving a Mark for Good,” and\u00a0 it was Holt’s fingerprint that was the inspiration.\u00a0There are already so many encouraging stories\u00a0I could\u00a0share with you about good\u00a0God has brought\u00a0through Holt’s life. It is my honest prayer that God will continue to\u00a0use\u00a0Holt’s\u00a0mark on the earth to bring about good and the good\u00a0He brings will be permanent. I\u00a0believe God can do this, and that’s a balloon that nobody can pop!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Holt Rowland’s fingerprint, so very much more than a smudge. <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You ever had one of those days where you feel like your walking around minding your own business and suddenly, without fair warning, somebody just walks up right behind you, without you even noticing it, and pops your balloon? Not an actual\u00a0real balloon in your hand\u00a0that pops but in a sense it’s like they take […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kims-blogs"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theholtrowlandfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theholtrowlandfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theholtrowlandfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theholtrowlandfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theholtrowlandfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=487"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theholtrowlandfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":488,"href":"https:\/\/theholtrowlandfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions\/488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theholtrowlandfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theholtrowlandfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theholtrowlandfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}