Ahhh The Good 'Ole Days

 

Ever finding yourself saying the title of this post quite a bit as you get older? I know I do. The good 'ole days. The days where it was the best time of your life. A time where it was probably simple, not so complex. Happy and not so stressful. A time where if you were ever given a chance to time travel you would do anything to relive that moment or moments just one more time. Don't get me wrong, I love my life where I am now. But I'd love to travel back to when the biggest things I needed to worry about was if my mom noticed that I procrastinated for the day and didn't do my schoolwork or if basketball practice was going to make me sore for the next couple of days. It was such a simple time but yet so important to me now at 25. 

So you're probably wondering a couple things. One, what got me on this kick of reliving certain moments in life? And two, what would be my moment/moments I would travel back to? Well, I'm glad you asked! And even if you didn't I'm going to tell you anyways. If you do not want to know you can just click the "X" on my blog's tab or click the back button on your phone and can go back to looking at Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Pinterest, or Gmail/whatever your email is. ...Are they gone? You guys are still here? You want to know? Fantastic! 

Okay, so what got me on this whole "Man, I'd love to go back to 'fill in the blank'!" Well, it was actually music. Yes, music. I absolutely love music even though I can't play any instruments and if me singing a good note was going to save me in a life or death situation I would probably die. When I was about 13 my mom introduced me to a channel on our tv called, "The Gospel Channel". This is where alot of people would probably tune out because I did as well. I was like, "Ugh, and why would you think I would like this? It's probably hymns and all that sort." Now understand this, my childhood was made up of listening to Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, Three Days Grace, Nickelback, and The Plain White Tees. I loved listening to Punk Rock, not hymns. So I was not amused but if my mom says I'll like it, 9 times out of 10 I usually do. I watched and it wasn't what I was expecting. It was like christian MTV. I loved it! It was where I found my favorite band, Hawk Nelson! Well, favorite till Jason Dunn left. Still have issues with that to this very day. Anyways, I found bands like Hawk Nelson, The Classic Crime, Stellar Kart, Relient K, Skillet, Philmont, Capital Lights, Red, and many more. I adored that time! Well, now in present 2020, my Spotify playlist was bringing up songs from back then and I just wanted a whole playlist of all these songs I remember from then. So, I made one and called it, "Relive the good 'ole days". It was one of my best ideas yet! 

Now I answer the next question, what would be my moment I would travel back to? I would travel back to November of 2008. I was in Philadelphia at an event called, "The Super Bowl", far from home, with my youth group. I had only been with this youth group for a couple of months and I didn't even go to the church. I only went because my cousin talked me into it. It was an all night event. Watching a hockey game, reaffirming my faith (which nobody knew about until years later) by the court where the LA Lakers were just playing, bowling and listening/watching the music videos to all the songs I had just found out about through the christian MTV, roller skating and having the whole rink to ourselves, and playing laser tag at 3 AM. That night was the best night of my life! I would do anything to go back to then, sit back and watch 13 year old me enjoy the night. Unfortunately, we have not perfected the art of time travel. So I'll keep listening to my playlist and reminisce about the good 'ole days. 

As for you all, I would love to know what sends you back to your good 'ole days? Maybe it's music, re-reading an old journal entry, or watching old Youtube videos. And what's your moment that you would love to travel back to? Happy time traveling!

If you want to listen to my playlist I made for my flash back to the past here's the link: The good 'ole days! Playlist 

 

A Lesson From The Barn

Picture this: You're standing out in a barn with the sliding door wide open. You're leaning up against a brick wall looking out amongst a pasture, trees, a dirt road, and a farmer's field. You feel a breeze blowing your hair while hearing the rain slow down then speed up from the wind against a tin roof. It feels nice and peaceful. You think, "I'll take a picture of this" but then you stop and instead of getting your phone out you leave it in your back pocket and just live in the moment.

Have you done that a few times? You think people will like what you're witnessing so you share it through social media. I have done that many times and it's not a bad thing to share a piece of your life with others but have we possibly got so caught up in what people think about our lives that we share everything we do instead of live in the moment? Have you ever thought maybe that moment you could be learning a big lesson but you missed it because you were so worried about getting the right angle or good quality on what you're witnessing? That moment was my moment as I stood alone in a barn. I stopped and embraced the quiet. No talking, no sound of typing, no buzzes or beeps from messages, just complete silence with some sound from the rain. During that moment it got me to wondering and look at it all in a different way. It got me thinking about how there are so many wonderful things going on around us but we're too busy trying to capture it for our friends and get 30 likes on it. We are letting life slip through our fingertips one tap on the virtual keyboard at a time. When have we taken the time to live life instead of taking pictures of it? Social media is always going to be there and they're even finding ways to let us look back on our posts and relive those memories but you'll never truly live them because you were too busy coming up with a good quote to put with it.

So here's my point, I have nothing against social media. It's a nice way of keeping in-touch with friends and family who are living in another town or another state. Social media has it's good but sometimes it's good to take a step back and shut the technology off. Take time to live life. Social media will always be there but the people you love and care about will not. Just think, when you turn off all the technology, what do you have left? Are there friends and family waiting for you to go on an adventure with them or are you all alone in a barn? Take a challenge to stay off social media for one day and live life in the present. You'll be surprised what all is out there when you just live.

Dear Me (10 Years Ago, Now, And 10 Years Later)

10 years ago, when I was in 6th grade, we had a project called a "Me Book" . One of the projects in this book was a letter to us 10 years later. Well, a fellow classmate notified us that it has now been 10 years and we should go back and read the letter we wrote to ourselves. I thought this was a fantastic idea to do a blog post on and write a letter back to myself and write a letter to my future self 10 years later. So, hold on to your seats! We are going to be time-traveling! First up, the past!

"Just think, in ten years I will be an adult (twenty-one years old), but then you have all these questions like, what will you look like? What will be your career? What kind of man would you marry or want to marry? Where will you live? What are your favorite past-times? Where do you want to be in your walk with the Lord?

These are the questions that will haunt you, but I will answer some of these questions. Either way, God is the only one that will tell you what your future is, not even a fortuneteller can tell you.

I think I will have dirty blond hair like the kind I have right now, but mostly I will just look the same, except I will be taller than my sister. I'm already taller than her.

I will answer some of these questions. My career will be driving NASCAR. I will be single, but if I do get married, the man should be active, loves basketball, and has to be a Christian, and have loves NASCAR.

My favorite past-times are basketball and NASCAR.

Where I want to walk with the Lord is when we do devotions."

Present

Dear Me,

10 years ago (11-years old), you wrote a letter to me for 10 years later. I wanted to write a letter back to you to let you know how everything is going. How do you look? You were right when you said you will look about the same. You do still have dirty blonde hair, but you also have natural red highlights and wavy hair. You, also, have straighter teeth because a year after you did this letter you got braces and you got them off 3 years later.  Height, well, that didn't exactly work out. Denise is taller than you...and so is Matthew. You are the shortest of the three but you are fun sized! Your career in NASCAR didn't exactly go the way we planned either. As a career, you are actually a pet-sitter, sometimes a babysitter, and you are a farmhand on an alpaca farm. On the side, you are a farmhand on your family's sheep farm and you are a volunteer basketball coach. Relationship status...Single! Correct! And you are just fine with that because it's not your time yet to be in a relationship, so God is all you need. Your past times are Facebook (you'll find out about this later), Pinterest, writing articles on local history, basketball, hanging out with family and friends, and just having fun! Where will you live? You live in Thomasville, PA. Where you want to walk with the Lord is when you just want to talk to Him. I hope you liked this letter! Talk to you later!

Sincerely, You...21-years old.

Future

Dear Me,

You remember the "Dear Me" letter from 6th grade. Of course you do, you just read it up above! Well, I wanted to write you one at 21-years old. What is your career now? Do you live on your own? Are you married? Do you have a family of your own? What are your favorite past-times? Where do you want to be in your walk with the Lord?  What kind of car do you have? These are the questions that will not haunt you but you get curious about as you get older. Do you consider yourself old? I'll answer that one...NO! You probably still jump around and hang out with all the young kids and always keep having fun. Are still playing basketball even to this day? I hope so! Do you have times when you just want time to stop going by so fast so you can enjoy the time you have now? Are you still coaching? No matter what your answer is to all these questions I hope you are at least happy. I hope you are pursuing God everyday of your life. I hope you are enjoying life to the fullest and I hope you are being you because there is only one you in this world and you are pretty cool. At least that's what God thinks. I hope you are doing well being 31 and I'm sorry for all the questions. When you don't know what the future is all you come up with are more questions instead of answers so I'll trust God until the time comes that you have the answers to these questions and write another blog post to our 41-year old self. Talk to you in 10 years!

Sincerely, You...10 years ago.

Sports: Something so small can make such a big impact

Have you watched sports and wondered why athletes even participate? Now, you all are probably wondering why I asked such a silly question since I am a basketball player. Well, there is a point behind it, but let's get back to my question. Athletes beat their bodies for such a small thing we call, "Sports". Let's look at some sports and go through the main point of each of them.

Basketball: On offense, you try to get the ball into the hoop. On defense, you defend the basket so the other team will not get the ball into the hoop. 

Football: On offense, you try to get the ball into the end zone and then kick the ball through the goalpost. On defense, you try to keep the other team out of the end zone. 

Soccer: You kick the ball and try to get a goal. 

Baseball: You try to hit the ball as far as you can and get to all the bases. 

Tennis: You hit the ball back and forth until somebody messes up. 

Volleyball: You hit the ball back and forth over a net. 

Track and Field: There is a lot of different things with this sport. Running with a stick, hoisting yourself up over a pole...with another pole, and throwing a heavy ball as far as you can. 

All these sports seem so simple, and yet we give up our time, blood, sweat, and tears for what? A simple sport? Why? Why do we give up so much for something so little? It's because it is something we love. It is something we are dedicated to and we can't picture living without it. Sports are just like our relationship with God. Something so simple as saying a prayer to start a relationship with God and having faith as small as a mustard seed, but we might find ourselves giving up other things because some people or things don't line up with our faith. It may be music, friends, family and we might find ourselves giving up our life for the Lord. Now, there is something I forgot to put in that makes these sports bigger and much more rewarding in the end. The details. Such as basketball, you have to run a lot because the ball is moving non-stop. You have to be ready to go from being on offense to guarding the basket. In football, you have to plow into each other just to get to the person throwing the ball. In soccer, you have to keep control of the ball while having someone trying to get the ball from you. Once you put the details or obstacles in the mix of that simple thing it becomes so much more! Overcoming an obstacle or winning a championship reminds you why you are doing this. Just like sports, we have obstacles in our relationship with God. We are going to be tempted by Satan. We're going to want to become like everybody else in the world again. We'll want to give up, but in the end, after overcoming those obstacles, we will be reminded that God has got this and that nothing is more powerful than Him. No matter what the obstacle, God will always come through and He will always succeed. And that is why we do this.  

 

Since When Did Being Single Become A Bad Thing?!

Okay, so by the looks of the title you guys can already figure out the subject. This article is about singleness: Is it a blessing or a curse? Just to let you know, this isn't just for single people. This is for everybody, because you just never know if you are going to have to face being single. Now, being single is not that bad, really. But if you just got over a breakup or had a friend that you thought they were 'The One' and instead that was not the case at all, then being single probably feels like a deep, dark, and lonely hole in the ground. Don't worry about that feeling. It's only temporary. I had that same feeling at one time, but as I started to come closer to God, go out and do things I've always wanted to do, and achieve some goals along the way, it started to go away. It is, also, the reason why I am writing this article. I thought being single was just the worst thing on earth, and I wasn't even in a relationship. I was almost in a relationship, but I just wasn't ready for that kind of commitment. So, everything stopped from there and my friend and I went our separate ways. I wanted to explain that just in case if I get anybody saying, "Well, you weren't in a relationship, so how would you know how it feels?" No, I was not in a relationship, but I was in a close friendship that was one step away from that.

Now, onto the main part of this article. How 'bout we start in the very beginning when God created man and woman. I bet all of you are thinking, "See! You already have enough evidence right there to show that singleness is a bad thing! God felt so bad for Adam because he was so lonely, that He brought Eve along!" Um, that's a yes and a no. See, Adam was the only one of his kind. Every creature had a partner except him. So, to repopulate the earth Adam needed a partner. But Eve wasn't there just to repopulate the earth with Adam. She was his friend. They were the very first human best friends! I would go through the rest of history, but I think we all know how everything went, so I'll skip that.

Back to the present. Our society today is this: being single is a bad thing. It means something is wrong with you. If a guy/girl is not looking at you or flirting with you, then you are not pretty or handsome enough. If you have been 'Friend-zoned' then that is the biggest insult of human kind. ...Wait, what?! Those are the worst excuses I have ever heard to get into a relationship. But here's the sad truth, this is what we have adopted into our daily lives. The really sad part is that I even believed this. I'm starting to get away from it, but it's two steps forward, one step back.

Why aren't we taking this time of singleness to grow in our relationship with God or going out and accomplishing goals? Why do we say 'Forever Alone' when we should say 'Forever Loved'? All we do is worry about our relationship status on social media instead of our relationship status with God. The music we listen to on the radio is either about breaking up or making up. Why don't we hear music about having fun with friends or driving trucks because we enjoy it? Because that...don't...sell.

Now, here is (as our church says) the simple truth. Singleness is all about your point of view. If you think and see singleness as a positive thing and a blessing, you will trust God more and can focus on your life more. You will also find that you'll have more patience and wait on your special partner. If you look at it as a negative thing, then it will be like playing 'Where's Waldo?' or 'Where's The One?'. It will be full of getting your heart broken just trying to find 'The One'.

So, what's it gonna be? Are you gonna trust God and not worry about being single, or are you ready for another round of 'Where's Waldo?' The choice is yours.

Being Yourself Is Not A Bad Thing

Have you ever had a crush on someone and thought, "Hey! Maybe if I'm into everything that they're into, they'll like me more!" Or how about, "I really don't like football, but if he's into watching it, I'll watch it too." We don't notice what ridiculous things we'll do just to get someone to like us. I wanted to write a post for all the girls (and guys) about why it is good to just be yourself and not start doing absurd things just to get someone to like you. My story, that I am going to tell you, is the reason behind this post, and I hope you all will learn from my mistakes and just be yourself.

It all started in first grade. Yes, I was a first grader when I started being someone I wasn't. I had a crush on a guy in my class. At that time gel pens were a big thing! If you had gel pens, you were popular. Well, all I wanted to do was draw with my gel pens, but my crush liked to play with 'Lincoln Logs'. For a girl, Lincoln Logs were pretty boring. While guys have this big imagination thinking of big towers or nice log cabins, we're thinking, "So, you put this log over here and this one over there, and look! I made a square!" As I said before, it was boring, but I played with Lincoln Logs anyhow. After a few months I went back to drawing with gel pens and never played with Lincoln Logs again. Now, you would think I would've learned from my boredom of stacking so many logs that I would just be myself. Nope! I, unfortunately, did not.

Let's go to third grade. I had a crush on a different guy, who was actually best friends with my other crush from first grade. I had a crush on this guy for a few years, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Third grade was the year I started playing basketball. Now, you all are probably thinking, "Aww! So, that was the year she wanted to try playing basketball." Yup, but not for a good reason. I gave up 6 years of dance for a new sport just because my crush loved playing basketball. I thought, "Okay, so if he sees me playing basketball and sees me all the time, he'll fall in love with me." I wasn't the brightest crayon in the box. I was like a lovesick pup.

Fourth grade! Fourth grade was when I really started to take a turning point. Fourth grade was the year when I started to look and act like a tomboy. I used to be this girly girl who was all about wearing nice clothes and turned into a tomboy who would have their bangs hanging in front of their face and would wear a sweatshirt all the time. Also, I used to always play tag with the girls, but then I started playing soccer with the boys.

Fifth grade was when I started really hanging out with the boys. At recess we would always play soccer, but all of a sudden soccer was out and tag football was in. I knew nothing about football! I asked two boys in my class if they could help me understand football. They were so nice, and they stayed right beside me to see that I knew what I was doing. After a few epic fails I finally got it down! I found it actually really fun!

(Cue evil song) Middle school! I don't know about you guys, but middle school was not one of my favorites. You start seeing who is the popular kids and who is not. I was not one of the popular kids, and I was fine with that until lunch time. Lunch time was when you really started to see it. My grade had two lunch tables, popular and unpopular. Population at popular table = a lot. Population at unpopular table = 2. Even in middle school I still did some crazy stuff for guys. No, I did not break the rules for guys, but I did somethings that made me look pretty odd. In middle school the teachers would get candy for us if we said our assigned bible verses right, or we had our homework done or other things like that. Well, at that time I had braces, and for my crush, who I had a crush on ever since third grade, I would walk up to him and give him my candy and use the excuse of, "I can't eat it because of my braces". Even though I could've totally eaten it, I thought this would make him think I was nice. He didn't make fun of me, at least in front of me, but he would say thanks and that was it. So, there was no sign of love there.

Now, let's go forward a year or two. I was still in middle school, but I started homeschool. I was in eighth grade at this time now and I found a new crush at my mom's bible study. He was not into sports, or Lincoln Logs, but he was into John Deere tractors and trucks. He was nice and sort of took me the way I was, but my old habits started to come into affect again and I tried to talk to him about tractors and trucks. I had a little bit working my way because I grew up on a dairy farm. We had John Deere tractors and they were fun to ride on, but trucks were a whole different monster to me. As years went on I started to find a liking for trucks and then that turned into a love for trucks, but no guy.

In the end of all this there were some good things and some things I wish I would've figured out. My mistake with basketball turned into a blessing. God took my mistake of playing basketball to get a guy and turned it into something I can't even think about not having in my life. I played basketball for 10 years and I am now a basketball coach and just love helping kids learn how to play basketball. The tractors and trucks mistake, that turned out good in the end too! I am now learning more and more about what kind of vehicle I want and what I don't want. I'm learning about how things work in vehicles, and I'm learning that I have a hardcore love for trucks that I didn't know about. Oops! I almost forgot. Also, by me wanting to learn so much more about trucks, it has brought me and my dad even closer and now we do projects on our F-250 almost all the time. It's so fun to see what something different in a vehicle will do to affect the vehicle's performance! The Lincoln Logs, I honestly have no lesson behind that one besides, if you're playing Lincoln Logs with a little kid you know what to expect.

Even though things turned out a little bit nice, I still wish I would've had better reasons to do the things I did rather than do them to get a guy. It's not bad to try new things, but do them because you want to, not to get someone to like you. You can't make someone like you, but you can be kind and be yourself. I know that is hard in our society, because it seems like if you don't have a boyfriend or girlfriend throughout your youth then something is wrong with you. First, getting into a relationship just because you want to say to your friends you have a 'special someone' is not a good reason to get into a relationship. Second, even if you aren't in a relationship that does not mean something is wrong with you. I was in the whole 'I need a boyfriend' thought process once. I almost started a relationship with someone and at first it was like, "Yeah that's nice, but I don't want to get into a relationship". But then I started thinking about that I might finally have someone I can call my boyfriend. It sounded nice and that is what Satan wanted me to do. In the end, I didn't do it and I'm glad I didn't. By starting a relationship just to fit in society would not only hurt me, but I'd also be hurting the other person. All they wanted to do was get to know me better, and I was going to use it for my selfish benefits just to fit in. It says in the bible we are not of this world. As Christians we should not become of this world. We are not in this world forever. This is just temporary, so why would we want to try and fit in if we're not going to be there forever? Satan wants us to be someone we are not and make bad decisions, God wants us to be ourselves and enjoy life while serving Him.

So, the ending to my post is this, be yourself. You are not bad. You are not a mistake. You do not need to change anything about yourself just to get people to like you. If you don't have a boyfriend or girlfriend, be proud of that! It just shows that you are waiting for God to bring the right person into your life. Being single is just a season. It's just temporary. Take this season of singleness to help others and bring glory to God. Also, have fun! :)

9/11...The day we remember like a holiday, but was like a nightmare in reality

As we were driving in Hanover and York today I looked around and tried to find flags. Not just any flags, but American flags flying half mast. Every flag you saw was flying half mast and it got me thinking. Just think for minute, we all fight with each other about religion, relationships, politics, who's right and who is wrong, but when it comes to something such as 9/11 we all join together flying the American flag half mast just to remember that day. Now picture this, 9/11 affected New York City with the towers. A plane went down in Pennsylvania, and a plane hit the Pentagon, but being we are one whole country under God we all come together to remember the day that we thought the world was ending. From California to Wisconsin, to Georgia, to Texas, to Indiana, to Maine all of the states come together to remember events that happened in New York City, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C.. These states and many others who were not affected by this tragic event still remember along with us.


13 years ago, I was in first grade. I was going to Christian School of York at the time. It seemed like any other day, go to school, learn, eat lunch, go out for recess, come back in, blah blah blah. You get the picture. Well, me and my class were having reading time. Our teacher was reading 'Mr. Popper's Penguins' to us, and then suddenly the bell goes off to let us know they are making some kind of announcement, which happened a lot in the middle of our story time. Then our principle was saying something about two planes crashing into towers. Being that we were only first graders we had no idea what they were talking about. After they announced about what was happening we did prayer. I can't remember very well if our teacher was crying or not. I have a funny feeling she was, but that part is still a little bit of a blur. After reading we went to computer class, and they called me down because my mom had come to pick me up early. Being the first grader I was, I got mad at my mom for taking me home because I was missing computer class. Once we got home my dad was sitting on the couch watching the news about the twin towers being hit by planes. This was on live coverage and the towers were still on fire, when all of a sudden the towers fell and all you saw was just towers going down in dust. All I could do was sit there with my jaw dropped. I didn't know how serious this was until I saw that. 


I'm blessed to say I'm alive to re-tell my story about that day, but unfortunately there are many others who will never get to tell their stories.  The day of 9/11 makes us remember not just the people who lost their lives to this tragic event, but to remind us what really matters in life. Many families lost family members that day. There was probably many people who wanted to see their family and friends one last time. Many husbands and wives who had to call their loved one to tell them they are going to face death and just wanted to make their final words, "I love you". People who had children waiting for them at home just thought about how their children are going to live without them. You don't think about all this stuff until something life-threatening comes along. Then it's like your whole life is flashing before your eyes. So please, pray for the people who lost loved ones in 9/11, remember the ones who lost their lives, and live everyday like it may be your last with family and friends. You can be on electronics, but don't be on them so much that you miss out on the fun stuff in life. The cell phones, laptops, and iPods are not going to be the ones you are going to miss when something life-threatening comes along.