In a quote that I saved from the Jack’s Winning Words bog, Lou Holtz said – “I can’t believe that God put us on this earth to be ordinary.”
Lou Holtz may have initially used that thought as motivation for his athletes at Notre Dame, but I
suspect that he had a broader application in mind for mankind in general. Lou is a devout Catholic and often speaks in motivational talks about the higher calling of man to serve others and God.
It is all too easy to be ordinary, to let yourself slip into that mode where the needs and problems that you see around you are someone else’s concern, not yours. It is less hassle to pass on the other side of the road from the injured man who 
was beaten and robbed, rather than be the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25-37). After all, you have issues of your own to deal with, so you do not have time to stop and help.
Yet, somewhere is the back of your mind there is that little voice telling you, “you should stop and help”. Some might label that as your conscious. Lou Holtz might tell you that it is the quiet voice of God, trying to move you to not be ordinary – to do what He put you here to do.
There used to be an Army recruiting commercial on TV that used the tag line – “Be all that you can be.” Maybe that is what the little voice is telling you – don’t be ordinary, be extraordinary instead. Be all that you can be by stopping to help.
We see almost weekly stories on the nightly news about someone rushing to help in an emergency – maybe running into a burning building to rescue someone trapped inside 
or pulling someone from a car wreck moments before the car explodes into flames. Those “heroes” were not being ordinary. They did not decide to pass by on the other side of the road. They listened to the voice of God and helped. Did you drive by the same scene and keep on going, even though you thought, “Oh, those poor people, I hope that they are alright”? How ordinary of you.
One does not have to go looking for emergencies or crisis to find ways to help; to be extraordinary. Every community across this nation has volunteer organizations that are helping with poverty, homelessness, mental health, drug and alcohol addiction or other pressing issues. Extraordinary people who refused to pass by those issues on the other side of the road make up those organizations. You can join them and be extraordinary, too.
You don’t have to have great wealth to help. You don’t have to have great power to help. You just have to have compassion and resolve that you will make a difference by stopping and helping, instead of passing by on the other side of the road. Don’t let yourself be ordinary. That’s not what God put you here for.
Be extraordinary today!
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