My life is a foot race against time. Spoiler alert: Time always wins. No matter how hard I try to outrun it, time always catches up with me. It's not always just time in general that I am racing, but rather events that time is sending after me. Recently, I have been running a race against the most important event to date in my life; my college graduation. I will admit, I did not run from this event for very long. Very early into my college career I slammed on the breaks, turned, opened my arms wide and embraced this monster ready to conquer it. After all, the monster that follows in it's footsteps is not one that I can run from. It will be there the second I shake Dr. Martin's hand and accept my diploma on Saturday. I can hide from it during the celebration I will have with my family that night. It will try to find me, but I will be well hidden by the laughter, the memories and the nostalgia. However, once my eyes open on Sunday morning, I will be staring this monster right in the face. Life will be there waiting for me...
A grown man once sat down and talked with me about what I wanted to do with my life. I told him that I felt called to full time ministry through athletics. I feel as though the Lord can and will use me best by using my knowledge of business principles and sports to become a successful athletic director in the high school or low collegiate level. I feel that I will be used the same way through coaching baseball. This man told me that these are dreams and I needed to face reality. He challenged my goals in life and basically told me that I will never be successful because I did not go into a field that guaranteed me monetary success. If I had to look this man in the eye again today, I would tell him the same thing that I did on that day before excusing myself from his house: "I appreciate your concern but I do not want your advice. You measure success in WHAT you do and not HOW WELL you are at what you do. Do not EVER AGAIN tell me what I want to do with my life is wrong. You are entitled to your opinion, but when it comes to my life, unless I ask for it, keep it to yourself." I use people like this jerk for motivation. Not to gloat, but since that day I have interviewed for a job with the Baltimore Orioles, worked for two NASCAR races in Richmond and by doing so getting to meet drivers, reporters, owners, and very prominent figures within the sport world, and worked an entire football season for the Athletic Communications Department at Liberty University. Not bad for a dreamer at the age of 22 I would say.
So now that college is over, what have I learned? I can honestly say that the lessons I have learned the most do not come from textbooks or any lecture that a professor has prepared based on the learning material. Do not get me wrong, I have a handful of professors that have taught me many things but it was not the curriculum that taught me my most valuable lessons. Going away to college on my own 4 years ago has taught me so much about life. Perhaps the most important thing that I learned was that I did not go away alone. Sure, I was forced to be dependent as far as most things go but I was not ever alone. During my time away from home, I have learned just how important my family is to me. I would pay the tens of thousands of dollars again just for this life lesson alone. I have always loved and appreciated my family but it was not until I left home and realized just how great my appreciation for them was. Not a week went by in 4 years where I did not talk to my parents or grandparents. Sometimes I would even call them once a day, it all depended on how busy I was. They have helped me monetarily, yes, but I rarely made an important decision in my life without consulting each of them first. My aunts and uncles could not have been more of a help either. Knowing that I had everyone's support and most importantly, prayers, made college the success that it was for me.
I have made some very amazing friends since being here. I have heard people tell me that you will me your best friends in life in college. I am pleased to say that this is partially true but I am even more proud to say that I have been able to stay very close with some of best friends from high school as well. The times I have had with all of my friends over these years have been outstanding. They have partnered with my family in making the good times great and the hard times bearable. My freshman year was an adjustment. I learned very quickly the wrong way to manage money and was forced to make a successful budget, but what kid who is not spoiled by his parents does not struggle in college. We learn the most from our hardships. This year has, by far, been the toughest for me academically and as far as life goes. Most of you know by now that on the morning of February 17, I received a very disturbing phone call from my mother informing me that my Uncle Larry had passed away. I am already taking 19 credit hours and then this? I won't lie. I told my family I was fine, but school's over now. Coming back from the week of the funeral and finishing this semester was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, academically and emotionally. The Lord is the only one to credit for the strength I received to finish. He truly blessed me with the most amazing family and friends I could ask for to help me through it.
So Sunday morning I will wake up and stare that monster called Life in the eyes. I will not run from it but instead I will wake up and thanks to the lessons I have learned in college, I will face it and be ready to conquer it. The Lord has done a mighty work in my life and grown me from a boy into a man in just 4 short years. I have been equipped with the knowledge to succeed in my chosen career path and will more importantly take the life lesson that I have learned to become the man that I have always hoped to be. Yes, this is the end of one part of my life, but it has opened a whole new beginning.
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