13 posts from 2008

I got to thinking about some of the people who have made an impact on my life and situations that have led me to be where I am today. Some people have left their mark on my spiritual life, while others have impacted my "physical" life. Here are just a few of the many people that have had an impact on my life, reasons why/how it has.

Tommy Tidwell, Jon/Tami Stroud, and Camp Inagehi:
I wouldn't be the person that I am today if it wouldn't have been for Tommy Tidwell. I wouldn't have been where I was (Freed-Hardeman) if it hadn't have been for Jon and Tami Stroud, and who knows if I would be a Christian yet if it hadn't been for Camp Inagehi. Tommy has made and impact on my life because of two reasons. Our talks and his walk. It has been great getting to know him over the years. Each year at camp, I learn more and more from him. Every Friday night of camp, he stays up late sitting in the middle of the boys "village," just to make sure the guys stay in line. One year, I joined him out there. We probably ended up staying out there talking until like 3:00am. I learn so much every time I talk with him. About life, about love and relationships, and about God. I really appreciate and cherish all of those talks. I have gotten emotional, but he gives his encouraging words of wisdom and I know it will work out. He also has shown me how to walk the walk. I think this past year at camp, I learned the most from him. He taugh me the most important leadership lesson I have ever learned: To lead is to do what nobody else wants to do and to stand up for what is right when nobody is standing for it. To be a true leader, you aren't going to be the most popular most if not all of the time, but you keep the best interest of others as the most important thing. I wish I could put into words for Tommy all that he means to me, and all that he has done for me. Jon and Tami Stroud are two awesome people. They do so much for South Cobb and for Camp Inagehi. A lot of people dont see all the work they do, but they are best examples of those getting the job done behind the scenes. They have influenced my life in a way they probably wouldn't know, in addition to making me a huge Mac addict and finally getting a Macbook (which I love). They are probably the reason why I went to Freed-Hardeman University, which indirectly has allowed me to make some of the best friends I have ever had, and also finding the girl of my dreams. I don't know why or how I heard about South Cobb church of Christ youth group going to Freed for RUSH, but somehow I heard about it and Jon Stroud let me go with the group. I had a blast, it was so much fun. That was my sophomore year of high school. By my junior year, I had decided that is where I wanted to go and got in early and everything was hunky-dory. But I think what the two of them did for me the most, was allow me to be apart of a youth group and be able to make other Christian friends and grow in that regard. I am so thankful for that opportunity. I still have some of those people as friends today, who will be lifelong friends. Meagan, Julie, Carlie, and more. I love all of them, and I am so thankful for that opportunity.

David Powell:
If you want to ever meet a true, genuine, loving man, David Powell is the guy you want to meet. After not really knowing him at all, and needing to get an A in a Bible class at Freed, I decided to take Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy as a fluff class. I did get my A, but what I wasn't counting on was the fact that I was going to be at the feet of a man who is very wise and taught me so much about the Old Testament and how to make it relavent to my own life. I couldn't get enough of his classes, so I ended up taking Paul's Epistles III (I & II Corintians) with him the following semester. I learned so much in those classes, I wish I would have taken his classes from the beginning. He was so supportive and encouraging, he just made me want to live on fire for God. What I think he taught me the most was standing for the truth. I had conversations with him in addition to classroom discussion about marriage, divorce, and remarriage that even though it was hard and I (and he) didn't want to draw the conclusions that we wanted to, he taught me to stand up for the truth, even if it would make you unpopular. He is a great man and taught me a ton about the Bible and how to live my life.

Stacey Groves:
After talking about all of these people that have influenced me spritually, I dont want to make Stacey sound like she wasnt very spiritual, but she helped me out in my career. Though our relationship was a professional one, we were able to talk from time to time about religious things and I know she is a great spiritual person who is very disciplined when it comes to life, exercise, and God. She did though influence me in more of a career way. She gave me my wings in the sports world. It was the beginning of my spring semester and I was starting to realize that there was no way that I wanted to spend the rest of my life being an accountant. I enjoyed my major for the most part, but it just wasn't my passion. In Feburary of 2007, I applied to be a student assistant for the Sports Information Director (which was her). I have always loved sports, and I had never though to possibly pursue my love for sports into a career path. I saw that they were looking for some help, and I applied. I had zero experience when applied and I don't know how I got the job, but she thought my trial write-up of a basketball game was good enough to give me the job. Over the next year, I learned a lot about writing and the whole package of what it is to be in the sports industry. It wasn't always the easiest job, but I can say being able to work for her has given me not only the experience in my pocket, but something that people open their eyes at when looking at my resume for a possible job or internship. [sidenote: Be praying for an internship that I had an interview for last week. Hopefully I will be moving back to Tennessee to work next season with the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx, a AA Minor League Baseball team in Jackson, Tennessee] She was a blast to work with and actually listened to ideas and let me really have an active role in working with the athletic department at Freed-Hardeman.

Those are just a few people who have impacted my life. My family, my friends, and my lovely girlfriend are also those who have had big impacts on my life, but It is almost 2:00am and I need to get some sleep before I have to be at work at 9:00am.

I love going to sporting events. One of my goals in life is to attend a sporting event in every major sport category before I die. Saying that, I really cant stand going to sporting events and having to tolerate ignorant fans. I would just sit on my couch and watch the game sometimes because of the annoyance of the ignorant fans. I must specify my definition of "ignorant fan". My definition of an "ignorant fan" is one that is loud and obnoxious fan that thinks any call against his/her team is a terrible call. Not understanding what is going on (aka ignorant) but staying quiet and trying to take it all in is perfectly fine with me and I have no problem with that. I may just be jaded and have lost some of my fandom, but I want the game called the right way. When I watch sports, for the most part, I am very passive. I like watching the strategy, breaking down each play in my mind. I think I am just weird, but it just annoys me. The only pass that I will give on people being an "ignorant fan" is when they are drunk, and that only is because most of the time they are really funny making fools of themselves, but by no means am I condoning what they are doing. Just thought I would share that thought process real quick. Enjoy the game, dont critize the officials if you dont know the rules, dont drink, and tell somebody that you love them today.  

So when I usually post a blog, I have had a thought or an idea of which to write about, which I just checked the question of the day and none of those sounded interesting, but I still feel the urge to blog. I guess I will update my life and then see where I am. I have successfully completed my second week of grad school, and I can say it has been a great experience and I will learn a lot, but I am already tired of school/living alone in Statesboro. I have made some friends, even joined an intramural softball team which I am excited about, but after going to Florence, AL to see one of my best friends married, I know that I really miss the friends at Freed and my girlfriend, Lauren (so much). I just got a new job at the library, (where I am at now because I still dont have internet in my apartment, though that will change tomorrow!!!). I think I will be getting about 20 hours a week, so that will be really great. I still have not gotten laid off/released at Gray's Bookstore, I have been told that I am making the cut that reduces the temporary people to five, but they are only probably going to be keeping 2 people, so there is still only a 40% chance that I am going to continue working there, which would just help out a little more. It wont kill me to get laid off from there. I enjoyed it a lot and hopefully I will enjoy working in the library just as much. My mom is going to be coming down for Labor Day weekend. I am hoping we might go to Savannah/the beach if the weather is nice and we feel up to it. It will be her first time seeing my apartment, so I hope she likes what I have done to the place. I think that is about it right now, maybe I will think of something profound to post soon, but who knows. I have been real busy, so busy that I fell asleep on the couch Monday night while watching Wayne's World...

Here are some pros and cons that I have found out since I have moved to Statesboro:

Pro: Walmart is 5 minutes away.
This is a good pro to start off with, but only someone who has been at Freed will understand. Now, I can just run to Walmart without having to plan out the rest of my day and invite people to go with me. The 15-minute trek to south Jackson will not be missed, though the good times with friends there will.

Con: Finding a job.
This was the first con that I have found, even before I moved down here. I really think that if I can find a full time job here, then I can find a job pretty much anywhere. I thought having a college degree would help separate me from the college kids, but it really doesn’t do that much (at least I haven’t seen it do anything for me yet). There are just not that many jobs here in Statesboro.

Pro: There is a football team.
I am excited about being able to go to football games on Saturdays! I found out as well that students get into the game free, so hopefully I will be able to catch a few GSU games this semester. Another bonus is that three guys that I went to high school will play for Georgia Southern, with two of them starting (Josh Barker – OG, and Lee Chapple – QB).

Con: The weather is SO hot.
South Georgia is so stinkin’ hot. It is like an average of 7-8 degrees hotter than in Winder/Atlanta. I walk out of my apartment and I start sweating. It may be a positive though in the winter, if it isn’t as cold.

Pro: I get to cook/live on my own.
Even though my kitchen is pretty small, it still is my own kitchen. I have already cooked salsa chicken in my crock-pot (excellent, ask me the recipe if you are interested, it is REALLY easy) as well as Tilapia. The oven is really small, but that sucker gets really hot and cooks your food in like ½ the time it normally would take. Living on my own is cool. I get to do whatever I want, whenever I want, which is nice.

Con: I am lonely.
I moved down here to Statesboro knowing only one other person. I know a few more now, but most are just associated with work. I hang out with two people, both girls, and though they are nice and fun, they aren’t the close friends that I had while at Freed. If you asked me the thing that I miss most about being at Freed, it would definitely be the people. I call some of them up on the phone, but it isn’t the same. My prayer to God is that I can find some good, Christian friends down here (especially some males) that I can hang out with.

Pro: I am/will do a lot of reading.
The past couple of years, I haven’t been able to read because I have just been busy with school, hanging out with people, and having an Xbox in my apartment or down the hall. With my ancient N64 and no cable/internet (see the next con), I have been able and will have a lot of time to just read. So far, I have read 1 ½ books, with another book that will be started as soon as I finish the one that I am working on now. Last night I just sat down and read a 230 page book because there was nothing else to do. I love reading, so I am glad that I will be able to read a lot of books that I have been wanting to read for a long time; and with the GSU library very big and very nice as well as the Statesboro city library, I will have plenty of books to read.

Con: I have to be grown up/pay bills/decide where to spend my money.
I have learned fast that money doesn’t grow on trees, but if it does and I do not know about it, please let me know where asap so I can pay my bills. Being grown up means that you have many bills that you are now responsible, rather than mommy or daddy. I have to pay for rent, water, power, and hopefully soon internet. I have debated whether or not to get cable with my internet, and though I would love to just chill at home on a Saturday afternoon this fall and watch college football, it may just not be worth spending that money. After all, I do have to eat, lol.

Pro: I can walk around my apartment naked if I want to.
If any of the guys that I live with ever read this, they would say it doesn’t matter if I am living by myself or not, that I am going to walk around naked anyways. Ok, maybe they are right, but I still consider it a pro that I can walk around naked if I want and nobody will see/say anything/care. (note: for the record, I do not walk around naked very much, but I don’t have all my clothes on most of the time, lol)

Con: On-campus parking absolutely stinks.
Yes, it stinks because I am a cheap-o that doesn’t want to pay money for a parking permit, but still. There are like two free parking lots that are like 2 miles away from the building to park at, not cool. The upside I guess is that I will be doing a good bit of walking and if anybody has a bike that they are not using and wants to donate it to the Michael Young Foundation, I will be more than happy to take it off your hands.

Pro (though could be seen as Con): The church in Statesboro, GA.
I don’t know all there is to know about the church here in Statesboro, I think I will learn a lot more on Sunday, but from talking to a couple of people, this is my take on it. The church is small, I would say around 60 on a Sunday morning, though I will find out for sure on Sunday. The preacher is a friend of Tommy Tidwell, so I know he shoots straight and from being in class with him on Wednesday night, he knows his Bible very well. I asked him after church how many college kids there are. He said last semester wasn’t a very good semester for college kids. He said that if 10 college kids on a Sunday, it was a really good Sunday. He said there had been more a couple of years ago, but a lot of that had to do with leadership and how those people had graduated. I see this situation as a positive for a few reasons: 1. I have an opportunity to serve, whether it is by song leading, preaching, praying, or just encouraging those there. 2. I know I have the ability to lead and that it seems there is a opportunity to lead, especially with the college kids. Going to a Christian university has given me ideas and resources to use to help lead in that aspect. 3. God’s plan for me has led me here to Statesboro. There is a purpose that I haven’t figured out yet for why I am down here, but no matter the situation, if I am positive and try to make the most of it, then the Lord will bless me and the people that I try to touch.

[if you are interested, you can check out pictures of my apartment on facebook]

Background story and then the most recent story.

So the night before I graduated from Freed-Hardeman University, Lauren and I went to see my aunt and my grandmother, who had arrived to see me graduate the next day. Their hotel was in Selmer, about 20 minutes away from Henderson, so we drove down and had dinner with them. We went to pizza hut, then went back to the hotel and talked for a while, then we went to walmart before we headed back. On our way back, about halfway to Henderson, we passed some cop cars that were in the median. I was not speeding, so I did not even think twice about them being there. So we keep on driving and we are like literally a minute from campus, getting into town, when this cop car turns on its lights and pulls me over. I am in shock because I was not speeding, and I didnt have a clue what I was getting pulled over for. Long story short because this isnt even the main story, but he said I had been swerving the whole way back and asked if I had been drinking (which I hadnt). He made me get out of the car and did a field sobriety test, consisting of looking in my eyes and made me follow his finger. Ridiculous to say the least that I would be driving under the influence, but it was a funny story to tell...

So last night, driving up to see Lauren in North Carolina, I tried stopping for church in Florence, SC. I got to the church I had found about 15 minutes early, only to discover that they met for mid-week Bible study on Tuesday nights instead of Wednesday nights, so I quickly scrambled to try and find another church. So I went on Google and looked for another church close to the interstate and found this address. I go down the road and get off at the exit and follow my directions. I end up in the most ghetto-y, project-place that you can picture, with my white pasty skin in the very distinct minority to all of the people around me. So I quickly realize that I must have either messed the address up or that there wasnt a church there. So I quickly left, noticing a police car in a grassy field/lot near the road. I saw the speed limit was 25 mph and I looked down and saw that I wasnt going much over, so I didnt worry about it. Well, I get back on the main road and what do you know, that cop car is behind me and he then turns his lights on and pulls me over. Walking up to my car, I can tell that he is a southern boy, especially because of the wad of tobacco that he has in his cheek. He asks for my license and registration, and tells me that i was going 35 mph in a 25 mph zone (which I didnt fight, but I dont think I was going that fast) and that when he ran my tag that it came up as expired (which it wasnt, I even have a new tag on it, so I dont know what that was about). He went back to his car for about 10 minutes, which already was putting me a good 15 minutes late if I could find another church. He came back and gave me a warning, which I was VERY thankful for, but then he had a statement/question that turned out to be the kicker. He said that the area where I had been had a lot of crime and narcotics, and he asked if I would object for him to search my person and my car. I had already explained to him that I was driving from Georgia to North Carolina to see my girlfriend who was about to leave the country and that I was stopping in Florence to go to church. I guess that calls for him to suspect me as a narcotics dealer. I didnt object, so I got out of the car and went to the back, where he spread me and searched my whole body, including the private parts. Let's just say I never thought I would ever be frisked for drugs on a highway. I really want to know if I look like a criminal. I also want to point out that if he would have given me a ticket, I totally would have screamed racial profiling. He had no reasonable reason to search my car, only that I was a white boy in a very, very, not white area. Needless to say, he didnt find anything and proceeded to ask if he could help me with any directions. By this time it was 7:30, which church was already half over and I didnt even know where else to try and find a church. So I missed church Wednesday night because of being frisked for narcotics. To tell you the truth, I dont even know what narcotics are/look like...

I left South Carolina in a somewhat state of shock, just wondering why policemen think that I am a druggie/druglord. I guess getting lost isnt a good enough excuse now-a-days.

So life has been crazy since like before my birthday (June 24), and it wont slow down probably for the next month. I have made a trip to NC, worked a week at Camp Inagehi, took a trip to Arkansas/FHU, two trips to Statesboro to find a job and an apartment have left me with less than a week before I move to Statesboro and start work, then school. After moving down there, I am planning a last trip to NC before Lauren goes to Europe for 3 months, a trip to Florence, AL where I am going to be in my best friend Jerrod's wedding, and possibly a trip home to say by to Jake Askey, who is going to Marines basic training for a couple of months. With my many travels, I have had a good many hours to think, meditate, and philosophize. Here is just a glance at my thoughts/conclusions:

Decisions:
Living our lives day-to-day, we really dont think about how each little decision has an effect on our lives and other people's lives in general. I dont necessarily think it is a bad thing, because doing so has just made me feel sometimes overwhelmed with life, and that our purpose isnt to review each decision, but make a good decision each time that we have one and in the back of our minds realizing that it does have more than affect than we think it might be.

Social Classes/Lifestyles/Expectations:
Growing up, I have had an expectation of the standard of living that I will have when I get older. Most of the time it is similar or better than what I had growing up. While in Statesboro and while driving home yesterday, I really thought about this subject. There was a girl in the apartment office who's application was denied because of bad credit. She was even qualified to get an apartment that I thought (though I am going to live there) was somewhat substandard. While driving through a "lower income" part of a town in middle Georgia, it hit me that people were ok with living in these living situations "substandard" to my view of how I want to live. I think that a lot of people in the USA have that problem, with me at the head of the line. I think I am scared that I view myself as a failure because I do not have what the Joneses have. I think about how lucky I am to have gone to college, and it never was really a question about if I was going to go. It just makes me stop and reexamine myself when I realize that some people dont even think about college...its not even an option for them, yet we (myself and that person) are living in the same country and live in the same state/town.

Growing Up:
I officially dont like growing up. There is just too much responsibility.

Dilemma/Moral Question:
You get hit over the head with a blunt instrument and when you awaken from being unconscious, you find yourself in a concrete room with a locked metal door, and a bulletproof window. Also in the room is a 5 year old child, tied to a chair in the center of the room as well as a large knife in the corner. You look through the window and see on the other side of the glass that there are 10 more 5 year old children tied to 10 different chairs, just like the child in your room. A man walks in the other room and he starts speaking over an intercom that is connected to your room. He says, "In your room, there is a knife. You have the option to kill the child in your room with that knife. If you decide not to kill the child, then I will kill the 10 children here in this room with me. If you decide to kill the child, then the 10 children here in this room will not be killed/will be released. You have 5 minutes to make your decision." What would you decide to do?

[I will post pictures of my apartment once I get settled in]

so one of my new favorite commercials of all time is the new sprite commercial where the guys are sitting next to the basketball court and then they jump and the court is a pool, but the court at the same time...i probably explained it terribly, but it is a really cool commercial and the song that goes with it is pretty good too [see video below post]...so today i undertook the task of moving everything in my room, cleaning it and going through everything. i think i did a pretty good job today, considering that i have all the stuff from my room plus all the stuff i brought back with me from college. that and the fact that i go through everything that i touch, and at around midnight tonight i went into my side closet/attic and started going through all that stuff as well. thats where i am right now, i just went through all of that stuff, and though i am going to throw away a bunch of stuff, the memories of the stuff that i really enjoyed growing up just hit me. everybody talks with me about what i am going to do now, and how i have to grow up and get a job and be an adult, but until i really started looking at this stuff, it didnt really hit me. where did the years go where i could just hang out at home and play with my toys? i have to worry about providing for myself if i dont get into grad school. i have loans to pay off, and i dont know what i am going to do with my life. i know God has me in his hands, but its so crazy to think that 10 years ago, i was about to graduate from the 5th grade. i didnt have a care in the world. just to look back at some of the things that meant a lot to me, the stuff and the trinkets, not even to think about all of the people and events that have made me who i am today, and it just blows my mind about humanity. im falling away from being young, im falling into adulthood, and i wish i was falling the other way.

Fight On

So I probably should have been in bed a good while ago, but I was waiting for laundry and wasting my life playing the xbox. Late at night I usually do my thinking, more just processing things in my exhaustion. My song on my profile is "Fight On" by The Black Suits. My friends Shane and Kyle were the main people in the band. Shane died this past spring break while on a mission trip in the Dominican Republic. I just started thinking about him, all of the things he has missed since hes been gone, and it makes me so sad. I am a week and a day from graduating from Freed-Hardeman and ending the chapter of the last three of years of my life. Who knew I would be where I am today. I am so blessed. I take so much for granted. I was less than 100 miles from the Dominican when he died, swept out to sea by the waves. We were in Puerto Rico on a mission trip of our own. We didnt go into the water that day because it was too rough. Im crying now, not because I feel guilt or the other emotions that can be detrimental to oneself, but I cry because I miss my good friend. I got to write the lead story in the Bell Tower (student newspaper I am editor of at FHU). His girlfriend, best friend, and even his dad called and told me how much they appreciated it. It meant so much to me. I have never lost anybody close to me before. It stinks for sure. I wont ever forget him. I just have to do what I need to do so that I can hang out with him again one day, for eternity. It puts everything in perspective, especially at almost 3am. I still havent heard if I have gotten my graduate assistantship at UGA, much less if I am even accepted. The dreams that I have for my future seem so stupid and mundane. I have an awesome girl now who means the world to me. I have an opportunity to do some long term mission work. I want to have a career and a family, but at the same time, I could pass on tomorrow. Life is just but a vapor. I dont know if I should feel guilty for thinking about the future and want to be here for it. I guess all I can do is just fight on..