THE REAL SECRETS OF LIFE

Today is National signing day for high school football seniors.  That means this is the first day senior football players can sign a scholarship offer to play football for a college team next year.  Can you imagine the pressure these kids have been under for the past few months?  Everyone picking their minds trying to find out where they are going.  All of the do this and do that,  go here and go there.  the pulling and pushing.  Someone always wanting your time.  All the questions.  Just stop a minute and think about the pressure....CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT THIS PRESSURE FEELS LIKE?.......I can.....Oh no.  I was never recruited to play college football.  Although I did play in high school,  back then colleges weren't looking for a 175 pound slowwwwwwwww lineman.  But I have felt pressure like this before.  The pressure of trying to live up to something.   Many of these kids are the big man on campus but next year they will find out they are not what they thought.  They will find out they are no better than many and not as good as a lot of other kids trying to play this game.  Oh they will keep trying and trying but will eventually find out they are trying to be something they aren't.  Some call this getting knocked off your pedestal or getting your legs cut out from under you.  Whatever you call it.....it hurts.....and sometimes, the biggest hurt is admitting that you're not all that to yourself.  Do you watch American Idol?  Peggy and I have watched it from the first show of the first year and every year we see people on the show and ask ourselves and each other......Does he or she really think they can sing?...... And believe it or not....in most cases the answer is yes, yes, yes,  They believe they are good.  And you ask why do they believe this?   Because someone that loves them told them they were good.  Let me give you another example of this and tell you about the pressure to live up to expectations of  others,  especially of others that we love.  I've told you about building birdhouses with my oldest two grandsons,  Austin and Zack.  When they first started working with me my first instruction to them was not to worry about messing anything up or breaking anything in the shop.  I told them there was nothing out there that they could break that we couldn't fix.  We spent many hours of what I love to call "Quality Time" together building.  When you spend this much time with young people,  let me tell you,,,,,,,you're going to get asked some unbelievable questions.  And believe it or not,  of these questions that were asked of me,  most of the time I had an answer or at least an opinion.  The boys have also spent a lot of time at family gatherings with me and my brother-in-law Julian.  Julian and I are both what I would call talkers and story tellers.  During these times our discussion will many time turn to things like politics, or religion, or world problems ETC.  Thus the boys have listened to these debates for years.  Now....here comes the pressure.  One day going to an art show,  Zack asked Austin a question.  I don't remember the question but I remember Austin's response.  He said "Ask PaPa,,,he knows everything and if he happens not to know,  Julian will.  You talk about pressure.  I had been placed on top of the world as one of the two smartest people in the world.  Now I'm not sure if I was number 1 or number 2 but either place was a pretty high pedestal.  The only really bad thing about being on top is that one day you are going to get knocked off.  I discovered getting to the top was no problem but staying there......Well staying there is real pressure.  Have I been knocked off yet?  I don't know but if not I know one day I will be.  But that's OK because I know I will still be loved by these guys, and as time goes on,  I'll be asking them the really perplexing questions of life, ....  Like....What do you think Victoria's secret really is?

LOVE YOU!!!