Long Time Coming is a film the takes us all back to 1955, Orlando, Florida. It tells the story of two 12 year old baseball teams who are participating in the Little League tournament for the right to advance to the Little League World Series. It also checks back in with those teams today,
Loveprints. Wont you be my neighbor. An entire neighborhood covered in love.
LovePrints. Dr. John Butler.
LovePrints. My Brother's Keeper. We are the Ones (Video)
We are the Ones. We are the ones to inspire our generation and stand for the idea of opportunity for everyone. I am My Brother's Keeper, are you? Join the Alliance at iammbk.org.
LovePrints. Griff Loves Out Loud! Really loud!
Great people make great friends. Great friends make great people. Love in Action. Action in love.
Love Out Loud.
A LovePrint is the constant covering of your world in love. One act at a time. Repeat. In the consistency is where the real value lives. It comes in the form of faith, strength, vision, hope, passion, and faith. Every once in a while, it comes in one person. One amazing person.
I met MISTER Griffin several decades, careers, life choices, and locations ago. What I knew the very first night that I met him was that he was larger than life. Not in the typical sense, but in the depth sense. There was all of the energy, coming in and going out. There was the larger than life smile. There was the wisdom glow in his eyes. And, there was the voice. That GRIFF voice! If you have not heard it, imagine gravel , cement, and brown sugar crushed up and covered with Hershey’s chocolate. It is the same, ALL OF THE TIME! It has no volume switch, and no decibel counter. It is pure BOOM!
To go with that voice is the laugh. This heavy metal speaker loud bass pounding drum kick of a laugh. Again, no volume adjustment available on this model. It is loud and room changing. It dominates the space that it is in, and changes whatever is in its path or was there before it. It is a wrecking ball of love, breaking down barriers and boundaries, changing whatever it touches and leaving it better than before. Different, and better.
We met at a comedy show in Washington, DC back in the 90’s. I was there to see Henry Cho, who I had played golf with the week before. And there was GRIFF, grinding a room of strangers into friends and family. He left the room crushed and full at the same time. I was aware immediately that he was bigger than the room, and that was why it could not contain him. He was not comfortable in its smallness. He needed to be in a bigger place. A bigger space. I told him so. Out loud.
We talked and went to see the city. I told him the he was going to be bigger than his dreams. It was all over him. It was everywhere. He could not hide it.
We crossed paths again at a small bar in Arlington, Virginia. A rock bar with bands playing around him. He made it his living room. It belonged to him. Later, we met in Atlanta, Salt Lake City, and Dallas. He did radio with me in Utah, I did radio with him wherever he was, and we both ended up in Texas within months of each other recently. We meet up and hug, laugh, and love.
Whenever I stop and think of sports, I have him as a constant reminder of the love of the games. The real reason why any of it matters. Love. Whenever I think of faith, he is there with the light from within and the light behind him shining down. He once made a video to send me before a recent surgery. It was right on time. It was perfect. It was GRIFF. A phone call from him made the rain go away. I kid you not. And, he shows up like very few choose to.
He is a constant roar of faith in my ear. He is the consistent forward and up. I look and see where he is, I remember where he has been, and smile and whatever is coming next for him. I see the stars in orbit, the real understanding of his humor, the real power behind his comedy, and the real depth of his faith. What I also see is his ability to change the space, for the good. That is why he is here. That is why he is GRIFF.
No matter if its sports, parenting, radio, faith, or stand up, he is LOVE OUT LOUD HUGE. He is the living example of the road we should always take. The forward and up.
We are blessed enough to be covered in his love. He is my friend, my brother, and a faith yeller. He changes the line, moves the boundary, and loves out loud.
Yeah. I just said that. He loves out loud. Everything. God, us, and himself.
Thank you. For every single day. Every single time. You.