A Good Place

You never know... You just never know… Less than a year ago I drove to ‘my school’ on a Saturday morning walked up the flight of stairs turned left and walked the 5 or so yards to ‘my classroom’. My classroom, the place I spent pretty much seven days a week for four wonderful years, teaching ‘my kids’ about the wonderful world of literature, football, and what lay ahead of them after high school.

That classroom, that school, those relationships were an integral part of ‘who I was’. As I pulled the posters from the wall and packed up all of my personal belongings it was obvious that I was leaving behind much more than a classroom, I was leaving behind a significant part of myself, a part of myself that I couldn’t bring with me.

You never really know where you are going. You can imagine, you can hope, you can even wish, and you probably should pray, but in the end you never really know… you just have to have Faith that when you arrive it will be a ‘good place.” You worry that you won't be any good at it… even if you were awesome doing the very same thing at the last place, there is still doubt. You worry that you can’t replace your friends, that you won’t be able to find a Bubba Nall or a Demetrio Tyson, or Chad Johnson, or Griffin Windham, or a Cantrell ‘the real deal’ Tyson. You worry that you won’t find another mentor like Mike Dubose. You worry that the ‘new’ kids won’t like you or worse yet, what if you don’t like the ‘new’ kids? Mostly, you just worry.

That started me thinking, what do people want out of life? That’s a complicated questions with a great many layers, like an onion I suppose. For me, like Curly said, I think it comes down to one thing, just one thing, just this… does anyone see value in who I am?

Let me explain. When you go shopping you are generally looking for one of two things, something that you want or something that you need. Both a want and a need have intrinsic value to them because we endue them with such. I believe that people desire to be wanted or needed, they want to have value and thus to be valued by someone. Thus, when we are forced to leave a place where we felt connected, loved, and valued, whether by choice or not, we wonder… will we be valued where we are going?

Yesterday I received a message on our Facebook page, that I want to share with you now:

"This may not look like much but THIS is everything! PMS Dragons Football got a new coach and along with the new coach came his son's ! Let me tell you , we aren't even into summer training and I watched every single boy come off that field with their head held high . They motivated them, pushed them but most of all coached them with passion, guidance and HEART TODAY. The last two seasons there was only one coach that genuinely had the heart to take my boy under his wing and help coach him with HEART AND that is coach clay. Today I watched an ENTIRE COACHING STAFF WALK ON AND OFF THE FIELD WITH THE SAME HEART AND PASSION FOR THESE DRAGONS ! I am utterly thrilled for not just Ryder but every single athlete to have the opportunity to have these coaches for the upcoming season. Way to go DRAGONS"

So, let me echo this post… This may not look like much, but THIS is everything. In my former, former life I pastored a church and every Sunday I would get up and try to share everything that was in my heart. Somedays were much better than others, it’s not an easy job. The best days were the ones where the people wanted to know what I knew as much as I wanted to share it with them. It’s the difference between pouring something out and having someone pull it out of you.

As teachers we understand this, it’s the kids that desire to learn even more than we desire to teach… that’s when the magic happens. It’s our why, and I think it’s because that's when we feel that we are our most valuable, when someone wants what we have to offer whether it be the knowledge of math or science or literature, or even something as foolish and childish as football. For a moment, we are connected and isn’t that what life is truly about, connections. Sure, we may be talking about the proper way to run a comeback route, but what we are really doing is sharing our lives and finding value in each other.

That’s what I have found here in Lindale in the halls and on the athletic fields of PMS, value. People to share my life with, people who are worth pouring out my time and what little I know about life, and exercise, and football... and the humbling thing is, they seem to like having me around. For that I am thankful!

*** BTW, I obviously wasn't here and have no insight or opinion of the coaches or coaching staff that preceded me. Everyone, including the former coaches, have been nothing but kind to me since I arrived. I just felt that if I shared the post/message that I should share it in it's entirety and hope that I haven't offended anyone.