6-25-25

There are some amazing stories out there about people you see in the

headlines…..it’s easy to get star struck when you meet someone who does things

on the world stage…..someone who is a great public speaker, or a senior

politician, or an author, or an actor…..sports stars can grab the headlines, famous

pundits can speak about world events, lawyers who can argue before the

Supreme Court…..there’s an amazing video out there of the surviving members of

Led Zeppelin being honored at the Kennedy Center with Presidents, and

dignitaries, and all manner of famous folks applauding and performing……but

here’s the thing…..You never really know who’s living down the street from

you…….every once in a while you get an insider’s glimpse to the fact that the

extraordinary events of life were accomplished by the ordinary men and women

who live around us and we never even know it…….

Did you ever see the movie “Sandlot”?......I love that movie…..a classic tale of

growing up in suburban 1960’s America with kids playing sandlot baseball……so

many one-liners…..(“you’re killing me Smalls!”)…..and there was the life lesson of

course….when the scary old man played by James Earl Jones in the run down

house with the big scary dog turned out to be a hero of the early days of baseball

and eventually regaled the kids with stories of his time with Babe Ruth, and Joe

DiMaggio…….the kids had no idea…..until one day they accidentally interacted

with the old guy and found out he was everything their greatest heroes had ever

been….maybe more…..Sandlot is the movie version of never really knowing who

lives down the street from you…….and I’ve got to tell you, I’ve had some

experiences with this…..I’ve run across some folks who lived down the street and

was amazed when I learned who they were….it’s opened my eyes….I find that

there are normal people with abnormal stories right around me….and I’m sure the

same is true for you if you just look……

I’ve told you before about the man who lived in my neighborhood until just a few

years ago…….retired Colonel Ola Lee Mize……a Medal of Honor winner whose

deeds in Korea are legendary, …..after Korea Colonel Mize became one of the first

Green Berets as one of the founders of the US Army Special Forces…..he was one

of the first commandants of the Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg …… the

Army Combat Diver School is named for him…….before I left for my first tour

overseas he came to see me and gave me simple and direct advice about taking

care of men downrange that I have never forgotten…….his multiple tours in

Vietnam were no less legendary and I heard men at a ceremony who came from

thousands of miles away to talk about what it was like to serve under him…..there

are some who say that the movie Apocalypse Now was based in part on

him…….who knows…..what I do know is that he was my neighbor……. and he lived

in a quiet cul-de-sac in Gadsden, Alabama…..

Some years ago my wife and I were looking for a house for her parents……they’ve

since passed away but at the time they were looking to live near us and so we

were on the hunt for a new home……during the hunt we visited one small corner

house in the same neighborhood that they wound up living in……just a small piece

of quiet suburbia….but as we looked at the house I couldn’t help but notice some

military memorabilia on the wall and so I wandered over to take a look……I was

shocked by what I found…..it turns out that when the B-29 Superfortress named

the Enola Gay dropped the first Atom Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end

WWII that there were actually 2 B-29’s on that mission……one was the Enola

Gay….But there were several other B-29’s that flew on the mission for

observation, for scientific research, and to scan the target site ahead of the atom

bomb being dropped……one of the other B-29s flew an hour ahead, by itself, to

make sure that the targets were clear for the most significant bombing mission in

the history of the world…..the young pilot of the lead B-29 retired to a quiet lot in

NE Alabama right down the road from where I’m talking now…….

I may have mentioned to you before about the older gentleman who befriended

Charlene and I some years ago…….his name was Rayford P. Kytle…..but we called

him Ray……he was an interesting man……a big ‘ol belly and a good laugh and a

voice like a character from Gone With the Wind who always had an unlit corncob

pipe in his mouth……he called it his “pacifier”……what I didn’t know until a bit

later was that he was one of the engineers who developed rolled aluminum right

as WWII was getting started and his inventions got him sent home from the war

because he was deemed to important to the war effort for deployment……

virtually every plane, ship, and military hardware of every type used some aspect

of his pioneering efforts in steel and aluminum manufacturing….some say that

aside from the soldiers on the front line that it was ability of the American

manufacturing base that won the war……Rayford P. Kytle helped win the war by

creating the metal that our troops needed….. and he was just an older man at my

church and living just down the way a bit……..

A couple of years ago I spoke at the funeral of my friend Alex Kahn……I told his

wife and family and friends the very same thing…..that you just never know who’s

living down the street from you……I knew Alex for a number of years but his life

was like peeling back an onion with every layer showing a new layer…….before

speaking I asked his wife if I could get some of his military records to review to

help with the details and what I got was a whole load of paperwork that helped

me to better see a life that had so many intricacies…..in the middle of all of it was

a progress report from his time as a High School student…….I don’t know why he

kept that…..maybe because it showed that his teachers thought very little of him

when he was 15 with his PE teacher failing him and writing specifically that he had

a bad attitude, talked back often, and was really in need of some kind of outside

help……a few years later that 15 year old kid was a Green Beret working secret

missions in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia….and after 7 years as a decorated Green

Beret my friend Alex decided to get out and join the Navy…..at which point he

became a signal intelligence specialist working in a special project that flew low

level intel gathering missions over hostile waters……my friend Alex was directly

involved in helping to locate the SS Mayaguez, a US ship seized by the Khmer

Rouge in 1975 which resulted in a major combat rescue operation……so this one

guy received a Cambodian National Defense Medal for his time in the Army

Special Forces…..and a Meritorious Unit Citation for his time helping save lives in

the Navy…….not bad for a kid who’s PE teacher had written him off at 15…….and

he lived on a quiet street in a normal neighborhood with none of his neighbors

really knowing what he had done…….

Like I said, you never really know who’s living down the street from you……and I

know that not everyone has a secret story of heroism, or medals in a box, but I

guarantee that there are folks in our sphere every day that we would be

fascinated by……or learn from……or just enjoy hearing more about……if we took

the time……

Hebrews 13:2 tells us “Do not forget or neglect or refuse to extend hospitality to

strangers [in the brotherhood—being friendly, cordial, and gracious, sharing the

comforts of your home and doing your part generously], for through it some have

entertained angels without knowing it.” ……basically, that’s saying that my point is

valid…..that you have no idea sometimes who lives down the street, or shops at

the same grocery store, or goes to your church……I wish I had known more about

my friend Alex’s life, I wish I had spent more time laughing with Rayford P. Kytle,

I’d like to have had coffee with Colonel Mize before he was gone….those guys had

to have some great stories…….but more than that I’m betting that they had some

life lessons, some good laughs, some crazy experiences and I’m wishing now that I

had been more intentional in getting them…….

I’m not trying to get all mushy here……I’m just saying that the folks who are all

around us…..especially whatever generation is just above yours……they’ve got

stories…..they’ve got some life and they might know a bit about how to do life……

And it would behoove us to remember that they might live down the street from

us for a reason…..so maybe….just maybe….. pause from all of your busyness……go

ask them a question, or get that cup of coffee, and then just sit back and see what

comes from it……you never know who’s living down the street from you…..and

some have entertained Angels unawares……..

And that’s a wrap for the Rightside Way