Heroes

So here we are, the whole family, with Big Russ and John.

On Saturday Luke and Bob got to hang out with one of their heroes, "Big Russ". Bob was thrilled when they asked him to go to the airport to pick the team up (kinda like a little kid)... he was surprised to see that when he got there he was only about 5 hours late (not Bob's fault, luckily, it was the event coordinator who got the time wrong)! According to Bob the one thing that you do NOT want to see is a 6 foot 3 in., 310 pound man angry...but that's another story!

Originally we met Big Russ when he was with the Power Team and visiting a local church. He has a very dynamic personality and a heart to bring the lost to the Lord. Some of the kids that Bob works with in juvenile placement came to see the concerts and Bob was able to personally introduce Big Russ to them. The first thing that he asked them is if they were saved. The boys were CLEARLY intimidated by this huge man but Russ just told the kids that no matter what they did that he loved them and that God loves them too. He lead one of the boys in the sinners prayer right there with his hand on Bob's shoulder like they were old pals or something. :) Luke was there to witness it all and I'm glad to see that he not only sees Big Russ as a big, strong, fun guy to hang out with but also as a man who isn't afraid to stand up for God.

In their final performance of the night Big Russ broke a pair of hand cuffs off his arms (I didn't get any pictures this time because I was way too busy but the second picture in the above link shows him with the handcuffs on). They were real police standard black handcuffs. That is one of Luke's favorite parts of the show so Bob sneaked the broken handcuffs for him. I say sneaked because they could give anything else out as souvenirs - broken baseball bats, bent hammers, broken bricks, etc. - but they weren't supposed to let the handcuffs out because the chain link only pulled out of the housing and the bracelet part was still intact. Luckily Bob still had the key or Big Russ would have been going home with some new bracelets and that wouldn't look so good on an ex-con! :) So Luke got his second Big Russ souvenir but we can't give it to him because after Big Russ got them off, the key was lost. Knowing Luke he would decide to try them on for size, even though he knows he's not supposed to only to have to go to the police station to get them off and explain the whole thing!