Hello David Sullivan, my name is David Vallerand and for the last five years I had been the head baseball coach at Washington H.S in Washington Oklahoma. Before that I was an assistant at Westmoore H.S. for 3 years (2000 - 2002) and I had an opportunity to meet Justin. I will never forget the day. I have told his story so many times when I get a chance to speak to groups about letting Jesus Christ shine in our lives!It was the 2002 season and we were playing Yukon in the Choctaw tournament. I was hitting infield for the Jags and (like they always do) Yukon was lined up in front of the dugout watching us take our round.
As I finished hitting to the outfield, I jogged to home plate to start hitting infield to the infielders. But before that we let our infielders throw it around the horn before I started. As they were doing that I looked over at the Yukon dugout and at the front of their line was this young man with his catching gear on with the biggest smile I had ever seen before!
As the last ball from around the horn came home I started to hit infield and between every ball I could not help but look over at Justin. Every time, he was looking at me with that same huge smile. When I finished hitting infield, I started to pick up balls and walk to the dugout, only to be stopped by him. Justin stopped me and shook my hand and told me good around of infield and good luck tonight. He told me how he always loves playing Westmore because it was always a good game.It was a very short encounter, but one that as I walked back to the dugout I thought to myself; “Man there is something special and different about that young man!”
I forgot about the meeting for a while until later that year when I opened the Sunday paper to see that Justin had been selected as player of the year. I was fired up for him and knew by the year he had that he was well deserving of it! I was also was devastated like everyone to hear about his tragic death in the car accident the very next day.
David I tell you all of that to tell you one more thing. A couple of days later after reading Jenni Carlson’s article, I was so convicted. You see my only encounter with Justin was one day at Choctaw. I did not know about his faith and what kind of young man he was off the field, I only knew him on the field. But after I read that article God spoke to me, It was a so clear. I realized that the reason Justin seemed special and stood out that day was because of his faith in Christ. He was letting JESUS CHRIST shine on that baseball field that night! He did not know me from Adam, but he touched my life in that short encounter, simply by doing what it sounds like he always did “BRINGING HONOR and GLORY to his SAVIOR!!”
I am so honored to be able to share this story with you. Thank you so much for your time. Also, I wanted you to know that I cannot put the journal down. It is absolutely amazing. I just finished day one and just wrote a whole page in it! This is truly going to honor Justin’s legacy as well as bring honor and glory to JESUS CHRIST!!!!!
David Vallerand
Former head baseball coach
Washington H.S.
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