2/8/26 Wasted Potential

I hope today's homily inspires and motivates you, and I also hope that it leaves you hungry

for the one who gave everything to feed you.

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A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. Or two or... Jepter 5 vs 13-16. Jesus said to his disciples, "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt loses its taste with

what can it be seasoned."

It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden nor did they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket. It is set on a lamp stand where it gives light to all in the house.

Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father, the Gospel of the Lord. Greatest to you, Lord Jesus Christ. I should have a seat. To a little while ago, I was able to have a conversation with Manning Dereau Woods

senior. It was for a podcast called "Cold" and Dereau Woods's story is remarkable. He is from Detroit and not a good place, not a good part of Detroit. From his, literally from his mother's womb, he had tragedy in his life. When he was still in his mother's womb, his father died.

His mom went through older siblings, he had three older siblings. He just went into a tailspin, like she just, I'm kind of, in his words, she kind of lost it. And she took to drugs, got hooked in heroin, started living on the streets, and so Dereau went with his brothers, went to live with his grandma.

There, in his grandma's house, there were 11 kids that were coming to go in. He was just kind of one of those younger kids who just did his best. He said, "It's grandma loved him, grandpa loved him, but at one point at 12 years old, he just wanted to be with his mom." So he, at 12 years old, he ran away from his grandparents' house to go downtown Detroit

basically to be with his mom.

And she welcomed him, you know, if that's just she could. In the neighborhood, kind of welcomed him as best as they could. In fact, there was this man, he called, Dereau called him superfly, superfly someone who was kind of like a drug king in that area, and he said, "This guy, if I would go to school every day after school, he'd give me 25-50 bucks, just for going to school.

He wanted to keep me in school." He said, "I have one point though, I just was like, you know what? If I'm out of this money, I'm going to gamble." And so superfly once pulled up when I said, "Is he sees Dereau gambling on the corner at 12-13-14?" And he says, "That's it, you're a cut-off.

I'm not giving you money so you can gamble, give you money so you don't have to have a life of crime." So he cuts cut-off at 14 years old, he begins becoming a drug dealer.

“At 14, he's also shot, and that's what a hospital almost dies, but it doesn't die.”

At 15, he purchased a home with the money he was making, Dylan Drugs in the corner. At 15, he also got the girl he was saying pregnant. At 16, he became a dad, his son was born. At 17, his daughter was born, and at 18 years old, he was arrested, and at 19 years old, he was convicted, and given life without possibility of parole.

What had happened was, incentives for life, he had gone with his cousin to go by drugs for his cousin. Into this house, and some guys followed him to this house, he didn't know if these guys were. They started arguing with the other drug dealers, and so these guys behind him, he didn't

know, pulled out a gun, and shot some people, he and his cousin ran away, but even though they didn't know the guy, they were found guilty of eating and abetting this murder. And he spent the next 29 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. I mean, it's obviously Darrell's not innocent, right?

“He did a lot of bad stuff, but it also wasn't guilty, he wasn't guilty of that, right?”

It wasn't guilty of the crime that was in jail for it regardless to think about this. All of those years, I mean, 29 years from the time he was 18, 19 years old, for the next 29 years, just wasted. All the all the all the all the chances he was given, even the drug dealer on the corner who wanted to pay him to go to school, that chance wasted his grandparents who would have

raised him in a place safe far away from the world of drugs, the world of violent crime, wasted. And if you look at Darrell Woods, you might think, man, that was so much wasted potential.

I mean, waste of potential is just a tragedy, it's in all of our lives, right? No, quick thing, when we think potential, I think sometimes we think something, oh, you could have had this potential, I've had been given a chance when I was a kid to live in a city where they had gymnastics, I had the potential to become a Olympic gymnast. Well, no, I didn't have it.

I could have had that chance, that's not really potential. That's like potential, what then? Real potential is, no, you had the chance, I think real potential is, no, it actually was yours. It's when you did have it in you, it's when you did have that chance. It's when you had what you needed and you just didn't use it.

“I think that's what waste of potential is.”

You had all that you needed and you just didn't use it. I think that's one of the, and we're going to have the college campus. I think it's one of the awesome things in working with junior high and middle schoolers, high schoolers, I think it's one of the awesome things about youth is that, to be young, means to have potential, like in fact, to be young means to have a certain kind of potential

that no one else in the world has and people who are not young, they have no, it's in the,

the most incredible resource, Warren Buffett, right? Warren Buffett is an investment guy.

He is probably, I think, the estimated worth roughly $150 billion. $150 billion. And yet, my guess is this, my guess, is that if you asked any one of our students, none of them would want to trade places with Warren Buffett. Because even though he's worth $150 billion, he's also $95 years old. And so, I imagine Warren Buffett, if he could trade a place with any one of our students,

who are regardless of whether situation or their circumstance, or how much money they have or don't have, he might take it unless he's at peace with his life and he's a very content-ready to die. But none of us would ever, ever trade places with Warren Buffett. Why? Because we know the value. We know that that youth has such potential that it's so valuable. And here's the crazy thing, you have it.

To our students, you have this sidebar. People, my age, old people, and people older than me, we have a, we have potential as well. It's just a different kind of potential. So if you're like, "Oh man, my young potential's gone." Like, "Yeah, maybe it is." But you have other potential. The point is this, every one of us has been given some degree of potential and the tragedy is every one of us is guilty of wasting our potential.

And something I did have and I just didn't use it.

“And as Christians, as followers of Christ, this is so critically important to us. Why?”

Because I think sometimes even if we know who Jesus is, even if we, you know, I believe in one God, the Father of my degree of effort. We could say all the, the creed, I think so many Christians. We walk around as if one day God might choose us. I think we walk around as, as if maybe, maybe his one day we might be good enough for God to claim us. I think sometimes even as Christians, we walk around with this notion of,

well, someday it might be given a chance. And yet, in the second reading today,

Saint Paul, writing to the Corinthians, what does he say? Says the first thing I preached to you on Corinth. Like, I didn't preach sublimity of wisdom. I didn't preach this, you know, any philosophy. All I preached to you was Jesus Christ and him crucified. Basically what he's saying is, "I pointed to the cross." And I said, "This is the sign of God's love for you." That already, regardless of your life, regardless of your past, regardless of where you're living,

or how you're living, this is God's love for you right now. Basically pointing to the cross, here's Jesus crucified and said, "This is proof that God has already made His choice for you." To realize this, this is the truth that God became one of us. He made it possible to have a new life. Christ lived on this earth for us and died for us. I made it possible for us to be forgiven that

that he poured out his Holy Spirit on us and made it possible for us to be adopted by the Father, that he basically, in giving that Holy Spirit, Jesus has made it possible for us to be a new creation. And this is the thing. This is all of this, you already have. Like, this isn't all, like, you could have some day. This is, "No, if you're a follower of Christ, you already have all of these gifts. It's a gift of grace that nobody,

nobody earns. In this is the crazy thing, as if Jesus has done all of this for you and for me.

What's that mean? That means you and I have amazing potential."

“The question is, out of all that we've been given, has it been wasted on us?”

Is the gift of God's grace just been wasted potential? Because I say, "Well, I know I have the grace, but I don't want to use it right now."

We say, "I know I have access to the Father's Heart. I can pray at any time, but I'm going to pray later." Different time. I know I have access to God's Word, but my phone is here and I rather not, look at the Bible, rather just share it, share my phone. We've even said, "I have access to God's mercy, but I don't know. I feel like I'm disqualified." Here's a crazy thing. Weasted potential. All of these gifts you have, and I have, and we just don't use them.

“Again, this qualification thing, I think sometimes it's interesting to wonder this.”

Do we realize that the things that we believe disqualify us are absolutely no surprise to God?

Like it's a pause in this for one second. The things that you and I will say like, "Yeah, that means I

can't belong to the Lord." That doesn't shock him, that doesn't surprise him, that he knew your weakness when he chose you, that God knew what your struggles were going to be when he claimed to you. Do you realize that Jesus knew your sins when he picked up the cross? He knew all of it. None of it is a surprise that he did that so that you and I could be free. He did that so you and I could be forgiven. He did that so you and I could have a new life.

Any crazy thing is that you're being here at this mass. You're praying right now. You're going to confession right now. One of the things that means is it's a declaration. It's a declaration. Basically, every time you pray, every time you go to mass, every time you go to confession, every time you even raise your eyes to the Lord, every time you open the Bible, what you're saying is, Jesus, I am not going to let what you did for me go to waste on me.

I don't want to have this wasted potential. Jesus, I am not going to let what you did for me go to waste on me. This actually is part of Darrell Woods's story.

His grandmother was very, very Christian, very devout to always bring him to church. And he said,

"Well, that meant Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, again on Sunday. It was a lot." But he said when he was arrested, in jail, he said, "That's when I really pray." He said,

“"That's why I really run that Bible." I said, I asked him, I said, "Is that looking for loopholes?" He's like,”

"Well, yeah, but also, I realized, wow, Lord, Jesus, if I get convicted, you are all I have left." And I've wasted my life up to this point. I cannot waste my life from this point. Basically, Darrell said, "Jesus, I will not let what you did for me go to waste on me." And he just dove, even after jail, even when that loophole thing was done, when he's in prison, and thinking, "I'm in prison for life." He just dove in the scripture, dove in the prayer, dove into the reality,

that, Lord, you made it possible for me to have joy at all times. You made it possible for me to have peace, even in the midst of prison when I didn't do what they told me that I did. I'm not going to let, but you did for me, go to waste on me. This is our invitation to say, "Okay, God, no wasted potential." Not getting my life. Whatever you've done for me, no wasted potential. So here you are, what you have.

“And what you are, when you are, because you're what, what does Jesus say in the Gospel today?”

He says, "What you are?" He says, "You are the salt of the earth." He says, "You are the light of the world." Now, again, highlight this. He's saying, "This is what you are." He says, "This is what you might have." This is what you might be. He says, "No, you are the salt of the earth. This is your potential." You are the light of the world. This is your potential. And it's so fascinating. So many times I go back to Acts of the Apostles. And the Acts of Apostles after Jesus was risen from the dead.

He went to further this before. Jesus risen from the dead. He's lived with the Apostles for 40 days. He's been teaching them. He's been instructing them. He's been, again, as a resurrected Christ, shaping them. And he brings them to Bethany. They're overlooking the city of Jerusalem. And he up there, you can see everything.

You can see the upper room, you can wear the first, you crisp to happen, you can see Golgotha.

You can see the tomb, all these things. And the Apostles ask Jesus a question. They say, "Lord, we know what you are now. You're the one you're the king to restore the kingdom. Are you going to restore the kingdom now?" And Jesus says, "Two mysterious things." One is he says, "I'm not telling. You're not going to know the day or season. You're not going to know the hour." Second thing he says is, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you." And then you will be my witnesses. Here in Jerusalem third Judea Samaria to the ends of the earth.

So in response to the Apostles saying, "Okay, Lord, we know who you are. You're the king. Are you going to restore the kingdom?" He looks at them and he says, "No, you are." You're going to receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Then you're going to be my witnesses. Here locally, throughout the region, to the end of the earth. And as an echo of what he says today,

you are the salt. You are the light. How are you going to spread the gospel? Be salt.

Be who you are. So when Jesus says, "Be salt, be light." What does that mean? Okay, keep this mind, ancient world. Salt has at least four properties. Salt is valuable. Right? In ancient world, that's where we get the word salary from. People would be paid in salt. Someone's worth their salt, they get paid. It's valued. Secondly, salt is preservative.

“You don't have any refrigeration. You have some meat. You cover it with salt. It cures it. Right?”

It keeps it. Thirdly, salt is antiseptic. So, you know, it can cleanse on a wound. You get some salt in your wound. It cleans it out. But the fourth property of salt is that salt, and the one that Jesus focuses on today, is salt gives flavor. If you ever just taste salt on his own, we sometimes do that. It doesn't taste like anything. I think fact is pretty horrible.

But if you have, think of something amazing. Think of a really good stick.

If it doesn't have salt, it is not a really good stick. No matter what, I don't care who you are. Like if that stick doesn't have salt on it, it's missing something. People would salt on it. It brings out all of the good properties of steak. Same thing. Here's a little pro tip. If you like butter on your toast, sprinkle a little salt on the butter after you put the

“butter on the toast. It will make the, it'll pop. It'll be amazing. It'll be incredible.”

Simply peanut butter, little salt on there. Why? Because it brings out the goodness that's already there. When Jesus says, "Be salt." What he's saying is basically if the Christians do, you live in such a way that the goodness around you is revealed. There are what's started in prison, in prison. He started a number of ministries, worked for the NAACP and number of ways, but also he started this ministry called "cared straight."

I had heard of "cared straight," where he takes from juveniles who are in at risk youth and bring him into the prison and they just prisoners just yell at him and tell him, "Here's how awful it is here," and just surrounded him and he said, "Listen, I grew up on the streets." He said, "I wasn't scared of anything." He said, "All these kids that we brought in to the prison, they walk around with AK-47s, they walk around with AR-4, 15s. They're not afraid of anything.

They're not lacking fear. He said, "They're lacking love." And so he said, "Well, we do, we bring him to prison, and we just surround him with love." These are kids who have been scared

their whole lives, they've never been loved. And so he started to think, "Oh, "cared straight."

This is, this is Darrell saying, "I'm going to be salt. I'm going to show them actually in this world that even can be deadly in this world that can be brutal in this world that can be cruel." There's also such a thing as love and people who care about you, and you can even find joy in prison. You can find joy in your life. Jesus also says, "Be light." He says, "You are the light." What's the light of the world? Basically, lights don't reveal themselves for themselves.

Think about a light bulb or a candle or the sun, even. You don't look at those things on their own. A light reveals what's around it. So Jesus says, "You are the light." What's he mean? Live in a way that people can see the truth. Live in a way that people can see reality. In 2003, Darrell had his, he had been working to overturn his case. Do you have the 2003, the judge at Found Him guilty, found Him innocent?

And you thought that I thought, when he told me the story, I was like, "Oh my gosh,

that was incredible. 2003, wait, that's only a few years after you were arrested."

Turns out that someone else came in and said, "No, no, no, you guys did the paperwork wrong. Got to stay in jail." And I was like, "Bro, how was that?" Like, that must be, if you weren't mad at that point,

“you must have been furious at that moment. What'd you do? And he said, "There's praise to God."”

He said, "Well, we say God is good. All the time, all the time, God is good." I'm like, "Yes." He says, "You got to mean it." I'm like, "That is incredible." Here is someone who can bring out the goodness in any situation. Here's someone who's living in such a way that people could see the truth. Why? Because salt makes life good and light makes truth visible. That's why Jesus says, "If you waste that, if you have wasted potential,

it's all lose this taste. If you have light a lamp, then hide it. It's a tragedy." Why? If you notice this, it's not like you became evil. Salt didn't become evil. It's not like the light that became destructive. It's just hidden. This all just lost its taste. But it's because it became ineffective. It became indistinguishable. And there were forced wasted.

God's grace. And we've probably said, "God, I don't want to let what you did for me go to waste

“on me. We have to take that next step and say, "God, I don't want to let what you did for me end with”

me." If it ends with us, we are salt that's lost as flavor. We are a light that is hidden. We are indistinguishable. We are ineffective. And that is a tragedy. Because all of that wasted

potential, if we say, "It ends with me." This is the last thing. We also can declare, "God,

I will not let what you did for me end with me." Give me a mission. And then we had what we do is we're in the wait for our mission. What we do is we're like, "Okay, God, I'm going to get done with

“school. I'm going to get done, I'm going to get whatever the next milestone in my life is. I'm”

going to wait for that." And then I'll go on mission. As opposed to Jesus says, "No, listen, you are

the late of the world. You are salt of the earth. You have not to wait for this remember. You have been given this." I asked Darrell. The last Darrell story. I asked Darrell. When did you start this whole cared straight thing? When you started bringing in juveniles and they actually mayors and governors and other people from law enforcement were sending you their people. And he said, "I was about four out four years after I got arrested." It's like, "Okay, so you were 23

when you started needing these teenagers, these adolescents where they're at." You didn't wait till you were like, "30, you didn't wait till you're at 35." It's like, "No, I just figured I'd start right now." You don't have to wait for your mission. Darrell would see her. Was light and salt in prison. As essentially a kid, you can start right where you're at. Why? Because you are the salt and you are the light and you have nothing to wait for.

Coolest thing at the end of our conversation. Darrell pulled out a badge. He was some credentials.

“I think he was waiting to the end of our conversation. Okay. By the way, here look at this.”

He serves as a vice chair of the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners. There's an oversight committee overseeing the prison system and the police force. I think, man, this is where you're at now. A free man overseeing law enforcement as a man who had been in prison for 29 years. But it started with him saying, "Okay, Lord, I'll start here." In really bad conditions, I will not let what you did for me go to waste on me. And the further I will not let what you did for me

end with me. And so a story isn't tragic. The story is not a tragedy. Is a story is what could have been wasted potential? Is actually used for the glory of God.