I Just Want to Taste Gold..Just Once

If you don't already know me, I am a very very very big Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Twins, and Wisconsin Badgers fan.  If any of you have heard of the term "bandwagon," I am the complete opposite.  Unlike someone who cheers for the winning team, I have never been alive to witness one of my sports teams win a championship.  Not one!  Do you know how frustrating it is as a die-hard sports fan to not once raise my hands in front of the TV screen and shout "WE'RE #1."  Instead I'm usually caught saying other school inappropriate words because they choke.  The Vikings in there 52 year history have never won a Super Bowl.  They have gone to the game 4 times.  Every single one they were the favorite, and they still couldn't win one.  The same with the Badgers.  They have never won a football national championship, but they did win a basketball championship in 1941, but everyone was off at war.  That one doesn't count in my opinion.  Now the Twins are my one gem.  They won the World Series in 1987 and 1991, but I was not alive.  All I ask is that the teams I support and care so much about can give me the pride and joy of winning a championship....just one!!

WIth One Gone Comes Another

In life God doesn't give you the people you want, instead He gives you the people you need. To teach you, to hurt you, to love you, and make you exactly the way you should be.

-Unkown

In my short 18 years of life, I have seen a lot of death.  Unlike other children or young adults, I no longer have grandparents.  All four of my grandparents have passed away.  I have grown to understand death a little more.  It is an obvious thought, but I now understand we all have to die.  When you are young, you don't always understand that.  You feel that you are invincible, or death is in way way in the future.  It is not though.  Death could happen at any time.  That is why you need to value every moment of your life.  Take advantage of every chance you get.  There is no such thing as a perfect moment.  Take a moment and make it perfect.  

With death also comes life.  I have been blessed to also witness a lot of births in my extended family.  Now at my family reunions there are little kids running all over the place.  The little one that means the most to me though is my niece, Karis.  She just turned 4 in February, and she is the sweetest thing in the world. She is my sister Sarah's daughter.  I don't get to see her a lot, but when I do, I make the best of it.  I was the one that taught her how to "high 5."  I was the one who taught her how to throw a ball.  I was the one that taught her her cool "wassup" sayings.  I am hoping our family will be able to grow even larger in the near future.

With one death comes another life.  The circle will continue as long as there is a sky.  Make the best of your moments with each other, because tomorrow may bring a different crowd.

WOLFPACK

I can't believe I am already approaching my freshman year of college.  It seems just like yesterday I was graduating from Mrs. Bina's kindergarden class.  Time has flown by for sure.

One of the toughest decisions of my life was choosing which college to go to.  I had to factor in so many different things.  I was factoring in cost, majors, location, and friends.  After all of the college mail and recruiting I narrowed it down to four choices.  I was deciding between Lenior-Rhyne, St. Olaf, UNC-Charlotte, and NC State.  The reason I wanted to go to Lenior-Rhyne was because it was close to home, and I had the opportunity to play football.  I wouldn't have been on scholarship for football at LR, but it would have been an opportunity to walk on and continue my passion for the sport.  Also, St. Olaf gave me a chance to continue to play football.  St. Olaf is a very prestige school in Minnesota.  It is almost as hard to get into as UNC-Chapel Hill.  When I found out that I got in, it was a huge honor.  Although both are good schools, I narrowed down my search to UNC-Charlotte and  NC State.  Then the real deciding came.  All of my close friends were going to Charlotte, but I would have a better time getting a job if I went to NC State.  The reason I wanted to go to NC State was because they are really famous for having a good engineering program, but Charlotte also had the program.   So, it was a very tough decision.  I ended up choosing NC State which was very hard.  My close friends thought I was ditching them.  They thought that I was going to the other school because I didn't care about them.  That is what made the decision tough.  Then I thought, I can still keep them as friends and make new friends.  When it comes down to a college choice you should pick it because of the college not the friends.  I hope I made a good choice.  I'm sure I will be fine, but it is tough saying good bye to close friends.  We looked at our future holiday college breaks and they all all different.  That is what is the sad part.  It will be hard to stay in touch.  Although I am sad, I am very excited about the future I have in college.

PICK UP YOUR CROSS

What do you believe in?  About 99% of you will say, "I believe in God." Or, "I believe in Jesus."  But, do you believe he exists, or do you believe in what he says?  I think the second is more important.  I heard  a sermon once that said, "even the devil believes in God, he just doesn't follow God's laws."  I really thought about that.  What makes us better than the devil if we just "believe" in God.  Just "believing" is not good enough.  We need to trust, respect, live, speak, obey, and love God's word.  Not just be happy with "believing".  That is why I try to live my life by serving God.  I hope that through my actions other people can do more than just "believe" in God.  They can also live their lives to honor him.  I think our society is not very encouraging to live a Godly life.  Television is getting worse and worse, church is becoming less and less important, and just overall our culture is rejecting God.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a lot of things that I probably shouldn't, but the river is flowing in the wrong direction.  Why should standing up for God be an upstream battle?  It should really be the other way around, but it's not!! That is what I want to fix, but it takes more than one person...that is why I respect Tim Tebow.  He is doing that people would be to scared to do.  He is standing up for his faith in front of the whole world.  The thing is he isn't that special, we can all do that!  He just is actually doing what God made us all to do.  Just like Tim Tebow, we need to GIVE GOD ALL THE GLORY in our lives.  Don't just "believe" in God, "believe" in his word!

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

-1 Corinthians 10:31

WHAT MAKES YOU JAM?

It is amazing how music influences the body.  You can tell what mood I am in by what music I am listening too.  Unlike some people, I enjoy a wide variety of music.  One day I could be listening to southern rock, and the next I could be listening to rap.  It all depend on what mood I am in.  I can not stand people that listen to someone just because they are popular, or because their friends are listening to them.  Music should be entertaining your own personal soul.  Although I do believe in growing to like a style.  When I moved to North Carolina I could not stand country music.  It seemed so boring and simple.  But that exact reason is why I have grown to like it.  The simplicity of the music is relaxing, and comforting.  It feels good riding down the road listening to some Jason Aldean.  When I am playing a sport I enjoy listening to rap.  I am not a huge fan of all the cussing and the message they portray, but I love the beats.  Something about hip-hop beats makes you feel like you can run through a brick wall, or even jump over it.  When I was younger, I really enjoyed rock music.  I was trying to learn how to play guitar and in result I listened to a lot of that music.  I was even a part of a band in elementary school.  Lets just say we weren't that good, but we had a lot of fun...When I was 6 my parents forced me to play the violin.  I learned to appreciate a lot of the classical music that was being played in symphonies and such.  So overall I have a large background in all types of music.  I encourage you to not be subject to one style. Every form of music is connected, and all can be appreciated.

SENIORITY

I can not believe my senior year is almost over.  This is a stage in your life you always associate with being "the end."  Just thinking about graduation makes me sick to my stomach.  Why would anyone want to graduate?  Yes, at times I feel like I want to be done with school, but why would you want to rush through this great stage in our lives.  This is our last chance to be kids.  After we walk off that podium and receive our diploma, it won't ever be the same.  We won't ever be together as the class of 2012.  I know you want to move on an get on with your life, but be careful you don't rush.  The journey is more important than the destination.  Soak up every moment in life, because you never know when it will all come to an end.  Luckily, we all know when graduation is, and we can make the best of our time together.  I will truly miss the class of 2012 no matter how boring the classes may be, or tedious the work.  It is amazing how much we have all grown up.  We are approaching the last couple months of high school...I don't want this to end!

BLEED BLUE N' GOLD

Athletics have influenced my life since the day I could talk.  My first word was "ball" and it will probably be my last.  The experience I have had at Alexander Central was amazing.  I was able to bring a football conference championship to ACHS for the first time in 27 years, and the first conference championship in basketball in 33 years.  But more importantly, I have made so many friends and memories.  What made playing sports at Alexander Central so special was the community.  Everywhere you went in town people would recognize you and congratulate you on your last game.  This county is like no other.  The parents aren't the only ones at the games.  If you look up you can see the whole town in the stands.  At times I would feel like a celebrity, but more importantly, loved by the community.

There are several memories I have, but there are a few that I will never forget.  The highlight for football was when we beat Hibriten in the last game of the season last year.  That was no doubt the best feeling of my high school career.  No one, and I mean no one gave us a chance in that game.  Hibriten had not been beaten by anyone in our conference in forever.  When we blocked that kick in overtime, my heart screamed in jubilation.  We stormed the field and we were able to celebrate our first conference championship in 27 years.  Our team felt like David in the bible, we had slain Goliath.  We are still celebrating that win till this day.  I felt so proud to be a part of Alexander Central.

Another memory I will never forget is the Hickory basketball game my senior year.  We played Hickory High at home in front of a recored crowd at Alexander Central.  This game was for the lead in the conference.  Hickory had gotten lucky and beat us by buzzer beaters two times before this game.  This game was for revenge.  The whole game was a battle.  No one got ahead by more than 5 points the entire game.  I was playing a really good game and felt pretty confident.  When the score was tied with 3.7 seconds left, Coach Wills drew up an inbounds play.  It was designed for me to hit a three in the corner.  My best friend and teammate Cameron Gant turned to me and said "You got this."  We ran the play and I was able to heave up a shot that went in.  The students stormed the court, and dog pilled our team.  It was the best feeling in the world.  All that hard work had paid off.  All the travel ball tournaments our team went to, all the practices, all the sprints, everything came down to that moment.  With that win we were able to give hickory there first conference loss in four years.  We put ourselves in a tie for first place, that eventually helped us win a conference championship.  The first championship in over 33 years.  Also with this basketball team we tied the school recored for wins in a season, and advanced to the 3rd round for the first time in school history.  No doubt I will always remember these teammates.  They were more than friends.  They were my brothers.  It was a heck of a ride.  I hope we put on a show for the community....and I believe we did.