Hello, my friends and welcome to the Live Inspired podcast Monday Morning Moments with John O'Leary.

I record these so that you and I can begin our Thanksgiving weeks in awe and on fire with a burst of

inspiration. This one's going to begin with a question. Are you a turkey person? And no, I'm not

talking about the makeup of your Thanksgiving dinner plate this

coming week. I'm talking about a question that when asked the first time went on to change the

life of the individual who heard it. And then years later, when I heard it, it did the same for me.

It's a question that is poised to reframe, not just our understanding of what

it means to serve and love others, but one that can transform the effort we bring into our

relationships, our work, and our purpose in the world. You think I'm exaggerating, don't you?

Keep listening. Here we go. An 18-year-old man from North Memphis is three

times more likely to be dead or incarcerated by the age of 21 than to be in college. With this

statistic fueling him, a man named Bill Courtney sought to make a difference through coaching high

school football in this community.

But he was failing. Instead of a storybook season, his losing team also had only 19 players,

most of whom weren't even putting any effort into the game. Bill wasn't a stranger to the

difficulties that some of these students were experiencing.

He had experienced some of them himself. His father left him when he was only four years old.

His mother's fourth husband shot at him when he was 17 years old. He did not have a male

role model at home and instead he found them in two

places, the field and the classroom. Today, Bill Courtney is a business owner. He's a husband. He's a

father who believes giving back isn't a one-time flex. It's a repetitive motion, which brings us back to Turkey.

Here it goes. The struggling coach asked his team captain why there were so few players actually

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