Cully

by Dan Bouchelle

I haven’t met many famous people in my life. I once shook hands with George Bush when he was campaigning for re-election as Vice President in 1984. I was almost run over by Ed “Too Tall” Jones in a restaurant lobby in Dallas. But I haven’t had the honor of meeting many people the world would call great or important. I have, however, been granted the honor of meeting at least one truly great person. His name is Cully Olson.

You have probably never heard of Cully. He will not likely ever make the headlines of anyone’s local paper. He isn’t well-known even in his hometown of Abilene, Texas, but Cully has had a tremendous impact on my life.

Cully is in his mid-thirties and still lives at home with his parents. He has never had a job. He cannot drive. He will never marry. Cully has Down’s Syndrome, yet every Sunday morning and evening, every Wednesday night, he lights up his church in Abilene with the biggest smile and warmest hugs you could ever imagine. Cully is the one person I have known in my life who loves everybody without exception. No matter how you feel when you come to church, Cully makes you feel important.

Jesus said that the greatest commandments are to love God with all our hearts and to love others as ourselves. On Jesus’ scale of greatness, no one passes surpasses Cully. The limitations placed on him by his genes by no means limit his ability to be used by God. In fact, they probably enhance it. Whenever I am with Cully, the Lord reminds me that many things in life are more important than accomplishment, intelligence, and sophistication, and that the worth of such commodities as encouragement, genuine concern for other people, smiles and hugs, is beyond measure. Were I to make a list of all the people on this earth that I would want to be more like, well, the name of Cully Olson would be very near the top.

Thank you, Lord, for Cully. Thank you for everyone like him. Help us not to look down on them for not being like us; instead, help us to be more like them.