One day, John saw a kid from his class walking home from school. His name was Kyle. He was carrying all of his books. John thought to himself that Kyle must be a nerd to be carrying home all his books on a Friday.

John had his weekend planned with parties and a football game with his friends next afternoon, so just went on. Soon, he saw some kids running toward Kyle. They ran at him, knocked all his books out of his arms and tripped him; he fell in the dirt, his glasses went flying, and landed in the grass about ten feet from him. Kyle looked up and John saw a terrible sadness in his eyes.

He ran towards Kyle who was by now looking for his glasses. John saw a tear in Kyle’s eye. He picked up the glasses and handed them to Kyle. "Those guys are jerks,” said John. Kyle thanked him with a big smile on his face; a smile that showed real gratitude.

John then helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. He lived near John, so he asked Kyle why he had never seen him before. Kyle mentioned that he had gone to private school until now. John had never befriended a private school kid before. They talked all the way home, and John carried some of Kyle’s books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid.

John invited Kyle to play a little football with his friends, and Kyle agreed. They hung out all weekend and the more John got to know Kyle, the more he liked him. On Monday morning, Kyle was back at school with the huge stack of books again. John joked about Kyle making muscles by carrying so many books every day, to which Kyle laughed and handed over half the books to John.

Over the next four years, both of them became best friends. As seniors, they started thinking about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown while John was going to Duke. Kyle was going to be a doctor and John was going for business on a football scholarship.

Kyle was valedictorian of the class. He had to prepare a speech for graduation. Graduation day came, Kyle looked great. He filled out and looked good in glasses.

Kyle was nervous about his speech. John smacked him on the back and said that he would do great. Kyle looked at John with one of those looks, the really grateful one, and smiled. He started his speech, and as he went on, he thanked those who helped him make it through those tough years. He said that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them and went on to narrate a story.

John was taken aback when he heard Kyle narrate the story of the first day they met. Kyle had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He mentioned that he had cleaned out his locker so that his mom wouldn’t have to do it later.

He looked hard at John and gave a little smile. He said that he was saved by his friend.

John saw Kyle’s parents looking at him and smiling that same grateful smile. Not until that moment did he realize its depth.

Never underestimate the power of your actions. One small gesture of yours can change a person’s life. God puts us all in each other’s lives to impact one another in some way.