Rescued Lighted Christmas Ball #1

Friends Walker and Dabney Sanders know a good thing when they see it. And there it was, curbside, light strands tangled, a gigantic slinky looking thing looking like a garbage truck ran over it.  And just like bringing home  a stray puppy, they took it to their home. They cut non-working mini lights. They straighted bent chicken wire.  They pushed and pulled and patted the disfigured lump back into a glorious sphere. They finished it off with 200 brand new clear mini lights.  And they hung it up for all to see.

"We should form a non-profit, Lighted Christmas Balls Rescue," said Walker, half joking.

I thought he was serious, "What's the worst that could happen?" I chimed in.  "People giving us their dead Lighted Christmas Balls, us restoring them, including a certificate of authenticity, and in exchange for a tax deductible contribution, install said rescued Lighted Christmas Ball in the donor's honor."

It wasn't until I saw the first rescued Lighted Christmas Ball, hanging in all its splendor.  Restoration is good for the soul, and its easier than you think.  So take the first step, follow Walker and Dabney's lead. Ask a few friends join you.  Be heroic.  If this is you, drop us a line.  We'd love to see how we can change the world. One Lighted Christmas Ball at a time.

This Hope's for you

David Pike was a champion.  A champion for his family, his friends, especially his cancer fighting friends, for his fellow Rotarians, for life, and for Christ.

No stranger to the Moses Cone Regional Cancer Center, David gave life to everyone he met: fellow cancer patients, nurses, doctors, even those in waiting rooms. Never a complainer...always an encourager, abundantly generous in hope.

Not long before David went to be with God, he said, "You'll never know what a ministry of encouragement your neighborhood is to everyone at the cancer center. Patients, nurses, doctors, and visitors, that's all they talk about. Promise me you'll teach them to make the Lighted Christmas Balls."

David and his cancer fighting friends encouraged everyone at the Regional Cancer Center, after chemo therapy, to drive down Ridgeway Drive into the land of wonder, where each and every Lighted Christmas Ball is transformed into a beacon of hope, in a world long on suffering and short on hope.

We told David and Patricia and Kris and Roman that we'd keep David's light on, seven days a week, twenty four hours a day, in memory of him and every person fighting cancer.  (David's light is a gigantic Lighted Christmas Ball with 1,400 mini Christmas lights wrapped around a 36" diameter sphere.)

So if you're reading this, and you or someone you know is fighting cancer, this Symbol of Hope stays lit, day and night, for you.

This image taken 12/28/2009 just before midnight without a tripod

This image taken after the big snowstorm of March 1, 2009

"God, the one and only— I'll wait as long as he says. Everything I hope for comes from him, so why not? He's solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, An impregnable castle: I'm set for life." Psalm 62:5; The Message