I have been blessed in my life to be the youngest child in a family of six. Throughout my life they have all played an influential part at different stages of my journey. They each seemed to help me with their God given gifts at the right time and when I needed it the most.
During different times of my life and during different struggles my brothers and sisters each seemed to take a role in helping me along with my life issues. As a young boy and into my teenage years my Oldest sister gave me a glance of a better life and it opened my eyes to the world outside of my small town. I had never been on a family vacation that I could remember and at age 14 she took me to Hilton Head, South Carolina. I swam in the ocean for the first time and stayed in a hotel and condo. This was a small act of kindness, but a major life event to a young teenage boy. As I became old enough to drive, my oldest brother became influential in my life by helping me get my first car. He taught me how to work on cars, but more importantly he taught me that I could do anything that I wanted to do. All I had to do was just start doing it and I could figure it out as I go. This has been an extremely important life lesson that I have been able to use over and over in my life. During a lonely time in my life my sister (youngest sister) helped me in two critical times of my life. In my first year of college I was having a hard time with keeping my grades up and completing the requirements. I was 21 years of age and had went into the service out of high school and then went on to college. I felt that I was not going to be able to do it and that I was too old to finish my education. She talked me into staying and completing the 5 year degree. She did that by telling me that I was going to be 26 no matter what and that I might as well have a degree at 26 then be 26 without a degree. It seems like a little thing, but It was the motivation I needed to finish that freshman year and finish my degree. A short time after graduation I was going through another very tough time in my life and that same sister gave me motivational cassette tapes. It was a small gesture but a large influence in my life. It set me on a path working towards bettering myself both mentally and physically that continues on even to this day. My middle sister played an almost immeasurable part of my life by just loving me unconditionally and never judging me. No matter what had happened in my life and or what I needed she always showed that she truly cared and loved her little brother. I didn't know how it was a truly helpful thing until later in my life. Finally, my oldest brother becoming a Christian and showing me through his faith that it is okay to be a Christian man helped me immensely when I felt Jesus pulling at my heart strings and I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior.
My brothers and sisters have helped their baby brother in more ways then they could have ever have known. I have grown to appreciate them more in my older age than I ever did when they I was young and they have influenced my life in so many positive ways.
I hope when they think about their youngest brother they realize that their love and acts if kindness has helped create the person I'm today.
A Christian, Father, Husband, Son, and Friend. This is my blog about living a full life, having fulfillment, surviving in the United States, and navigating the daily battlefield. To do this I'm in combat training and God is my drill sargeant. Let's go on this journey through life together.
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IF
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!
Rudyard Kipling
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!
Rudyard Kipling
Search The Bible for your Answers!
The Armor of God - Ephesians 6:10-18
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
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