Three things I didn’t do in my past and how they might have turned out.

We all have them. Those opportunities which we wished we had taken that we never did for some reason or another. We all dream about what might have been.  What might have happened if I got onto that alien spacecraft? What might have happened if I didn’t wash my first Kindle in the washing machine? What if I had turned left at that stop sign at 3:44 p.m. last Monday instead of right? I don’t know. It’s fun to think how our most seemingly insignificant decisions affect the rest of the world. For instance, because I ate a bagel with cream cheese this morning eventually the United States will be overrun by machine gun wielding cows and their

evil samurai duck allies in the foreseeable future. It’s gonna happen and when it does I’ll tell you I told you so! So join me while I look back at some major decisions in my life and how they may have impacted my life.

Playing football

I played baseball my entire life. I didn’t play any other sport ever in an organized league. I think this greatly affected my athletic ability in gym classes throughout my public education career. I didn’t learn how to play kickball until the 1^st grade for goodness sake! Anyway, I was classified as small even up through high school. I was probably about 5’9” and maybe 160 pounds by my senior year and that was after that time I drank a gallon of lemonade. Can you imagine me playing football? Even had I been playing cornerback I would have been run over by some giant fullback and they never would have found me until they aerated the field the next spring. Sure, I could do it now at a muscular 5’11”, 180 pounds but never back then. All this would have brought me was a few more broken bones.

Applied myself in school

            I was like crazy smart in 4^th grade. I was that kid that knew all of the answers and raised my hand every single time my teacher asked what the capital of Florida was. I knew how to spell words like leperkaun and Feberary. In fifth grade, senioritis set in and I coasted through the rest of the grades like a squirrel on a surfboard. I made it by but if I had actually applied myself and like done actual homework and stuff then I might have gone to like Harvard or M.I.T. or been a Rhodes Scholar or something. Eh, but I didn’t and so I’m at Radford now with a 4.0 GPA. Not to brag or anything.

Gone to ETSU

            I only applied to one college coming out of high school. East Tennessee State University is located in Johnson City, Tennessee and I was just about to go there on a history scholarship. But, I didn’t really want to major in history oddly enough and so I didn’t go. I stayed at home and went to Northern Virginia Community College and continued to skate my way through school. Not literally, on a scholarship or anything but you know, it’s a metaphor and all. This was probably the biggest, most life changing decision of my life. Had I gone to ETSU, I would not have continued to lead Wyldlife, would not have begun to lead Young Life, never have met all the wonderful people who are in my life now and never have met my beautiful, wonderful girlfriend. There you wanted the shoutout, you got it J.

            All in all, I am happy with where I am now. All of these things big decisions that have happened in my life have been made or have been made for me, for a reason. A big plan. “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11. Through all the twists and turns in my life it has been God behind the scenes the entire time. He has a huge plan for my life and it is peaceful knowing someone who loves me is behind it.