Last year my friend and colleague Sarah Akard attended the National Youth Homelessness Conference. In the United States of America, homelessness for a child or family should not be a reality, yet close to 2 million children face some form of homelessness each day in this land of abundance. That in itself is a national, state, and local issue that screams "HELP!" The tagline for the conference "Be the Bridge Between Now and Next" stuck with me, as the concept of now and next sent my mind darting in multiple directions. Our children need bridges to opportunity and to hope and our society is in desperate need of a view of where we are now and where we should be striving to be next.
Just as homelessness should not be a thing for children or their families in our nation, the harsh reality is that it does exist. It is also a reality that drug addiction impacts nearly 49 million people today in the United States. Another alarming statistic here in America is that close to 24% or 61.5 million adults were identified as experiencing mental illness issues in 2024. Crime rates, divorce rates, and the rate of families living below the poverty line are rampant and seem to be on the rise each day we live. For a guy who's mission is to inspire and uplift his fellow man, the stats I'm sharing aren't very inspirational. Yet, as I often say, "we have to take the lemons life hands us, and make some sweet lemonade to share with others". Where problems exist, whether they be societal such as the homelessness crisis in our country or if it is a personal issue with some type of substance abuse or addiction, we each have a job to do. It is our responsibility to be a bridge, the bridge from what is the current status of a person or our society, to the place of what this world can and should be next.
Here is where our inspiration exists. We each have the responsibility to become the bridge of hope for the hopeless, and the connector of inspiration for the lost and downtrodden. In Jeremiah 29:11 God spoke this message into the heart and mind of His prophet Jeremiah. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Bridges aren't constructed without first developing the architectural design and ultimately creating a set of blueprints that guide the builder's plans and actions. God designed the plan for how we are to become that bridge for someone in need, and then He gave us the blueprint for us to become that bridge through the life of His Son Jesus. God's Word became a living blueprint for our lives and the hope of all mankind. It is our responsibility to build that bridge from where someone is stranded now to where they can be next.
The Apostle Paul wrote this message of guidance to his younger protege Timothy, "The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives; it straightens us out and helps us do what is right." II Timothy 3:14. As I referenced above, when Jesus came to this earth He became the living embodiment of the Word and thus became that living blueprint for us to become the bridge from now to next. (John 1:1) Just as Jesus became the Golden Gate bridge example for mankind, His teachings provide us with the floor plans of His blueprint for service to others before self. That principle is core to our responsibility of being the bridge for others to cross from disparity to an undying faith grounded in hope and trust.
So, if Jesus is our blueprint, and the Bible serves as our master copy of God's blueprint then the lessons taught and the truths shared in the Bible become the nuts and bolts of what holds the bridge between now and what is next together. The Spirit of God provides us with not only the nuts and bolts of bridge building, He also provides us with the trusses and beams that ultimately are used to construct that bridge. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23. As God's bridge building workforce, we must utilize the tools listed above to share, serve, build, and even reconstruct the hope of those that we come in contact with each day. Homelessness and hopelessness go hand in hand, we have the tools to bridge the gap between hopelessness to hopefulness!
It is our job to be the inspiration for someone else, the message I want to convey today is for us to not be waiting to be ministered to, but instead to provide us the opportunity to minister to someone else in need. Bridges aren't built for the bridge's benefit, bridges are built for the sole purpose of allowing others to cross on the back of their bridge. We must become the bridge from what is now to the bridge of what is next!
Coach Carter
