The Top 40 things I’ve learned in the last 40 years….
Seriously, I am 40 years old! I cannot believe that it’s actually real. I lost my dad to cancer when he was 46 years old. It was a moment that crushed my heart. I miss our conversations, and I hate that he never got to meet my wife or his grandchildren. So, over the last month, I have been thinking through what’s important in my life… what I have learned, what were huge wins, and what were devastating defeats. No matter what life has thrown at me these past 40 years, Jesus has been faithful… even when I wasn’t. So here are the 40 things that I have learned.

#1 Having a family that prays for you is truly the greatest thing you could ever ask for. Place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, walk with Him, and watch what He will do with your life. My great grandmother prayed and asked the Lord to use my life for the ministry. Well, here I am! 🙂 Always thank your family for praying for you, and in return, pray for them.

#2 My mom and dad taught me that nothing in this life will just be handed to you. Work hard, and if you don’t get it the first time, work harder. Nothing– baseball, school, driving, running, and so on, was easy for me. I wanted to quit more times than I want to admit. But I didn’t because hard work was instilled in me by my parents.

#3 Go to the public pool (THE BIG POOL). You will learn the art of trading and sharing food. Also you will learn to conquer your fear of the high dive, with all your friends yelling at you to jump! There is something about jumping off the high dive, swimming over and drinking a Dr. Pepper, and sharing a bag of Funyons that makes life better.

#4 It’s ok if you don’t have a large home with cable. It teaches you to play outside and appreciate the closeness of living in a small space. It also makes visiting friends with a big house with cable more awesome!

#5 Eat more than 1 biscuit at your friend’s house when they make you dinner. Even if the mom slaps your hand and says, “You have already had one!”, grab it anyways, because once you touch it, they won’t want it back, and you get to enjoy those glorious biscuits! True story, it happened to me. I never got invited back over, but I never forgot how good those biscuits were.

#6 Go fishing with your grandpa. There is nothing better than walking on a dirt road to an old fishing hole and hearing your grandpa tell you stories about the big fish he once caught and the one that got away. Trust me! Don’t ever pass up a chance to fish. You can learn a lot from fishing.

#7 Get yourself a bike and a BB gun and ride until it’s dark outside, acting like you are fighting in some war or being He-Man, Voltron or Transformers. It teaches you to think outside of who you are and to dream big dreams. Kids don’t dream and play enough these days. Go outside and play. It’s good for you.

#8 Drawing and making flip books on a Friday night with your buddies while watching old black and white scary movies helps you to not take everything so seriously. It’s good to just veg out and do nothing but laugh and enjoy good company.

#9 Treat yourself to good shoes. Save and buy the best! Shoes are fun to own because you can be skinny, tall, overweight, and it doesn’t matter. You always feel better in a cool pair of shoes. Spend money on good shoes, and your life will be a lot smoother. 

#10 Own a dog at least once in your life. Dogs are here for a purpose, and I believe that it’s to be a great friend to you. They don’t care how much money you have, what your job is, or what you do. They just love being around you. We all need that in our lives.

#11 Learn to problem solve. In life, daily things will break down or completely stop working. Don’t be scared to try and fix it. We pay people way too much money to fix things that we are too scared to touch in fear of making the problem worse. Give it a try, and if you can’t fix it, call someone to show you how. I promise it will help you later in life.

#12 Make friends that are not just like you. Love people the way that Christ loves you. If you only fill your life with clones, you will miss out on so much in this life.

#13 Baseball is the greatest sport in the world. I have learned more from watching and playing the game of baseball than anything I have learned from anywhere else. Please teach your kids how to play. Everyone likes to play catch.

#14 If you aren’t married, pray for your future spouse. It was by far the greatest thing for me to know that my wife was praying for me and for her to know that I was praying for her. Then, once you marry, don’t stop praying… Cherish your spouse, love your spouse, and don’t stop dating your spouse.

#15 Don’t believe everything you hear in life. You are not as great as some say you are. You are not as bad as some say you are. Listen, discern, and live your life for Christ- not for the applause of man.

#16 Work for a person that is hard to work for, someone that makes you really earn that $5.50 an hour. You may hate it, but it will teach you the value of money. It shouldn’t just be given. It should be earned. Thank you, Norman!

#17 It’s ok to bug and follow your youth pastor around. You will learn a lot by helping him at the church or by just taking time to eat pizza with him. You may even learn how to manage ministry and family. I know I did. Thanks, Brent!

#18 Go watch a Major League baseball game by yourself. Keep score, and listen to the game with headphones on. There is something therapeutic about sitting in the stands eating hotdogs and chewing on seeds that does your soul good.

#19 Dream big dreams. People will always tell you that you can’t do something. It’s kind of fun to achieve something that no one thought you would ever do. Don’t gloat about it. Just store it in your head that it really happened, and then dream again.

#20 Take your family camping. Sleeping in a tent is a strange and fun thing. Camping reminds you to be thankful for what you have. It also gives you chances to tell scary stories to your kids, to make them jump, and to not be able to sleep. There is something super fun about that.

#21 Don’t live above your means. Save for fun stuff. Don’t compare yourself to other families. Do the vacations, the trips, and the meals you can afford. You can always make anything fun! It’s all up to how you do it.

#22 Find a friend with a small plane, and ask them if they would fly you around at sunset. It is amazing how small you will fill. It reminded me of how BIG our God is. It’s also pretty cool to see the place you live from above.

#23 Run a full marathon once in your life. It will teach you perseverance, endurance, strength and patience. You will learn more about yourself while training and running those 26.2 miles than at any other time in your life. We need to be challenged to do something that others say can’t be done. Rise to the challenge and beat it… You will be better for it.

#24 People in this world are not always for you. In fact, there are people in this world that their only aim is to try and tear you and anyone else down that they don’t like. You have a choice to either be ruled by what they think or to rise above it and live your life for Jesus. The only true opinion in what Jesus thinks of you. He already showed you how much He loves you. Rest in that. You won’t make everyone happy and you have to be ok with that.

#25 The greatest vehicle in the world is a JEEP WRANGLER. If you ever get the chance to own one, do it. There is something special about driving around with no roof covering you. I did more praying, more thinking, and more driving when I had my Jeep. It was my place of solitude and I loved it. I hope to one day own a Jeep again.

#26 Find joy in each month of the year. We tend to look to certain months as great and can’t wait for them to get here. Learn to make each month special. Create reasons why you love each month and look forward to each one. Don’t wish away the months. God gives them to us. Let’s enjoy them.

#27 Do something kind for someone each week. Bring breakfast to someone. Pay for someone’s meal behind you. Learn to think of others above yourself. Do things for others that you wish they would do for you. I promise, if you do, your outlook on the day, month, and year will change.

 

#28 Learn to be a person who is on time. Give yourself time to get where you need to go. Being on time is not showing up at the right time… Be 5 mins early-always. Being on time is something that we all can do, but not many actually show up on time. I promise it will make a good impression, and you will always feel better when you are not rushed. PLAN AHEAD!

#29 When you find yourself broke and have no money for your wife’s birthday, figure out what she loves and create a free birthday surprise day for her. You would be surprised what you can do for $10.00 dollars and a half used gift card. Who knows? It may end up being her favorite birthday celebration ever!

#30 When you go to college, live on campus! Have a roommate at least for the first year. Learn how to make friends and how to live with someone who doesn’t do things the same way you do. It will teach you that in life, things don’t always have to be your way. I promise you that it will be good for you. Also, eat the cafeteria food. It’s not as bad as you think. I should know. I worked in the café for a year! 

#31 When you daughters want to play with you, play with your daughters. Paint their nails. Let them paint your nails. Wear crowns, drink from little tea cups, hug bears. When you don’t play, you are teaching them that your time is more valuable than theirs. Later in life, you will want them to stay home and be with you. You can’t get back time. Live in the moment. They are worth it.

#32 Take pictures. Take as many as you want. Post them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, where ever you want. If people don’t like your photos, if they think you post too much, or if they think you go too much, it’s ok. You can’t control what others think. But, you will always have that awesome photo of the burger in Orlando that changed your life. Live it up and take that photo! Photos are important!

#33 I hate cancer. It’s one of the things in my life that has shaped me more than anything else. My father lost his life to cancer, but through cancer, I was able to see a man cling to his faith in Jesus and trust that Jesus is so much better than anything else. So, to cancer: you may have thought you defeated my dad, but you didn’t. You took him to meet Jesus faster, and in the process, I, and countless others, experienced a strengthened walk with Christ. Yes, I still hate cancer, but I am thankful for a father who endured it faithfully to the end.

#34 Being hit by a drunk driver (and almost dying on the interstate) will change you and shake you in ways you never could imagine. You can either sink back into a hole and do nothing ever again or look at the days you have given as a gift and continue to live and make much of Jesus. I choose to live. Jesus is better and will always be.

 

 

#35 When you come home and your power has been turned off because you can’t pay the electric bill because you don’t have money, and you have to call and break the news to your wife, it’s going to hurt. Especially when it’s at Christmas time, and you have to look at a Christmas tree that’s full of lights that won’t work. Don’t fret. Pull out a guitar and worship together, trusting that Jesus is still faithful. Then borrow money from the in-laws to turn the lights back on and work hard to pay them back. Don’t give up! It’s always darkest before the dawn. It is only a season.

#36 Read the Word of God for yourself. Trust that its words are true and life changing. Memorize it and hide it in your heart. The Word of God is something that needs to be in your life during the good times and the bad. It remains steadfast and has been the greatest thing that I have ever done. Listen to people talk about it, but read it for yourself. It’s still speaking, even today!

#37 You will make mistakes. You will make wrong choices, but don’t let them define who you are. Learn from them, and be better because of them. As Hannah Montana once said, “Nobody’s perfect!”

#38 Bigfoot is real. No, I haven’t ever seen him, but let me tell you he is real! I think believing in Bigfoot keeps me young. It’s ok to believe in Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth fairy, and so on. Look at me. I still believe, and I am a pretty well-adjusted person:)

#39 Love your family well. Your job, ministry, sports, free time, hobby, and so on is not as important as your family. Love them well and cherish them. You will never get that time back. It’s super important. Also, date your wife. Pursue her daily, and love her because she is worth it.

#40 LIVE THE DREAM! I wake up each day happy, regardless if I’m going to work or if I’m going to Disney World. I’m living the dream. You may say, “Yeah, right! No one does that!” Believe me when I say this, “I DO.” I truly try and figure out a way to make each day special. Eat out, go to the park, buy a Dr. Pepper, have something to look forward to each day. Stop dreading things, and live in the moment. If God chooses to wake you up tomorrow, live the dream. I may be getting older, but each day I get to LIVE THE DREAM!