When You Get Knocked Down

I often post blogs which are transparent at times with my relationship with God. Well, today wasn’t one of my best days. My so-called Christian example went out the window. I’m not feeling real Christian-like right now.

Today I lost my temper. Yep, this shinning example of a Christian was anything but that today. My anger was justified but I failed miserably in the way I handled it. I had been better with handling similar issues and finding a way to bring peace and deescalate situations but I spiraled out of control today.

Right now I’m feeling pretty bad about it. Today I failed. I’m not anyone’s example. I could have done better.

I don’t know how to fix what happened today. I will just wake up in the morning and try to make it a better day. When you have disappointed yourself, you have to take the loss and regroup. I will be honest that it’s hard to regroup or be my own cheerleader right now.

It’s not important to share details about what happened. I don’t want to rehash it - although I have already done it hundreds of times in my mind. I wish I had a redo. I’m not sure that will happen. It’s funny how things can get out of control so fast. Hopefully I can learn from this and get back on track. Honestly, it may take me a while.

I have no Bible verses to quote right now or any clever sayings I found on the Internet. This is real life folks. We all screw up sometimes. Being a Christian doesn’t make you perfect. I’m sure this is why God has never used me in any official ministry because I’m not one of those “special Christians” who can speak in tongues all the time and have visitations from God on a regular basis. I’m not an apostle. I’m simply me. I fail sometimes and sometimes I screw it up big time. I’m just being real. It makes you wonder if God can really use you.

I know I will have better days and I will have days that I get it right but it is days like today that you feel like any good you have done was wiped out with one heated moment of emotions. I’m human. That’s not an excuse but it is honest. As much as some would like you to believe you can just float around in this world like the Holy Ghost, we are still flawed humans.

Today I got knocked down but I will get back up.

Georgia High School Football: My 50th Season of Rivalry Games

This year is my 50th season of following Georgia High School football.  Today I look back to the rivalry games I have witnessed.

The very first rivalry game I attended with in the Charlton County-Clinch County series.  In 1975, I attended the Region 2-B Championship game at Waycross Memorial Stadium.  It was Clinch County's first playoff game in their history.   I was living in Charlton County at the time and attending Bethune Middle School.  My dad had played football and graduated from Clinch County.  They let me sit on the Charlton County side in that game.   The Indians won a hard-fought 6-0 game for the region title.

This rivalry has been called "The Swamp War" over the years.  The series is currently tied 31-31-1 when the two teams meet on October 4th in Homerville.

The second rivalry series I encountered was the Villa Rica-Carrollton when I attended high school in Villa Rica from 1977-1980.  These two teams are in Carroll County and pretty much a lopsided rivalry with Carrollton leading the all-time series 47-5-7.  The last time Villa Rica won a game in this series was 9-7 in 1998.  Carrollton won the last meeting 50-0 in 2023.  The two teams do not play this season.  Incidentally, the last game I played in as a player was a spring game with the B-team in 1980.

The most intense rivalry I have witnessed has been the Warner Robins-Northside game.  It was like no other I had attended before.  I had never seen as many people attend a high school football game as I had seen in my first experience in 1985.  

Warner Robins came from behind to tie the game on a touchdown run by Lane Maddox with 47 seconds. Maddox completed a pass on fourth-and-10 earlier on the drive, and the Demons controlled overtime. Lester Efford scored the game-winner in overtime with a 17-yard touchdown with 1:01 left in the second overtime. Northside went for a gadget play for the second straight year, but a hook-and-lateral came up short, and Ben Smith recovered the fumble.  In the 1989 game, Warner Robins entered the game as USA Today's top-ranked team in the nation.  Northside scored early in the first quarter on a touchdown catch by Jo Shuttlesworth.  With a minute left in the game, Warner Robins quarterback Eric McDowell connected with Chad Bowen from 22 yards out, but the extra point was missed.  

In my last time attending the rivalry game, it was the most improbable comeback in series history, Warner Robins came back from a 20-0 deficit in the fourth quarter.  On fourth-and-7, quarterback Maurice Dudley found running back Jonathan Jackson for a 47-yard touchdown pass with two minutes to play for a 21-20 win.

This series once was called the "city championship" until Houston County and Veterans opened.  It also used to determine the region champion and a few times both teams were undefeated going into the game.

Warner Robins leads the all-time series 41-25.  Warner Robins has won the last seven games in the series including a 39-35 thriller in last year's game.  Northside's last win was 55-3 in 2016.  The two teams renew their rivalry tonight.

Rivalry games have been some of my most memorable moments in following Georgia High School football.

Being "very demure, very mindful"...

The latest trend on social media is to post videos in jest about "being demure or very mindful".   This most recent fad was started by TikTok contributor Jools Lebron from Chicago who posted a video "How to be demure at work" which went viral.  Now there are several videos showing how people are being "demure, mindful" in their daily activities.

Honestly, I had never heard of the word "demure" until this came out.  Demure means to be "modest, reserved or serious".  In addition to demure, the adjective "very mindful" has also been added to the description.

If you ask most people, I think they would describe my personality as being very demure and very mindful.  I'm not very extroverted until you get to know me.  I tend to be slow in opening up to people until I'm sure I can trust you.  

So how did I become "very demure" and "very mindful"?

I grew up as a preacher's kid and we moved around a lot.  That meant that every year or so I would have to adjust to a new church, new school and new routines.  I tended to observe people to first before opening up.  I was always afraid of people making fun of me - and some would.  Most would comment on me being so quiet and not saying much.  Yeah, they didn't realize I was watching them.  

Even as an adult, I would be very reserved at first especially in an office environment.  I remember a co-worker making a comment once how I seemed so serious while working in a stressful situation in the courtroom but then I told him that I may have looked that way on the outside, but I was freaking out on the inside.  

Another time I was walking down the hallway at work, and someone asked why I was mad.  Apparently, my facial expression wasn't very cheerful.  I told them that I wasn't mad but was thinking (mindful) about what I was doing.  Even now I am asked what I am mad about because my facial expression doesn't always convey what is going on in my mind.  I'm usually not mad about anything, it's just my face.  

I will admit that many times it may be confusing to know if I'm "very demure, very mindful" by my facial expressions.  Let me tell you - there's a lot going on in my head at times however, when I feel that things are chaotic, I always find a place to take a timeout and regroup.  For me, I talk to God about it.  Most of the time I just sit in silence.  God doesn't always need us to talk, many times He understands the language of our silence.  Making time to sit in silence and meditate is often a challenge for us to do because we feel like we must being doing something but I have found that this time is vital to our mental and spiritual health.

So how can we be more demure?  It starts with being more mindful or our words and actions and projecting a sense of calm and composure in all situations.  It's about listening more than speaking and when we speak, speak kindly to others.  Don't you agree that the world needs more people who are demure?  There are way too many people who "speak their minds" these days but we really need to remember that are words and actions can either hurt or help others.  In a world where people are quick to anger, we need to project a sense of calm and composure.  

There are several passages in the New Testament which talk about "having the mind of Christ" which means to have our actions and words filtered through what would Christ do in each situation.  Having "the mind of Christ" is ultimately the best way to being "very demure, very mindful" in everything we do.