I personally love to write. I express feelings of frustration, joy, humility, inspiration, and whatever else happens to be on my mind at any particular moment. With an unscripted personality comes unscripted thoughts that are random and perhaps sometimes ridiculous, but if you take a few minutes to read, I think you will not only come to better understand me. You will better understand my perspective with what I write.
I am one of the most random people you may ever meet. I do my best to enjoy life in general, and I try to be content with what God has blessed me to have in my life. I am a blunt, honest individual that will give you an honest opinion if asked. Relationships are the most important things in my life. I am concerned with only the opinions of close friends, family, and other close relations of people who care about me. Otherwise, I tend to not care what other people think of me. I am not here to please the world. I am on this planet to serve others in hopes that God finds favor with my efforts to do so at the end of my Earthly existence. I am a good-natured person that lives for the moment. Even though not always successful, I try to look at things in a positive light with a productive attitude and world view. I am thankful for each breath that I take because each breath that is taken is a blessing in of itself. Make the most of what you can while you can. You get one chance at this thing called life. So try your best to Glorify God and Enjoy Him Forever. If you have any questions about me or my BLOG, don't hesitate to ask, and I will give you a straightforward answer.
Now I have been given a gift….the gift of life….the gift to live and serve others in distinguishable acts of kindness. When you die, I want you to picture a Christ-centered homecoming of sorts. You finish the race. As you awake into the eternal bliss of angelic presences and God inspired light, a heavenly voice welcomes you into a realm of newfound joy. The joy tingles your heart with comfort unlike any felt before because Christ wraps his arms around you to welcome you home after a long traveled journey on another world known as earth. You see we truly are heavenly creatures visiting another world where we are meant to travel through on passage to the next. When I pass, the words I hope to hear whispered are that “I am of proud of you.” Those are naturally the words that every son hopes to hear from a father.
While I know confidently that I am saved by the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ, I do not want to waste my life in a mediocre existence of survival mode. I want to live! I want to achieve! I want to experience! I want to love! I want to make a difference serving other people!
Find your reason for living and pursue with every drop of earthly water and blood within your being to seize what is yours. Take what is yours in the calling of your dreams and fulfill them with Spirit-filled power. As believers, we have one weapon that is unstoppable. We have Christ within us to overcome evil and triumph in achievement that make observers wonder, “How did he do that?” The answer is rather simple. I believed that God would fulfill the calling of my life and with faith the Spirit blessed that internal belief.
I will publish. I will fulfill my call to inspire those who society labels as disabled. You will find if you embark on my journey through my first book that what disables me enables me to live passionately for God and nothing else. I was given a gift to write, to speak, to network, and creatively infuse all my talents into one so that I may serve a Higher Power. I intend to make the most of it. I have one opportunity….one chance….and one life to demonstrate that what constitutes as my disability serves to ignite a passion unlike any experienced ever before. To live is Christ, and to die is gain. I will live knowing that my limitation has become my greatest asset and my greatest strength. I cannot be stopped. I will not be stopped. There is only room for success because only Good Things can be found in the God I love, worship, and praise in Whom I truly call my Heavenly Father. So go. Live. Dream. Love. And believe that God created you for great things!
Okay I went to check out a local dive in Chattanooga, Tennessee known as the Tremont Tavern. I had never been there, but it was a cool joint to hang out while visiting some old friends, Jason Coffey and Joseph Goetz. Growing up in Chattanooga, when I go out to grab a few brews with Jason Coffey, we typically always run into someone we know even if not originally meeting in the group at the designated location of the night. Chattanooga is one of those places that generally plays the part of a large city with a very low key town feel. Everybody knows everybody.
We were sitting at a table pushed against the wall where typically a party of four would conglomerate coming together, but there were five total guys. So we pulled up an extra chair. I happened to be sitting at the fifth chair at the end of the table, and there was a high top table right next to our table where two or three could comfortably sit.
Two girls arrived to sit right next to us at the high top table, and one of the girls just looked familiar to me. It was not one of those cheesy moments where a guy says, “Hey, you look familiar….do I know you?” in the form of a pickup line. The girl was a smoker anyway, and I typically do not take interest in smokers considering I do not enjoy smelling like a bonfire in addition to smoke-stained breath that tastes like a bad batch of untasty barbeque flavor. So being as shy as my personality lends itself, I introduced myself and asked if this girl may have known myself, Jason, or Joseph. I explained briefly life connections all of us had with high schools, universities, churches, and other miscellaneous organizations in east Tennessee. You might at this point guess what her reaction was. She thought I was hitting on her to ask for her phone number.
I did not want to bluntly hurt her feelings saying, “I do not date smokers or girls who simply flatter themselves before a guy can even flatter them with buying a drink or a mild kind compliment.” Before the conversation even started, this girl thought I was hitting on her. That immediately clued me into where the direction of the conversation was going, her favorite subject encompassing a ME-complex. Her name was Tinsley, and while she was somewhat attractive, she was no Megan Fox. What was even worse was another guy joined in on the conversation while I was talking to her. He said the following: “Do you know how much a polar bear weighs? I don’t either. I just wanted to break the ice so I could introduce myself.” She started giving me flack about hitting on girls in bars without even mentioning or noticing the new acquaintance beside me. In other words, she did not give him a hard time of any sorts.
I think my reaction threw her off a little bit. I simple sat down and did not say a word. I am not a person who indulges in one’s own individual prideful thoughts of self. She expected me to continue the conversation perhaps with something like, “That is not what I meant and blah, blah, blah, …” instead of sitting down and not even trying.
I am a nice guy, but I am not a nice guy who apologizes for no reason and who indulges in the cares of other people where nice behaviors become a run-over spectacle. What was apparently noticeable is Tinsley was obviously uncomfortable with my sit-down reaction. She said, “It was a pleasure to meet you.” I honestly did not feel the same because I was only making polite conversation. I was not hitting on the girl. I have more class than the polar bear line, and I treat girls respectfully as I myself would want to be treated. If you assume anything, your assumption can sometimes come back to bite you in the butt so to speak.
Perhaps the moral of this story is that if someone obviously thinks only him or herself from the very beginning of any conversation, that is a conversation that you do not even need to be indulging in, and what I have found is that this type of internal focus is not developed from a true confidence of self-esteem but rather an uncertain view of self. An inflated appearance of esteem infers an inflated sense of insecurity. Sometimes people are just politely making conversation. Southerners tend to do that. When someone speaks generally nice to you, speak generally nice back to the person and do not automatically assume the person is speaking to you with ulterior motives even if the environment you inhabit lends to such judgments. And in my case, if you are a smoker, a nonsmoker is probably not interested in the attractive appeal of a moment’s suggested intentions. If Tinsley had taken a moment to not think about herself, she might have noticed that, and the guy with the clever polar bear comment would have become a bystander in the conversation, not the nice guy who really wanted nothing out of the situation to start off with.
In some regards this blog entry serves to give a brief book review for Michael Morris’s book, Live Like You Were Dying, a literary work based off the popular song by Tim McGraw. I found the plot of the book to be somewhat steadfast in its natural course especially in some places where it stuck to the course of the song. For example, the main character, Nathan, does go skydiving and rides a bull named FuManchu which honestly could certainly be one of my favorite scenes in the book. I do not necessarily dislike unpredictable plot lines but in the same breath I would admit that extreme surprises are not my favorite picks. I like happy endings. I like comfortable and perhaps even realistic outcomes. As a southern work of fiction, this text fulfills those expectations and those preferences in my own literary and film critiques. For example, to further illustrate my point, I was not real crazy about the Sixth Sense when Bruce Willis suddenly appeared dead at the end of the movie and was playing a dead character all along. I thought the idea and creativity of such an ending was very cool and do not mind that type of story every now and then. It throws a wrench into my typical mechanical train of thought. I enjoy a good Hallmark movie or even better a good romantic comedy like Love Actually or The Holiday, something that makes me have a good laugh with a great story line and a favorable ending. That thus fulfills not only audience expectations but in some regards my own preferences.
This book is a story about what truly matters in life: family, moments, nature, small towns, friendship, love, hope, and how to live like you are dying. The storyline might be surefire or determinable in what occurs, but like I mentioned, I very much like that aspect of the book. What matters from a communicative standpoint is the deeper message here. What is life really all about? What matters most? What are you willing to die for? And if you knew you were dying, what would you do? How would you feel? What would be your first priorities?
When talking to my mom about this type of book, she becomes eager to read any work by any southern writer especially if I happen to meet them. Meeting a writer almost further brings a book to life. Michael Morris’s pieces are very much southern-based, and with inspiration found in Tim McGraw’s song, the scenario of this book certainly follows a southern motif and standard for a small town setting in Choctaw, Georgia. I asked my mother, “What would be one of the last places you would like to visit before you die?” I did not mean that she was actually going to die but rather a life goal like somewhere she would like to go. She answered, “I would like my family to be around.” She took me literally as if she really was dying and talking to those along her imaginative dying bedside. I could not help but burst out laughing because I do not really think she was listening. It was probably one of those tangent moments where I keep talking. She says, “Ummmm….okay….that’s good….oh, Asia, that interesting. Dying….I would want family around.” She just kind of nods her head in agreement when I roll into one of my dream tangents. As a kind parent, she supports all that I do but sometimes still remembers the “gift of gab” her son clearly has, agreeing with all I say as if really listening to me go on and on and on.
So the question still stands: What do you want to do or see if you were dying? Just today when I ate dinner with my mother at Panera Bread, the turkey-three cheese panini tasted even sweeter as the cheese rolled down my chin from its melted hot sensations. Oh, my taste buds were feeling it! I did not worry about my calorie count. I bought one of those huge delicious chocolate chip cookies because if I died I was not worried about an extra belt loop. I would want to savor the last thing I ate. I would want to know that I spent my last meal with someone I loved, my mother. I slept late today after working late into the night which is how my biological clock usually works anyway. I am most productive from 9:00 pm-12:30 am. I also finished Morris’s book this afternoon. Outside of this blog entry, I did not do anymore writing. I did not feel guilty about taking the day to enjoy it like I needed to earn it. It was a true “live like you were dying” day because simple things carried much more significance, and a normal day was not treated as ordinary. It was treated as extraordinary!
Before I chased after my own dream of publishing a book, I spoke with a minister from Opelika, Alabama about taking some time to enjoy something I have always wanted to do, glorifying God and growing closer to Him in the process. I asked, “What do you think about that?” He said, “I think that’s a great idea. I know a friend who took a year off to do that.” Some would consider this time a vacation or not taking life seriously….a waste of time! What is funny to me is these people are usually the first ones who would do something like this if they could.
I prayed to God after finishing the book, “Where would you have me go if I was going to die soon?” The answer was Asia. I know this is a really random place to a random question, but going to Southeast Asia has been in the back of my mind for quite some time. I never thought God would give me that answer to go there for potential mission work. If I am able and God truly opens these doors, I will also visit Portland, Oregon to chase some authors in this pursuit of dreams to write a book. I do want to live my life just for the sake of a daily existence. I want my life to be a vibrant example of God’s fire in His own will to do amazing things in simple people.
I am not suggesting that you take such large leaps if you prefer a home environment more so than me. I am also in my upper twenties; so I am trying to live those passions out while I can. To live with a “like you are dying mentality,” sometimes all you need to do is notice the butterflies on those flowers you always jog, walk, or drive by. Notice the feel of sweet sunlight against your face this beautiful September day. Kiss the one you love like the first day you saw her. It was all you did to keep your cool because you liked her so much. Kiss her like you were dying. Kiss her like you had nothing to lose and like no one was looking even if everyone is looking.
If you are confused by all this jargon I am referring to, then perhaps to get refocused you need to read Morris’s book, Live Like You Were Dying, while you blast Tim McGraw’s song on your ITunes list with repeat mode looping through and through again. When you appreciate the moment you hear the song in the moment while you are reading the book, I would say you are on your way to seeing how things feel when you live like you are dying. Check out McGraw’s video below if you dig the lyrics to this chorus.
“and he said I went sky diving I went Rocky Mountain climbing I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named FuManchu and I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter and I gave forgiveness I'd been denying and he said someday I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying.”
I just went to a book store here in Birmingham for signing with Francine Rivers. If you are unfamiliar with her literature, then that might mean you need to read more. One of her most famous novels is Redeeming Love. An old girlfriend of mine had me read the book after she said I needed to treat her better. The book changed my dating perspective forever!
Mrs. Rivers offered some sound advice. First, she told me to embrace rejection because it was likely in the publishing field after I informed her that I am working on my first book.
I mentioned the name of another famous author who openly writes and talks about her own disability. She recently was arrested due to some poor decisions based on her medical addictions. Secondly, Mrs. Rivers mentioned that we all have addictions and that my addiction should be seeking God constantly on my knees in prayer. My only acceptable should be my love and obsession for Jesus Christ.
Thirdly, Mrs. Rivers signed her book with Deuteronomy 6:5, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” I think that is a life lesson to take home to the house. With you love God with everything you have, any dream is possible, even signing to traditionally publish a book of your very own. Never give up! Never stop fighting! Never lose heart! And never stop loving the Lord of your life, Jesus Christ!
