27 (who cares)

So 27 years ago, I was born to a pretty lucky couple. It was the day before their 10th anniversary, and at 1:30 in the morning out I popped. It was 3 days after their friends had a baby boy, who ironically is one of my better friends still, happy belated birthday Jordan. I was born with 2 grandmas but only 1 grandpa, who I sadly don't have any memories of because he passed a few years later. I was born in Huntington, Indiana, although don't remember being around, cause by the time I was 3 we were living in Advance, Indiana. Most of my memories from there are about getting the chicken pox, and being upset that I couldn't play basketball outside, and eating those single serve pizzas with a Pepsi for lunch. My dad was a preacher and everyonce and a while I would sneak into church and if they didn't clean out the grape juice from communion I would have a little snack. I guess i could say I hungered for a deeper relationship with God. I remember some storms coming through, and going down in the church basement. Very few things are creepier than a church basement at night when the power goes off. No really bad storms hit, until a few years after I left. My closest friend's house got hit by a tornado, along with several others.
The Mighty Wells Reds were my little league team. I remember playing, but spent most of my time watching the bigger kids game on the field next to mine. So, then I got brought in from right field to short stop, and then decided that no one else except one of my teammates could touch the ball, so between him and I we covered the whole field. My brother was on my team once, and he was the last batter once, and I was on first when he hit it really hard. So I just kept running, but the catcher got the ball and tried to tag me, so I slid and knocked the ball out of his hands, but then had to get up and finish running to home. Tim then scored behind me.
I moved to a town called Moscow, not Russia, but Indiana. Had a lot of fun there. Playing 2 person sports with my brother. Things like baseball and football of course. My favorite was football and I think He liked baseball, but he could hit my fastball for a homerun, and I could throw the football over his head and run around him and catch it for a TD. Our dad had nicknames for us. He was a sports editor of the paper, and one saturday he was covering a wrestling match. I got my brother's attention as we walked and kept him distracted as he walked into the rollers that the mats would be moved around on. So he became crash, and I became genius (that might not be the real start of these names, but it's my blog and that's when I remember first hearing them). My brother and I fought as most brothers do. But one time my dad decided that he would sit this one out. I didn't like this, cause it was obvious that my brother and I were going to keep fighting till we hurt each other. So I took a moment that I was winning the fight, and instead of trying to hold on for the victory, which I knew would only be short lived, I decided to break free and go after my dad, because he didn't love us enough to come break up our fight. Not sure why I did that, cause my dad was a lot bigger than me, and unlike my brother if I got mad enough I couldn't beat my dad up. We had an awesome dog, Oscar. He was a small white dog with a huge eye from cancer or something. He bit me twice, but when I was sick he would lay in my bed with me until I got better. School was fun here. I was the coolest kid, with my neon shorts and sweatpants I wore every day. Of course I took them off after lunch to show off my sweet shorts. Just so you know I look back now and realize how much I looked like an idiot, but back then, no one could talk me out of doing anything I want.
We then moved to Huntington, Indiana. I quickly learned in 6th grade that it is not cool to wear sweat pants. And people made sure to let me know how dumb I looked. I quickly realized my brother was on the high end of the popularity scale. So instead of accepting this, I turned it into something I could make fun of him for, even after my parents made me stop. I had to start calling him a beep instead of a prep. He got mad a few times, but most of the time he had more things going for him, so my little insults just brushed off his shoulder.
Then in high school I ran, and ran, and ran. Track and cross country pretty much took over my life. I got involved in drama, at first on stage, but once my incredible singing talent was discovered, I was promoted to stage crew. I liked this alot and decided to stay, and became stage manager for a couple years. Building the sets were my favorites. Dated a girl that got me into our show choir stage crew, and had a lot more fun with that. Never really cared about grades or homework, but had fun in high school.
Youth group was brand new to me. I quickly fell in love, and got to hang out with cool young adults that helped me grow in such amazing ways. I never understood much of the Bible, until they came along and helped me dive into it. I would slowly start helping more and more with the youth group, and even organized a lock in with over 30 kids coming just to hang out, and play some laser tag. But this helped me decide to go into ministry.
My friend Dan was the first to get married, I was honored to be his best man. I love that guy a lot, and miss how he would ground me when I was starting to get a little too full of myself. He is the best friend that you always want to have around you. Although when we were leaving at 1 am to drive to Ft. Wayne, cause I wanted a peach, we got pulled over twice, mostly because Dan and I don't share the same skin color. To me, I was in shock. I couldn't believe that kind of this happened. This was around 2002, and I just sat there with my jaw on the floor half laughing and Dan's remarks back to the idiot cop, and then almost peeing my pants, when the officers partner snuck up to my window and asked for my id. I never saw him coming.
Then there was my brother's wedding. Got the best man spot again. And loved being a part of that special day with him and Sam. I love them both, and love Titus and Amy. Followed a few years later by Dustin, and then recently Kyle. Both I was groomsman, and happy to play the part. Dustin was my best friend who lived out in the country and has his degree in engineering from Purdue. Crazy smart guy, and someone you can just chill with and you will feel good about life the more time you spend with him. Kyle is probably the most closest to my personality. We both like to do random things, and laugh when we think back to the fact that I was closer to his brother than him in high school, but when he showed up at my house for a christmas party one year, we just clicked and haven't stopped being friends since. he just married Ashley and I'm excited about the life they will have together.
I have 2 funny stories that I have been reminded of recently about my childhood. The first is from the time when Haley's Comet was around, and a lot of people had some cults, either for that, or other weird reason's. And so my dad turns to my brother and sister and says, "Tim, Lin don't ever join a cult". So my sister turns back and says, "what about Bobby". Then my dad answers with "Bobby, don't ever start a cult". Most kids would have been weirded out, or upset that they were being treated different, but I just said ok dad I won't. The other story is around the time of my sister's high school graduation we were talking about life goals and growing up and stuff. Somehow it got turned to me, and my parents decided that I was going to be future dictator of the world. This of course I took seriously, well not really but it was fun, so I made a 20 year plan, of course starting in Cuba, because they were use to the dictator system, and my as a dictator would be way better than that Fidel guy.
Here is some of my life. Deffinately not all of, nor would I even consider these the highlights, but it is a taste. I love my life, and the fun I have had all along. God has been molding me all along into what He wants for me. I really have trouble following Him, and almost always have one step in the wrong direction, but he seems to pull me back despite my many faults that He sees more than anyone else. And I love thinking that He loves me despite my faults and He knows them all. I like it, cause I am free to not care what others think about me, cause God loves me and His will is what I try (and fail) to live for. Through these 27 years, God showed me that I will never be what I am fully capable of, but with His help, and only then I can become an amazing person that is gifted beyond belief with his gifts, that allow me to love and build relationships with those who society would say I shouldn't even talk to. But I don't even think about that. I have friends that are starting their own bussiness, and friends that are starting their own heavy metal band. I don't differentiate, and I hope no one else does either. God loves us, so we should see that love, and follow his lead and love those around us. Sorry for the length. if you made it this far let me know. i still got a coupon for a free movie, and zesto's. So I'll treat ya next time we see each other.