Endurance:

“Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.”

Buddha

“A fight is not won by one punch or kick. Either learn to endure or hire a bodyguard.”

Bruce Lee

“You would be surprised how much pain you can endure when you have to.”

Stephen Manderson

“The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue.”
Napoleon Bonaparte

“I want to see 110% out of all of you.”

Rachel Randolph

“I’m a Kays man. I finish what I start.”

Seth Kays

Teamwork:

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”
Michael Jordan

“Unity is strength… when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.”
Mattie Stepanek

“We’re all in this together.”

Zac Effron

“The nice thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side”

Margaret Carty

Ryan Crell stood in the middle of over three hundred people, all wearing blue t-shirts with the logo for Extreme Makeover Home Edition printed on the back. How had he been volunteered for this? He did not quite know. All he knew was that at the end of this little “thing” he would have a free ticket to Disney World, and that was all that mattered. He looked over towards a house that was practically falling apart. He saw a dude with a camera and megaphone screaming into the camera about how the house was about to come down. Then he saw one of those digger things drive over to the house and start digging away the roof. As soon as it touched it the house collapsed in a heap of rubble.

“Well,” said Ryan quietly, “I guess my work is over for today. The real stuff starts tomorrow.”

As he started to walk off a really big guy grabbed him by the shoulder and said, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Home?” said Ryan sarcastically.

“Ha, fat chance. We have to remove all of this debris before tomorrow morning.”

“Are you kidding?”

“Nope. So, let’s get to work.”

Ryan was devastated. He walked over with the guy and began moving bricks and pieces of wood over to the seven dumpsters that were set up near the street. For the rest of the day and far into the night Ryan did this. By 3:00am, Ryan hurt in places he did not even know he had. He groaned as he threw his last brick into the dumpster.

“Tiring, isn’t it?”

He turned around to see a somewhat muscular guy holding a megaphone standing behind him.

“Yeah, I didn’t know that it was this much work. It looks so easy on TV.”

“Everything does. Curse those editors. They never show the true story of the work.”

“I’ll second that.”

They both laughed.

“Well, my name is Ty, and I will be here all week. If you have any questions, just tell me.”

“Ok,” said Ryan. “Thanks.”

As Ty walked away, Ryan looked at him. Maybe this little “building thing” would be good for him.

One fine day in Orlando, Florida, a young teenager by the name of Brian was checking his e-mail. He noticed an e-mail from his friend Seth Kays, whom he had the pleasure of speaking to in several months. In this e-mail was the link to a story that Seth had written about a place called Camp Hope. Several months later, Brian had finished reading novel and thought it sounded suspiciously like an adventure he had had at a camp called Doe River Gorge.

“Well,” said Brian, “I’ll have to give Seth a call.”

So Brian did just that.

“Hello?” said Seth when he answered.

“Hey Seth,” said Brian, “its Brian.”

“Hey Brian, how are you?”

“I’m good. I just finished reading your novel.”

“Really?” exclaimed Seth. “What did you think?”

“I thought that it was very well written,” said Brian, “and that it reminded me of our adventure at Doe River Gorge.”

“Well, it should. It was based on most of it.”

“I thought so! So which character was I?”

Suddenly Brian heard Seth coughing uncontrollably on the other end of the line.

“Seth,” said Brian, “are you okay?”

“Um, yeah. Uh, well, Billy was who you were.”

“Really? Billy? I thought he was described as a tall, dark and hansom blond guy. I’m a short white boy with dark curly hair, kind of like you.”

“I know, I just, you know, the personality was based on you.”

“Oh, I see,” said Brian. “Well, um, it was nice talking to you.”

“Yeah,” said Seth, “same here. We should do it more often.”

“Yeah. Well, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Sure, man. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Brian hung up his phone and thought for a moment. Well, he thought, it was well written.

The task: Find ten songs to use as a sort of Auto Biography. The ten songs below really reflect my short sixteen year life span. All of the major moments in my life so far are marked by each of these songs, either because of the time I found them, or the time they remind me of.

Jesus Freak, DC Talk

When I was about six, the only music my sister had was Jars of Clay, Carman, and DC Talk. DC Talk was her favorite. Whenever I hear Jesus Freak, by DC Talk, it always reminds me of my younger days.

“What will people think when they hear that I’m a Jesus freak? What will people do when they find out it’s true?”

This Man, Jeremy Camp

About six years later, I discovered that I actually enjoyed music. At the time, I played piano, and heard this song played at church. I thought nit was cool. So, my dad bought me Jeremy Camp’s Restored album, with this song on it. Whether I knew it or not, this had begun an intimate relationship between me and music.

“Would you take the place of this man? Would you take the nails from his hands?”

Bribe me with London, Annie Brooks

About the same that I bought my first Jeremy Camp record (or CD as most non-musicians say) my sister had been accepted into St. Catherine’s University in Oxford, England. My family decided that a two week trip was in order to “drop her off.” Originally, I was not supposed to go on this trip. However, thanks to my Grandmother, I did end up going. Every time I listen to this song, I remember my time in London.

“Well you can bribe me with London, you can tempt me with this. If you bribe me with London, babe, I can’t resist…”

Rest, Skillet

There was a time in my family’s life, not too long ago, where everything was hectic. Mom would be gone on this trip here, my dad was gone there, and my sister was having a stressful time adjusting to collage. She sent my mom this song, and it was played at least 100 times over those long few months. It reminded us that we should always just rest in the love of God.

“And I rest and the shelter of your love, and I rest in the wonder of your grace, and I rest in the shelter of your love, and I rest in the wonder of you!”

Me and Jesus, Stellar Kart

Several years ago, my dad was diagnosed with cancer. This was a heavy blow to us. For several months, my dad fasted on and off, and we all prayed constantly. God guided my dad through every step to find the best doctor in the country to deal with this cancer. This song was played many times. It reminded us that whenever everything felt hopeless, we always had each other, and Jesus.

“Someone loves you, even when you don’t think so, don’t you know? You’ve got me and Jesus!”

New World, tobyMac

December, 2005: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was released into theaters. As soon as I saw it, I read every Narnia book out there. This time in my life was referred to as my “Narnia Obsession Stage.” I picked up this song in the middle of that stage. It kind of stuck as I passed through.

“I’ve seen a new world (like nothing before, just step through the door right) into a new world, into Narnia!”

Who I am hates Who I’ve Been, Reliant K

I was a very rebellious child. I won’t give all the gory details, but my life really stunk. After about four years of work, I finally began to break free. This song was my theme song for a while.

“I’m sorry for, the person I became. I’m sorry that, it took so long for me to change. I’m ready to make sure I never become that way again, ‘cause who I am haves who I’ve been, who I am haves who I’ve been …”

Dare you to move, Switchfoot

The first complete song I ever learned on guitar. My friend Mark taught it to me. Remember what I said earlier about Jeremy Camp? Well, about two years after buying that record, I began to teach myself guitar. To this day, I still play guitar often. This song inspired me to start. Funny, it being named, Dare you to Move.

“Welcome to the planet. Welcome to existence. Everyone’s here, everyone’s here… I dare you to move, I dare you to move, I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor…”

Daylight, Remedy Drive

This was the first song I ever learned by ear. After learning this song, completely by ear, solo and all, no music reference except the song itself, I really began to delve into music. Music has become a very significant part of my life, somewhat thanks to this song.

“Hold on, daylight is coming to break the dawn. Daylight is coming.”

Dance ‘Round the Memory Tree, Oren Lavie

At this point in my life, I have memories; plenty of good memories. But I also have hopes for the future. Here’s to the memories to come.

“Winters have come and gone, we know, winters have come and gone. But I’ll wait so young and free for a dance ‘round the memory tree…”

He also had an interesting style of writing. Because of his British nationality, he adopted their writing style, which differs from the American style in a few ways. One of the more noticeable differences was when he used dialogue, instead of the American quotation marks (“ ”) he used single quotations (‘ ’). JRR Tolkien used this style as well. In many of his stories, instead of saying, “He said,” or, “She said,” he would say, “Said the leopard to the zebra, ‘…’” However, the stories themselves are truly masterpieces. His creativity has and will forever inspire many people.

In the days of Anannsi the Spider, there lived in the same jungle a parrot. Now this parrot lived alone for quite some time. In fact, it had been so long since he had seen another animal that he had forgotten how to speak! So there he perched, on a branch in the middle of the woods, when along came a little monkey. This monkey knew very many words, and loved to give them to everyone. The monkey saw the parrot sitting on the branch climbed over to him.

Said the monkey to the parrot, ‘How goes it, you fantabulose fowl?’

But the parrot said nothing and just looked down at the ground.

‘I said, how are you doing, you beautiful bird?’

Still the bird said nothing.

‘Oh, come on, don’t you know any words?’

The bird only shook his head in shame.

‘Oh, man, you’re a parrot in a predicament, aren’t you?’

The bird thought for a moment, and then nodded his head.

‘Do you know what predicament means?’

The parrot shook his head again.

‘I thought so. Well, I am going to teach you how to talk. I have many words. All I need to do is give them to you.’

So off they went, the monkey jumping through the trees, and the parrot flying behind him. The parrot thought about how good it would feel to talk again. He really wished he could talk. After about a half an hour they arrived at a waterfall gushing into a large pool that fed the river beyond. The monkey pointed at the waterfall.

Said the monkey to the parrot, ‘Waterfall. Say it.’

Said the parrot to the monkey, ‘Watervall?’

‘No, waterfall.’

‘Waterfall.’

‘Good job! Now say this, pool.’

‘Pool.’

‘Wonderful! You are learning well. Let’s keep going.’

So off they went over the pool and into the other side of the woods. The parrot felt a sense of pride. He was talking! They stopped at an orchard.

Said the monkey to the parrot, ‘Apple.’

Said the parrot to the monkey, ‘Apple.’

‘Tree.’

‘Tree.’

‘Amazing. You are talking!’

The parrot felt glad that he was beginning to talk again. He missed his words. The pair moved on. They ended up in meeting place for the animals.

Said the monkey to the crowd, ‘Friends! I have an announcement!’

All the animals turned to him and were silent.

‘The parrot, who has not been able to talk for years, can finally talk.’

Everyone looked at him in amazement. After all these years, could he really talk? The monkey looked at the parrot and said, ‘Say something.’

The parrot felt the words coming. He yelled, ‘Say something!’

Said the monkey to the parrot, ‘No, you say something.’

Said the parrot to the monkey, ‘No, you say something!’

‘Stop copying me!’

‘Stop copying me!’

‘Stop it now!’

‘Stop it now!’

And this kept going to hours upon hours. From this day on, every parrot could not talk, but only mimic others. After many years, they called this action parroting.

Have you ever tried making a point to someone, but knew that they did not quite understand? In times like this, we use stories and analogies to make our points clearer and help people understand. But why do stories appeal to everyone? The article states, “Using a narrative appeals to the reader’s emotions by inviting them to make associations and identify with the situation.” By appealing to someone’s emotions, we trigger something in their brain that says, I want to remember that. Remembering these small, but powerful, tips can not only help you as a writer, but also in speaking to large crowds or in one-on-one conversations. No matter the setting, on the page or from the mouth, knowing how to appeal to other human is vital to living everyday with another human being.

Planes can have an interesting effect on a person who does not fly on one regularly. Takeoff shoves one into his or her seat while trying not to think about how high the plane is from the ground. Also, the constant roar of the engine can almost drive one insane. However, there I sat, in the coach class of this airplane, wondering why I agreed to go on this business trip to England. We still sat at the airport, waiting for all of the passengers to board the plane. As I sat there, thinking about life and how it might end shortly, a man stormed up to me and demanded that I give up my seat.

I told him that my ticket gave me this seat and that I had no need to move. He then began to yell and make a huge commotion demanding that I move or he’d get an attendant. As all this took place, one of the attendants walked up and asked me to please give him my seat. After sheepishly agreeing I stood up and took my bag out from the overhead bin. After the man had put his bag into the bin and sat down, the attendant thanked me and took me up to first class because I had complied. Just before I walked through the curtain, I chanced a look back at the man. He had a look of anger and embarrassment on his face.

Chuckling to myself, I followed the attendant to my new seat. After placing my bag in the bin I sat down next to a balding, short, big, old man. He looked at me with a smile on his face and greeted me with a handshake.

“I’m Jack,” he said.

“Nice to meet you,” I replied, “My name’s James.”

This consisted of our conversation for the next few hours. He went on reading his newspaper, and I pulled out The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. We sat there like this for about half of the trip until he cleared his throat and I looked at him.

“How’s the book?” he asked.

“Very enjoyable,” I said. “I agree with Lewis on most of the points made throughout the book.”

“Really?” he exclaimed. “Well, tell me what you disagree with.” Our conversation led us deeper and deeper into Philosophy. We agreed and disagreed on many points. Finally we decided to sleep seeing as it was 4:00 am. As we were woken by the attendants we saw light streaming through the window of the plane. I smiled and greeted Jack and he greeted me. In a few minutes, the attendants brought us breakfast and we ate in silence. Within the next hour, the plane had landed and we said our farewells.

I arrived at my bed and breakfast to settle down for a good nights sleep when I looked at my copy of The Great Divorce. It had a note written on the inside. It read, “Thank you for the wonderful conversation on the plane. I will remember it always.

C.S. Lewis.”

On the other hand, when you write your plans down you are more likely to do it. This makes sense though. If you take the time to write it out by hand, or even type it out on the computer, you are focused on it. That time that you invested into writing it down made your brain stop and think about it more. After this, your brain thinks on it constantly because it registers it as important. Imagine what would happen if we wrote everything down. We would forget less, and finish more. So take the time, write it down, and never forget.

Many people stay away from Christians due to hypocrisy. Christians walk the walk and talk the talk on Sunday, but many do not live what they say all the time. Some don’t even live it on Sunday. Are all Christians hypocrites? No. However, we as Christians need to make sure that we don’t live a life of hypocrisy to show non-Christians what Christ really is like. The following is a fictional scene in a church from four different points of view.

The Showoff

As the music ended and as everyone sat down he walked onto the stage. Standing behind the pulpit, he eyed the large crowd. They like me! They really like me! Slowly a smile grew on his face as he seeped in the spotlight shining down on him. Oh, how he loved the attention the crowd gave him every Sunday. He could evoke an “amen!’ or “hallelujah!” whenever he wanted. Of course, he was doing God’s work, and none of the glory when to himself. But who said you couldn’t have fun while doing God’s work? Smiling, he looked out at the crowd and yelled, “Can I have an amen?” After the thunderous “Amen!” that followed, he laughed to himself. This would be a good service.

The Sunday Christian

As the music ended she sat down with the rest of the crowd. She looked forward as the pastor walked on stage. From the stage he yelled, “Can I get an amen?” At this, she stood to her feet and yelled “amen!” with several other people. Sitting back down, she grabbed her Bible and sat it on her lap, waiting for the pastor to tell them where to open it this week. Page Markers stuck out of her bible in regular intervals showing that she had many verses tagged and underlined. She had been coming to this church for over 20 years and knew her pastor’s style; knowing when to yell amen and clap for him. She sat there alone, her husband having left her six years earlier. She missed him, yet there she sat as if nothing had ever happened. The pastor kept preaching, but she never really listened.

Church?

As the music ended he looked up from the text he just sent on his phone. Why do I come here? I’m always so board. He looked to his right at the beautiful girl sitting next to him. She looked back at him and smiled. This is why I come here. As he slid his hand behind her, she leaned her head onto his shoulder. Feeling a vibration, he opened his phone to read the text that he had just received. Church was so boring; if not for the girl at his side, he might go crazy every week. He popped an ear bud into his ear and pressed play on his iPod. It was just another boring morning at church.

Pushed Away

As the music ended he walked into the big room and sat down in the back row. It had taken him 15 minutes of pacing in front of the church to decide to walk in, and then another 30 minutes pacing in the lobby to decide to walk in to the sanctuary. While in the parking lot, he had suffered many nasty looks from people walking in. Maybe it was because he had tattoos, or had his ears pierced. Why did they have to do that? He wanted help to get out from under his addiction, but no one looked like they wanted to help. The pastor looked so prideful up there on stage with that stupid smile on his face. He stood up and walked back out. He would never visit another church again.