whoa…

so i guess it’s been a couple few months since i’ve written on here…to be honest…i kinda forgot about having a blog for a while.  I am obviously not very good at keeping up with my blog but i promise i will do my best to post at least once a week.  To some of you that may seem easy…but to me it will be pretty monumental…

So i am back in Gastonia living with my dad and grandmother for a little while until i can find a job in charlotte.  I’ve been here for about a month now and to be honest, things have gone rather smoothly.  I am enjoying being back in North Carolina with my family and friends and church.  It’s really great to have a support system in place and know that i have alot of people here that really care about me.  I enjoyed being away from home for a while and was able to build some great relationships, but, there is nothing like being close to family.  Many of you are probably thinking that I wouldn’t have said that a year ago…and you are completely right.  But, God has a way of changing your heart and mind and helping us to realize what is most important in our lives.  And I am grateful.  

As far as the job hunt goes…i have had a few interviews and i will likely try to do some personal training in charlotte.  It seems as though i have been in this exact situation before…but i am embracing the challenge this time and heading into it with alot of confidence in God…knowing that He will sustain me…knowing that He has already walked through this ahead of me…laid the ground work and will use me to His glory…

so there is a little snapshot of what is going on in my life…

and i hope to keep you posted more in the future…

BUDS: ABE and ROSIE

I’d like to introduce some of my best buds. Since i’m not in charlotte with them at the moment…i look at facebook profiles and pictures just to laugh out loud and remember…and look forward to hanging out with them again…

This is Abraham…and i bet you’re thinking that no one has been named that in 200 years…He’s a stock broker with Bank of America in Charlotte…We played ball together and lived together for my first year in Charlotte…He helped me through one of the hardest times in my life…known as the “Hardcore Boyd” era…you can’t appreciate that…but he put up with it…and spoke God’s word to me and encouraged me throughout…

This is Andrew…or Drew…or Rosie…whatever…and Yes, that is a family size can of ravioli he’s eating by himself…not sure if that’s pre or post workout…He works for AlphaEMC in Charlotte, NC…We lived together with Abe for a few months before i moved out with some other friends…We also played ball together…He is probably the most un-complicated and simple minded guys i know…we should all learn to get to that place…He’s also the funniest guy i know…I look at pictures and hurniate due to the laughter…

Here are my two friends together atop Crowder’s Mountain in North Carolina…it’s a fun hike…especially with goof balls like these…hope they didn’t forget Yam’s after the hike…

Look at the roomies/teammates…best of buds…conquering another marine challenge…nice Chuck Norris shirts…

And to prove that i know them…here we are after a marine challenge…i’m the bald guy on the right…and yes…this is “hardcore boyd” era…

These are two of the best friends a guy could ask for…they’re honest…loyal…and uplifting.  They’ve served as teammates, best friends, and brothers in Christ…and i couldn’t be more proud and honored to be associated with these two guys…

I’ll introduce some other friends later…

Don’t push the red button

Why do we always push the red button when we are told not to…touch the hot stove…or look down?  Why can’t we just take someone else’s word for it? Why do we always have to figure it out ourselves and wind up paying the consequences?

Why do we take God’s Word lightly when he gives us clear cut instructions?  ”hey, Adam and Eve, don’t eat from that tree over there”…that caused a big mess!!!…I can’t be more joyful that we have a redeemer, however!

I know in my own spiritual life it has been very hard to take God’s word and follow it every day.  It’s impossible to live perfectly and free of sin…this is why we have a Savior in Christ.  However, God gives clear instruction regarding morality (which is not relative as some believe), and holiness, and love, and so on.  These instructions are so that He will be Glorified and that we would be joyful…which go hand in hand…a joyful life in Christ glorifies God.  God gives us instructions in His Word that we would follow…be joyful…be a light…and Glorify Him…

I have been challenged tonight in a big way…I’m reading a book called Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper.  In the second chapter he writes on joy and love.  He writes that to love someone is to want the absolute best for them…which in a Christian perspective would be for them to know Christ.  If we do not share the love of Christ with those we claim to love; do we really love them? He also writes that Joy in Christ should be an overflow that shows others the relationship we have with our savior.  If we claim to have the relationship with Christ but don’t have the joy of knowing the father…then why would that be attractive to a non-believer?  

So why don’t we do what we should do…and do what we shouldn’t do?  That’s an intense question…and requires alot of time that i don’t have right now…I’ll just throw out some key words though…UnBelief-Pride-Satan-Warfare-and many others…

JD: What’s That Smell?

Spandex and Hairspray

Spandex and Hairspray…both representative of the 80’s.  Other 80’s nostalgia…Def Lepard, Guns n Roses, The Goonies (top 10 of all time), and my childhood.  

I have a big brother who is 6 years older than me…so when i was experiencing childhood…he was experiencing his teenage years….how scary!  So of course…just like any little brother…i wanted to be like big brother…so i dressed lik him… spiked my hair like him…listened to G-n-R, Def Lepard and The Fat Boys, just like him…and threatened to runaway just like him.  ya know…normal teenage things…the problem was that i was 7 years old.  

Childhood was tough for me for a variety of reasons but also very joyful…it is very easy to revisit those years…i actually do revisit them quite often.  These years have produced some of the most vivid memories that i have…vivid i think because of the emotion tied to them.  When i think back to these years…it’s very easy to not only revisit the sites and sounds of the moment…but also the emotion.  It is very easy to think back and have tears fill my eyes…or laugh out loud…not only due to the emotion i felt back then…but also the emotion it sparks in me now…

As i think back to my childhood and reflect on the feelings and emotions…i can take a new perspective as a 26 year old and experience new feelings and emotions toward my past situations…and i think that’s important toward my healing.  

I am very thankful for the way God brought me through my childhood…and raised me up to be the man that I am today…I am thankful for His grace and Blessings in the past…and I live in His future grace…

I guess what JD planned to be a funny and entertaining topic kinda took a different road for me…just in one of those moods i guess….oh well…

www.thejdblog.wordpress.com : South Carolina Come on and Stand Up…

If I Had One Wish

If i had one wish…i think i’d like for everyone i know to come to a relationship with God through Christ.  As I’m thinking about this post…it’s becoming clear that that should be the main goal of my life as a Christian…to be a light for those around me…for me to sacrifice my best interest for the eternal interest of my friends and family.  I know that it is not me that converts anyone but God’s grace and the Holy Spirit bringing one to salvation…but God has definitely called each of us to lay down our lives and take up our cross and serve one another…so that they would know Him.

Lately I have thought alot about career and family and such…but i can not get my mind off of the greater call God has on my life as his disciple…I have thought lately about missions…and life as a missionary….what must that life be like?  

I do believe that missions does not have to be abroad and that there are lost people right in our own back yard…but i still think about frontier missions…and reaching unreached people groups and how exciting that must be to see God move as only He can…

As for me right now…I am commissioned to make disciples…and to live Holy…and I hope to do these things in an effort to see my one wish come true…that all of those around me would one day know Christ…

JD’s post:  What I Said and What you Heard

www.thejdblog.wordpress.com

 

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There

My friend Jonathan Davis has challenged me… quite historically…to a blog off. the blog off is a remedy to our lack of motivation to blog in the past weeks. The challenge…Jonathan comes up with a topic…and i have 48 hours to write a blog about that topic…at the end of my blog i post the next topic…JD then has 48 hours to post a blog on that topic…the first person to fail to meet the dead line is the loser…you have permission to consider JD and myself genius.  

HERE WE GO…

What got you here won’t get you there.  This is a phrase that when taken seriously will force you to think and rethink the way that you are doing things….whatever they might be.  When Jonathan posted this topic, I am sure he was thinking in a business sense.  The idea is that when businesses grow, they must adapt to their growth…and keep changing to accomodate that growth…and reach the next level of growth…Redundant…YES!!!  When a business is it’s infancy, it’s goals are much different than when a business has matured.  The same processes that shape a million dollar business into a multi million dollar are not adequate in most cases to shape that multi-million dollar business into a billion dollar business.  Imagine if Bill Gates and Microsoft tried to use the same process now that they did when they were in year one and just trying to get off the ground.  It’s a simple fact that business out grows itself and has to adapt.  

Now let’s look at it in a different perspective…one that I am a little more familiar with…Fitness.  The human body after 4 weeks of training under the same load and stimulus will stop making adaptations…we call this “staleness”.  So no matter how hard you work and do the same exercises…your body doesn’t make the same gains that it did in the first 4 weeks.  the cure…you simply change exercise…along with volume…and intensity…and like magic your body will begin to make adaptations again…we call this “specific adaptation to increasing demands (SAID principal)…and this principal works in business just as it does in fitness…

…so, what got you here, won’t get you there.

now the next question is…How do I take this principal and apply it to every day life?…I can think of a few ways…regarding Faith, Finances, Relationships and so on….take it …. think about it.. apply it… share it… make the world a better place…

next topic:  present sacrifice and future gain

RESPONSE: www.thejdblog.wordpress.com 

 

 

M-I-crooked letter-crooked letter…

I am in a hotel in Mississippi now.  We got here saturday night and it was a different kind of hot.  at game time at 7:05 it was 89…and i thought i was gonna drown in the humidity.  Today was totally different though…i think we had a high of 78 and sunny with almost no humidity…how weird.  

This is the first time i’ve ever been to Mississippi…and it made me think about my grandpa.  When i was 6 or 7 my pawpaw taught me the little saying about the spelling of Mississippi…you know…M-I-crooked letter-crooked letter-I-crooked letter-crooked letter-I-hump back-hump back-I…cheesy i know…but it made me smile.  

This is the furthest west i’ve been from home…and i think it’s made me miss home a little more than i do when i’m in montgomery.  I guess mothers day is an added factor as well.  

You ever here the saying, “Far from sight, Far from mind”?  I think that depends on who you’re talking to…I think about my family and friends all the time…and when i say friends…i mean the ones that i have invested in and have invested in me.  There are some friends that i haven’t been able to keep in touch with much…but i think about them all the time…i think about them b/c at different points in the past couple years they have been major contributors to my personal growth. Just because i haven’t been able to speak with them doesn’t mean i value them any less…it just means we haven’t had time. I am very blessed to have the kind of friends i do and i’m thankful for every one of you….

can’t wait to see ya soon!

Got Nothin’

Got nothin’ good to write tonight….seems i’m pretty bad at this blogging thing.  I’ll just ramble…

I went to wal-mart tonight to buy a tv…i picked out the one i wanted and asked for help getting it from the back…as expected they didn’t have it in stock…so i bought some yogurt, turkey, chicken breast and raisin bran…so here i am again tonight paying for digital cable-with no tv…but atleast i can snack healthily…

I met up with an old friend the other night…i know her from college and she lives in birmingham which is only an hour or so from montgomery.  I haven’t seen her for i guess about 2-3 years…who’s counting right?…but anyways…i find it amazing how there are some people that you can just kinda pick up with and feel like you never missed a beat…i guess it’s because i always felt comfortable being myself around her…her name is Alice, by the way…we are both very different people than a couple years ago…but still same ol’…if that makes any sense?  She knew me in a time when i was really stressed out with school and dealing with some relational issues…to be honest i just didn’t have much joy at that point.  We had good talks then and were able to encourage one another over a cigar or two…and a few cups from BRCC…some bailey’s irish creme…and a full season 1 of Prison Break.  anyhow…she graduated and went to birmingham and we didn’t talk much until the other night…she told me that i seemed alot happier now…and i agreed. God has shaped me alot in the past couple years…and i’ve found joy in His joy.  I’ve found happiness in his sovereignty.  Psalm 115:3 says “our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases”…this implies that God has the right and power to do whatever makes Him happy…which is what it means to say that God is sovereign…so this is where i find my happiness…in His.  I discovered this in the couple years away from Alice…and it encouraged me to know that she saw a difference…it’s a testament to the Living God…Myself, Alice and her boyfriend Michael, and an unknown sundress are going to get together sometime soon and have some fun…it’s really neat to have a familiar face here in alabama…I’m excited!

I guess that blog actually went somewhere…my brain is weird..

Good night…

Ground Hog Day

Ever seen the movie “Ground Hog Day”?  That’s pretty much my life until September.  I wake up every morning and do almost the exact same thing at the exact same times with the exact same people.  It’s a pretty sweet gig though…I enjoy coaching…I enjoy baseball…and I enjoy the players and other coaches.  I realize however that everyday brings me closer to the BIG WALL that everyone involved with professional baseball runs into atleast once every season.  One of the players told me today that he thinks I will hit the wall June 1st. 

This made me think…and what I am realizing is that no matter how much you enjoy something; whether it be a job, a hobby, a relationship or whatever…there comes a time where boredom and monotony sets in and it is not as enjoyable as it once was…when it was new and fresh and exciting.  So…as with any situation in life there comes a decision.  Do we quit and run away to something new and exciting…or do we break through the wall and reach another level of enjoyment.  

The more I think about it…I believe that the decision comes before we ever hit the wall…before the wall is even in sight.  If we have well established goals then our mind is already made up to keep fighting and find a way to break through the wall…now the only question is the strategy. What am I going to do to stay fresh? Who am I going to associate with to keep me sharp and focused?  

I know I am going to hit a wall just as everyone will…I’m just glad that i recognize that early on and can take the time to put some systems in place that will help me bust through…or climb over…or walk around…or whatever I have to do to stay on track toward my goal.

I guess the point is that everyone hits a wall at some point in life….most of us hit many walls…we just have to recognize early that it’s gonna happen and make a decision early about how we will respond…

Just a thought…

I am tired…I am going to bed…

but wait…tomorrow is an off day?!?!? my first “real” off day since March 1st…

that’s a nice break in the monotony…

Here I Am

…in a one bedroom apartment in Montgomery, Alabama.  Here I am…9 hours away from the family and friends that mean the most to me in this world.  Here I am…away from the church that I’ve spent a year and a half watching grow…and in turn has watched me grow; quite ironically in a faith and confidence in God which allowed me to take this journey which led me so far away.  I have a lot of mixed emotions.  I hate that I am not with my friends and family in North Carolina…I miss them more than I have ever missed anything in my life.  But in a way, I have a new family…and a sense of purpose that surpasses any expectation that I had before I left Charlotte.  

My new family is a group of professional baseball players whom I have grown to respect, appreciate and care for tremendously.  I am with them for about 12 hours a day…and even more than that when we are on the road.  They have treated me with a kindness and respect that without I would not be able to effectively perform my job.  There are of course days when I don’t feel so confident in my ability to coach these guys…but, God always seems to use one of them to affirm that I am doing a good job and that I have their respect.  

Two days ago one of the players in the midst of one of my un-confident moments asked me to help him stretch his hamstrings before the game.  This is one of the hardest players on the team to read and until this point I had no idea where I stood with him.  As we began to stretch…out of no where…he says, “I like you”…and in my disbelief I replied, “why”?(I don’t take compliments very well)…he just said very genuinely, “you’re just a good guy”…he had no idea at that point what that meant to me coming from him.  God used him to affirm that my approach as a coach and as a person was respected.  My approach with these guys has always been to respect and care for them first…a lesson taught to me by Kevin Jones during my first year as a Strength and Conditioning coach at Gardner-Webb.

I pray that this approach will carry even further…in to eternity.  I am grateful to all those who have helped me to get to this point in which I can impact the lives of others in an occupation that I really love.  You are the ones I miss so badly…yet you are the ones that God has used to prepare me to leave for this brief time…and I can’t wait to see you all again!