Posted: September 17, 2021

Virginia Oliver started trapping lobsters at age eight. At age 101, she’s still doing it. She’s the oldest lobster fisher in Maine. She might even be the oldest one in the world!

Mrs. Oliver faithfully tends to her traps near Rockland, Maine. Her 78-year-old son Max helps.

Lobsters used to be considered common food. Now lobster is a delicacy.

Lots of other things have changed in the lobster business too. When Mrs. Oliver first started, she could sell lobsters for 28 cents per pound on the docks. Today, prices are 15 times that—or more. Wire traps have replaced her old wooden ones.

But Mrs. Oliver is still loading bait into traps to lure the crustaceans in. And she’s still getting up long before dawn to get on her boat.

How did Mrs. Oliver get started? Her father was a lobster dealer. He instilled a love of the business in his daughter.

Family friend Wayne Gray says Mrs. Oliver had a brief scare a couple of years ago. A crab snipped her finger! She had to get seven stitches. She never even considered hanging up her lobster traps though.

“The doctor admonished her, said ‘Why are you out there lobstering?’” Mr. Gray says. “She said, ‘Because I want to.’”

After all these years, Mrs. Oliver still gets excited about a lobster dinner. She fixes one for herself about once a week. And she has no plans to quit lobstering any time soon.

“I like doing it. I like being along the water,” she says. “And so I’m going to keep on doing it just as long as I can.”

Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense. — Proverbs 12:11

Posted: September 16, 2021

Ka-Pow! A metal foil balloon hit electrical wires. It caused a huge power outage in Dresden, Germany. Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses lost power. Police are trying to figure out who launched the balloon that triggered the massive blackout.

Authorities report that the balloon caused a short circuit at an electricity substation shortly after 2:00 p.m. on Monday. A short circuit causes an interruption in the flow of electricity. It can happen when two metal wires that are not supposed to connect touch each other. When the metal balloon touched wires that had electricity flowing through them, it caused the wires to short circuit. Out went the power!

The outage in and around Dresden affected a lot of people. Elevators stopped working. Electricity to hospitals, trams, factories, and homes was cut abruptly. People had to be patient.

Thankfully, it didn’t take too long to fix the electrical problem. About an hour after going out, the power came back on.

Claudius Rokosch works for the utility company SachsenEnergie. He says that authorities found a charred, aluminum-covered balloon at the substation. The balloon had a clear warning written on it: Do not fly near electrical wires.

Dresden police investigators are looking for clues. They wonder who released the balloon. So far, they can’t prove that anyone tried to disrupt the power supply. “We are currently working on the assumption that at best it was careless, or simply a coincidence,” a police spokesman explains.

Posted: September 15, 2021

It wasn’t a football. It was a cat. The cat was the best catch during the football game between the Miami Hurricanes and the Appalachian State Mountaineers.

Somehow, the cat got into the Hard Rock Stadium. While traipsing around the upper deck, it slipped. The misplaced mouser’s claws clung to the side of the deck during the first quarter of the game. It couldn’t hold on for long. Whoosh. The poor frightened kitty fell! Fans had seen the dangling feline. Some used an American flag as a net. Bounce. The cat landed safely on the flag.

“They were trying to grab it from above, and they couldn’t reach it, But they were scaring it downward,” explains Craig Cromer. He’s a season-ticket holder to Miami Hurricane games. He and his wife Kimberly bring their American flag to each home game. That flag served to cushion the creature’s fall.

Mr. Cromer saw the spectacle unfolding. “It hung there for a little while with its two front paws, then one paw, then I was like, ‘It’s coming soon.’” The Cromers unhooked their flag from the railing it was tied to. The cat dropped—right into the fabric. It bounced—and students seated nearby caught it. Fans cheered! The rescuers handed the cat over to stadium security workers. They took it to safety. The cat showed no signs of injury.

Did the players notice the commotion caused by the kitty? Miami coach Manny Diaz says he heard about the incident only after the game. He was too busy coaching to notice the animal’s mishap. The Hurricanes beat Appalachian State 25-23.

Coach Diaz said, “If the cat will help us in our red-zone offense I’m going to see if we can give it a scholarship.”

Posted: September 14, 2021

Surprise! A four-and-one-half-foot tall ostrich chick was spotted in a town park. Now an animal shelter in Germany is looking for its owner. Who is missing an ostrich?

The little ostrich was hanging out in the German town of Krefeld. The baby bird was definitely out of place in the city forest park. German news agency dpa reports that two people noticed the bird and caught it. They reported their unusual find to the fire service. The chick spent the night in the care of the Krefeld hunting commissioner. The next morning, it was taken to an animal shelter. That’s where it will stay until its owner is found. The Krefeld Zoo says the bird isn’t one of theirs.

The big, little bird was checked out by a veterinarian. Dpa reports that it is healthy. The veterinarian says the bird is probably around five or six months old. It won’t stay this small for long. Ostriches can grow to over eight feet tall! (That’s taller than a person. It’s as high as most standard homes’ ceilings.)

Ostriches are the world’s largest birds. Even their eyes are big! They have excellent eyesight to help them watch out for predators. (Believe it or not, an ostrich eye is bigger than its brain!)

This ostrich chick will soon be zooming all around. Ostriches surely can run! Their long legs are very strong. They can set a pace up to 40 miles per hour. (That’s as fast as a car!) It’s a good thing ostriches can cover so much ground. Why? These birds can’t fly.

Ostriches don’t make the best pets for people. That’s not just because of their size. Ostriches are bossy and pushy. They grow sharp claws on their feet—at the ends of those strong legs. Sometimes people get ostrich chicks as pets. They don’t realize how difficult it will be to keep a grown ostrich! The birds also live long lives. A wild ostrich can live to be 40 years old. On a farm without predators, the big birds can live even longer. That’s a very long time to commit to a pet!

In the wild, ostriches live in groups called herds. There are usually around 12 ostriches in a herd. That’s one reason why the baby ostrich in Krefeld, Germany, looked out of place. It was all alone. Where did the lost bird come from?

Posted: September 13, 2021

Welcome to Brittany Goff’s mobile flower stand, the Petal Wagon. Build your own bouquet!

Mrs. Goff started the Petal Wagon this May. She pulls up to coffee shops or local farms near Virginia Beach, Virginia. Customers can walk right up to her blue Honda Acty truck and buy flowers.

Right now, zinnias, bachelor’s buttons, garden roses, and gerbera daisies are selling for between $1 and $7 per stem. Mrs. Goff also delivers flowers to subscribers who live nearby. She even drives her truck to weddings so guests can make their own bouquets as favors.

Mrs. Goff is a pastor’s wife and mom who has always had a green thumb. (That’s a fun way of saying she’s good at growing things.) “Everywhere we’ve lived, plants and flowers have slowly taken over my life,” she tells Pilot Online.

What is it like to be a flower farmer and seller? We asked Mrs. Goff. “The hardest part is controlling your environment,” she says. Most gardeners would agree! Weather and invading pests can make growing flowers very difficult. Mrs. Goff says timing can be hard too. “You can’t control when a flower is going to bloom,” she says.

She loves to see the joy flowers bring to people. She enjoys it when a certain flower brings back a memory for someone or when a customer discovers a new flower they love. Sunflowers are Mrs. Goff’s favorite to grow. Freesias are her favorite to smell. Carnations, with their sturdy stems, are her favorite to design bouquets with.

To Mrs. Goff, flowers mean hope and new life. “You plant something as small as a seed and watch it grow into something so beautiful,” says Mrs. Goff. “I believe that is what God does with us.”

Does Mrs. Goff have any advice for budding business-starters? “Find joy in the small things in life,” she says. “Stop and smell the flowers.”

Posted: September 10, 2021

Tomorrow is the 20^th anniversary of the September 11^th attacks on the United States. On that day in 2001, terrorists hijacked four airplanes. Almost 3,000 people died.

The hijackers flew two planes into the World Trade Towers in New York City, New York. Another crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Passengers in the fourth plane heard about the other planes. They bravely fought against the attackers. That plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.  

Police officers, firefighters, and others rushed to help. Around 33,000 people escaped the buildings in New York and Washington, D.C. Many people across the United States lost family and friends. They remember that day.

At the towers, a wall fell on police officers Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin. They were trapped.

Mr. Jimeno yelled for help for hours. He was terribly thirsty. “If I die today,” he remembers thinking, “at least I died trying to help people.”

Mr. Jimeno says he had a vision of a robed man walking toward him. The man had a bottle of water in his hand.

We’re going to get out, Mr. Jimeno told Mr. McLoughlin.

Hours later, rescuers found them. They carefully pulled them out.

Mr. Jimeno had many injuries. He had mental struggles. Telling about what happened has helped him to heal.

Now he says, “The way I can honor those we lost and those that were injured is to live a fruitful life. [That life lets us] be an example to others that September 11 did not destroy us.”

David wrote, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18) It is right to remember sad events. It helps us care for those who were hurt. We also remember that when terrible things happen, God is there. One day He will take away all sadness and evil.

Posted: September 9, 2021

The North Platte River in Wyoming has a problem. It’s so low a toddler could wade across! And that’s bad news for trout and the people who fish for them.

Just two years ago, workers had to stack sandbags in this same spot. Why? Floodwaters were raging! Now is another story. Thick mats of olive-green algae grow in the lazy current. Which situation do fishermen of the famous trout hangout want? Neither! Not floods. Not droughts. Fishermen need a river they can glide down in boats and fling fishing lines into.

Trout fishing brings money to the American West. Businesses thrive on guided fishing tours, fishing tourism, and selling fishing supplies. But some of those businesses got into hot water this summer. Temperatures soared into the mid-80s and even much higher in some areas. Low water got warm fast. Water at 68 degrees or more makes life hard for trout. Warm water carries less oxygen. That stresses fish and makes them less likely to survive.

This summer, Yellowstone National Park shut down stream and river fishing from 2:00 p.m. until sunrise for a month. Montana made similar rules on trout rivers. In rivers like the upper North Platte, low water runs not only warm but slow and clear. Those conditions are perfect for algae. Mats of algae can collect insects. They also offer trout shade and cover from predators. That’s good—but it’s not all good. It means water is warmer than trout would like. And at some parts of rivers, fishermen have to drag boats over wet, algae-covered rocks.

“That’s what the river is at that point,” says longtime fisherman Tom Wiersema. “Round, slippery bowling balls.”

So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm. — Genesis 1:21

Posted: September 8, 2021

The Alpha rocket shoots up over the Pacific Ocean. BOOM! Alpha explodes. That is not what people wanted to happen. Not at all.

No one rode aboard the rocket, created by a company called Firefly Aerospace. Good thing! Alpha stood 95 feet tall. It was designed to carry up to 2,200 pounds into low orbit. The rocket was built to take things, not people, to space. But Alpha didn’t even come close to its goal. It launched at 6:59 p.m. on September 2. It traveled for only two minutes and 30 seconds through the California sky. And then it burst into a ball of flames.

The mission did get some things right. The first part of the launch went well. The craft lifted off the launch pad and started going fast—faster than sound travels. And of course, engineers collected lots of information about how the craft flew. They learned from their successes and their mistakes.

Eventually, Firefly officials want to be able to launch Alpha rockets twice each month. But Firefly has competition. A company called Rocket Lab has already put 105 satellites into orbit. Virgin Orbit has sent 17 satellites into space.

A vast amount of calculations goes into building and launching a spacecraft. And engineers are human. Sometimes they have to go back to the drawing board. Alpha reminds us: Stay humble. We are all prone to error.

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” — 1 Peter 5:5

Posted: September 7, 2021

French beekeeper Denis Jaffré needed to save his bees. He faced losing 35 hives to the invasive Asian hornet. Mr. Jaffré created a trap. It worked! Soon, a version of his traps might be helpful in the United States.

Mr. Jaffré and many European beekeepers have lost far too many bees to the Asian hornet that arrived in Europe from China in 2004. The creative beekeeper says he lay awake at night thinking of ways to destroy the invasive hornets. He created a box with a funnel-shaped opening. The hornets fly into the funnel to get to a sugary treat. But they can’t find their way out. Holes in the box let smaller insects—like the good honeybees—escape. But the larger hornets won’t fit. They die inside the box.

The Asian hornet that plagues Europe is not the same as the Asian giant hornet. That even larger invasive insect is bugging bees in Washington state in the United States.

Officials in Washington just destroyed the first Asian giant hornet nest of the season. The Washington state Department of Agriculture says the nest was at the base of a dead alder tree. It was about two miles away from a nest that was destroyed last October.

These gigantic hornets are sometimes called murder hornets. That’s because they prey on other insects. Sometimes, they launch massive attacks on honeybee hives. Asian giant hornets can kill an entire hive in just a few hours! (Read more about the world’s largest hornets here: Murder Hornets!) Asian giant hornets are not native to North America. It’s a good thing officials destroyed the nests they found.

The two-inch-long invaders are a serious threat. Their sting is very painful. How did workers safely destroy the nest? First, they put on protective clothing. They didn’t want to get stung! Then they vacuumed 113 worker hornets from the nest. With the dangerous insects gone, the team began removing bark and decayed wood near the base of the tree. That’s when they noticed what the hornets had done. They had excavated (dug out) the interior of the tree to make room for nine layers of comb. (Hornet comb holds eggs and larvae—or baby insects. Unlike bees, hornets do not make honey or store it in their comb.)

The nest had nearly 1,500 hornets in various stages of development. Sven Spichiger is a Washington entomologist. He studies insects. He says, “We expect there are more nests out there and, like this one, we hope to find them before they can produce new queens.”

Proverbs 24:13 says “My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.” Bees are good, and honey is sweet. But Asian hornets and Asian giant hornets surely are not—at least, not when they invade places where they don’t belong!

Posted: September 6, 2021

Smoke billowed from a 20-story apartment building in Milan, Italy. Firefighters tried to tackle the flames, but the blaze destroyed the entire building. Thankfully, everyone got out of the building safely. There were no serious injuries or deaths.

It isn’t clear what started the fire that destroyed the high-rise structure. The nearly 200-foot tall building burst into flames on August 29, 2021. “I have never seen a situation like this,” says firefighter Guiliano Santagata. “Just look at the façade and you see that everything is completely burned, and therefore presume that it was made of flammable material.”

The outside, or façade, of the apartment building was designed to look like the keel of a ship. (The keel is the underside.) The ship-looking building even had an aluminum sail on its roof! The fierce flames destroyed the sail. It fell to the street below in pieces.

Residents watched the fire spread very quickly through the cladding. That’s the outside layer of material on the building. That shouldn’t have happened. Why? Cladding is supposed to be fire resistant.

“The cause of the fire still needs to be determined. But it seems that the rapid spread of the flames was due to the thermal covering of the building,” says Carlo Sibia, an Interior Ministry official in Rome. It sounds like the outside of the building was NOT flame resistant after all.

A resident on the 15^th floor reported the fire. He sounded the alarm as he descended from the building. He told other residents to get out too. Firefighters broke through doors, apartment by apartment. They made sure no one was left inside the inferno.

“There is no evidence of anyone missing,” says commander Felice Iraca. Give praise to God for His mercy!

When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. — Psalm 91:15

Posted: September 3, 2021

A school bus lurched off the road outside St. James, Missouri. As it tore through a fence and into a field, two students leapt into action.

Elementary, middle, and high school students had just finished their second day of classes. They were on the way home. Suddenly, the bus driver passed out.

The bus rolled through at least one barbed-wire fence. It was headed toward trees.

Seventh-grader Tandon Baker realized what had happened. The 12-year-old ran to the front of the bus. He put his foot on the brake. The bus stopped. Tandon put it into park.

Meanwhile, 15-year-old Emilee Williams called 911 from her cell phone. Most of the 25 students on the bus were in elementary school. Emilee comforted the scared younger children.

A helicopter took the bus driver to a hospital. Sadly, she died days later.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever been so proud of two kids,” St. James School District Superintendent Tim Webster says. “Just to be able to act that quickly and selflessly. It takes incredible courage for kids to act like that so young.”

Tandon and Emilee were honored last Friday before a high school football game. An officer gave them certificates from Governor Mike Parson and the state highway patrol.

The two youths acted bravely in a scary situation. Their story can remind Christians that God calls us to lay down our lives for others, as Jesus did. (Philippians 2:3-8) That might mean saving someone in an emergency. Or it might simply mean humbly serving others in need.

“A really bad situation, but some really big-time heroes that came out of it,” Mr. Webster says of the story.

Posted: September 2, 2021

People in southern Haiti waved and cheered as a U.S. Marine Corps unit from North Carolina descended from the sky. The unit’s plane was carrying pallets of rice, tarps, and other supplies. The United States is airlifting aid to Haiti after a recent devastating earthquake. 

Aircraft flying out of Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince arrived throughout the day. Planes landed in the region that was the epicenter of the earthquake. The magnitude 7.2 quake hurt remote mountain communities. “They lost their gardens. They lost their animals,” explains Patrick Tiné of Haiti Bible Mission. “The mountains slid down, and they lost everything.”

The Haitian government asked the United States for help. So far, United States troops have delivered more than 265,000 pounds of relief supplies.

A unit from North Carolina, known as the Fighting Griffins, took off from the Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The team flew to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to pick up its load. Then, the unit made multiple trips across Haiti’s southern mountains to deliver the goods. They stopped only to refuel on board the USS Arlington, a ship stationed off the coast of Haiti.

The mission was upbeat. The flight crew and pilots helped Haitian aid workers unload the aircraft. Everyone shook hands as they said their goodbyes. The mission isn’t over yet. The United States will continue to deliver supplies for several more weeks. “People need food, water, tents, tarps,” says Wilkens Sanon of Mission of Hope Foundation. That group is helping the people in Haiti who need it most.

Many of the supply boxes delivered by the Fighting Griffins were labeled “MannaPacks.” What a wonderful reminder that God provides for us. When the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, God gave them food that fell from heaven. It was called manna. Numbers 11:9 says, “When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.” How fitting that American troops are bringing “manna” from the sky to the ground in Haiti.

Posted: September 1, 2021

Two historic hurricanes hit the same place on the same day, 16 years apart. Hurricane Ida blasted ashore on August 29, 2021, as one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the United States. It crashed into Louisiana and Mississippi the same date that Hurricane Katrina slammed those same states 16 years earlier.

Ida developed quickly. It began as a few thunderstorms. Within three days, the weather system formed into a powerful hurricane. The storm’s quick growth left little time to organize a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, Louisiana, residents. The hurricane grew bigger as it moved through some of the warmest ocean water in the world.

Wind speeds determine a hurricane’s category. They range from Category 1 (higher winds than a tropical storm) to Category 5 (with winds of 157 or more miles per hour). Hurricane Ida was a Category 4 storm. It blew off roofs and reversed the flow of the Mississippi River as it rushed in from the Louisiana coast. Ida came ashore just 45 miles west of where Category 3 Hurricane Katrina, first struck land. Ida’s windspeed of 150-mph tied it for the fifth strongest hurricane ever to hit the mainland United States.

Water spilled out of Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans. Boats broke loose. Wind tore awnings from buildings. Watching the storm, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said, “The storm surge is just tremendous. We can see the roofs have been blown off of the port buildings in many places.” More than one million homes and businesses were left without power.

Residents living in the maze of rivers and bayous along the Gulf Coast couldn’t help but compare the two storms. But the city of New Orleans is in a different place than it was 16 years ago. After Katrina, the city rebuilt its foundation, or infrastructure. It made its levees (water barriers) stronger and higher.

“This is a different city than it was August 28, 2005, in terms of infrastructure and safety,” says Ramsey Green. He is the New Orleans deputy chief administrative officer for infrastructure.

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,” says Psalm 46:1. Pray for the people Hurricane Ida has impacted. Pray that they would look to the Lord for help.

Posted: August 31, 2021

Helicopter pilot Joel Boyers received a frantic call. Could he rescue a family trapped by floodwaters? The Nashville-based pilot and his fiancée Melody Among said, “Yes! Here we come.”

The couple flew toward Waverly, Tennessee, a small city 60 miles west of Nashville. The weather was terrible. The internet was down, making it difficult for Mr. Boyers to find the family he was looking for. He flew on anyway.

“As soon as I popped over the ridge, it was nothing but tan raging water below me,” remembers Mr. Boyers. “There were two houses that were on fire. There were cars in trees. . . . I knew no one was going to be able to swim in that.”

Mr. Boyers flew up and down the flooded creek. He rescued anyone he could. By the end of the day, the pilot had helped 17 people get to safety. “I literally prayed just days before this that God would give me some meaning in my life. And then I end up getting this call,” he says.

To perform the rescues, Mr. Boyers had to steer around power lines. He balanced his helicopter on sloped rooftops and hovered over flood waters.

The couple spotted four people on the roof of a farm supply store. It took three different trips to pick up each person. He touched down on the roof of a nearby gas station to rescue another person.

Jeani Rice-Cranford watched Mr. Boyers perform the daring rooftop heroics. “I’ve never seen anything like that,” she says. “Not in real life.”

Mr. Boyers knows that he could lose his pilot’s license for making the dangerous flights in Waverly during the storm. He didn’t ask for permission for his flight. He has had a conversation with the Federal Aviation Administration about his choice to help the flood victims.

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and Earth. — Psalm 121:1-2

Posted: August 30, 2021

Ben Jackson is an Australian farmer. He recently lost his aunt. He couldn’t go to her funeral, but he wanted to show how much he loved her. The farmer had an idea. He arranged dozens of ewes (female sheep) in the shape of a heart in honor of his aunt.

A drone shot video of Mr. Jackson’s sheep. Mourners at his beloved Auntie Deb’s funeral viewed the video in the city of Brisbane in Queensland state. To get the sheep to cooperate, Mr. Jackson scattered grain in the shape of a heart. His ewes munched on the barley in a paddock while he got the video he wanted.

“It took me a few goes to get it right . . . and the final result is what you see. That was as close to a heart as I could get it,” explains Mr. Jackson.

The farmer had experimented with making different sheep shapes before this. He did that because, well—hand feeding livestock day after day during a drought was monotonous. (That means it was really boring!) Mr. Jackson decided to get creative. He started spelling words with grain. He would drop grain from the back of a truck into the shapes of letters. For several minutes, his flock of ewes would form the shapes while they got their meals. “It certainly lifted my spirits back in the drought,” says Mr. Jackson.

In John 10:27, Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” While this farmer is taking good care of his flock, he’s also having a bit of fun. His “I Love Ewe” sheep are bringing smiles to many people.

Mr. Jackson has seen the impact the “ewe heart” he made for his aunt has had. “This heart that I’ve done for my auntie, it certainly seems like it’s had a bit of an effect across Australia.” Mr. Jackson knows many people in his country saw his sheep photo on social media. “Maybe we all just need to give ourselves a big virtual hug,” he says.  

Posted: August 27, 2021

After four previous trips to the Paralympic Games, blind long jumper Lex Gillette has plenty of silver medals. He set a world record of 22 feet and one inch in the category for visually impaired athletes. Now he’s hoping for a gold at the rescheduled 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan. This time, it’s not just for himself, but for his guide, Wesley Williams.

After losing his sight as a child, Mr. Gillette went to school with sighted kids. One gym class event was the standing long jump. He took his first leap and had no idea how far he jumped. His classmates’ cheers gave him a clue.

One of his teachers taught him the long jump and told him about the Paralympics. The Paralympics are “parallel to the Olympics.” They are games for athletes with disabilities.

Wesley Williams is Mr. Gillette’s guide, coach, and friend. The two have been a team for the last 14 years. They train together five times each week.

Before a jump, Mr. Williams walks with Mr. Gillette to the starting point. Once Mr. Gillette takes off down the runway, Mr. Williams claps to guide him along. He screams “fly, fly, fly, fly” to let Mr. Gillette know he’s on the right path. He’ll also holler “stop” if Mr. Gillette veers off course.

They share the success, even if Mr. Williams doesn’t get a medal as a long-jump caller.

“I got into this game understanding the role, and we didn’t start out getting medals. Lex and I have [gone] on to win a ton of competitions and I feel just as awarded as he does!” Mr. Williams wrote in an email.

“I would love for Wesley to be able to look back on a medal and say, ‘Hey, we did this together,’” Mr. Gillette says. “He only has the memories—and memories are fantastic. But to accompany those memories with a medal, that would be amazing.”

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. — Proverbs 17:17