Quickwrites for LA

Nick was an adventurous boy. He often played imaginary games in his backyard or at the park, with his best friend Avery. He was unlike the other kids at his school. Instead of watching the sunday-night football games with his family like all the other boys, he would tinker with machines and find out how they worked. One cloudy day, nick went on a bike ride down to the canal where he and Avery played pirates versus robots (the robots always won). Eventually, those clouds turned to rain, and the rain turned to thunder. Soon, the canal filled with freezing water, and Nick and Avery were stuck under a tree. they huddled together in an attempt to wait out the storm, until finally his mom drove by in her van. Through the hail and the pouring rain, they sprinted out to the car. Being greeted by blankets and hot chocolate, they entered the van and drove home from their epic rainy adventure.


We all sat nervously by the phone, praying that god would save him. We knew it was looking grim, but we had under-estimated the severity of the situation until that night. Finally, we got a call. It was mom and i couldn't understand what she was saying, but judging by her lack of composure, i could tell that we had lost him. My sister immediately began to cry and ran to her room. I slid down the wall like an old bag of laundry and put my hands to my face. There's no way this could be happening. That was the day that Drennen, the best swimmer on our team, had drowned.


He was gone. Even worse, there was nothing I could do. Who would gather all the neighborhood kids to play a game of kickball or capture the flag? Who would come over to my house and make Lego masterpieces? Who would be the one to laugh at my jokes when no one else did? No, he can't be gone, he just can't be! But he is. The situation seemed so surreal; I immediately began to feel numb all over, thinking of all the great times we had together. How could he be dead? I had just been with him two hours ago! This couldn't be happening...

PLN #3: Putting God First

               " 'Tony, I think you're at a crossroads,' Donnie said. 'You know what life is all about. You profess to be a Christian, and you tell everybody that God has first place in your life. Now, when your career looks like it's teetering, we're getting a chance to see what really is in first place for you.' I thought about that all day and then came back to the conversation with Donnie. 'You're probably right,' I told him. 'I feel like I've been learning from you guys and growing, and I'm feeling better about my faith and thinking that I trust the Lord. I'm trying to understand what you guys have. But all of a sudden, I come to a crisis point, and I begin to panic. My thoughts turn to 'What am I going to do?' Donnie paused and measured me squarely. 'All the Lord is trying to do is find out what's in first place in your life, and right now, it looks like football is.' I immediately knew Donnie was right, and I felt convicted. I think that was the point at which I really began to understand what it means to be a Christian, and I began making an effort to start changing and growing as a person. It was the first time I was able to look at football as something that God was allowing me to do, not something that should define me."
                                             --from Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy, chapter 4, pg. 50-51


              In Quiet Strength, by Tony Dungy, Dungy gets mononucleosis during the training camp leading into his second football season with the Steelers, and worries that his career with Pittsburgh might be over. He becomes so concerned with this that he asks some of the other players advice on what he should do. He eventually realizes that during this whole crisis, he never once asked God to lead him, and that his own selfishness made him stumble. That was the point in which he truly allowed God to lead his life.
               We're all like Dungy in the sense that we don't want to give up what's dear to us, but is it really right for us to strive for the sinful ambitions of this world? Matthew 16:26 says, "And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?" The truth, no matter how much you want it to be otherwise, is that God is in control of everything around us. Sure he gives us the choice of which path to take, but in the end, He is the only righteous way. We can't do anything without his help; for our strength withers like the weeds, but his strength grows only stronger through the seasons.

PLN #2: Its Good to be Humble

                    " 'Tony, you enjoy playing football, and these other guys enjoy playing football. You should have your senior year to play, and so should they. at the end of the day, what are you really upset about, anyway?' I began to answer, but he continued, talking over me without waiting for a response. I hadn't realized his question was rhetorical. 'Even if the issues are that important, should they spoil the fun that all of you should be having playing football as seniors? Thirty years from now, you don't want to look back and say that you missed out on something you really loved doing.' Then he asked the question he really wanted me to answer. 'Why would you let anything stop you from doing what you have the ability to do?' "
                                                      --from Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy, Chapter 3 pg. 24


                    In the book Quiet Strength,  by Tony Dungy, Dungy talks about his high school football career and how his senior year of football was almost ruined due to a racial bias in the team captain choices. He knew that he and his friend, Bobby Burton (both of which were black), were definitely the ones to get the captain spots. However, only Dungy got a captain spot because the school didn't want two black captains. This infuriated Dungy to the point that he and many other colleagues quit the team. I believe that Dungy was making a mistake and didn't need something like this to ruin his entire senior year of football. Apparently, so did he. After consulting with his friend and mentor Mr.Rocquemore, he and many others decided to join the team once again. All in all, the moral of the story is don't let your pride get in your way so much that you have to ruin the fun in life. It doesn't hurt to be humble sometimes. Life will often throw a curve ball that you're not ready for, and in most cases, taking a stand is a bad idea. Sometimes you've just got to roll with the punches and move on because in the end, you'll only be doing more bad than good.

PLN #1: The Brain Buster

         "Both my parents were college graduates, and it was always assumed that my siblings and I would go to college. Our parents talked regularly about what we wanted to do and their visions of what we could do. Early on, I thought everyone's parents were like that, but later I learned that I was unusually blessed to have this sort of background. Growing up with educators gave me a different slant on things. More than anything,  my mom and dad focused on exercising our brains, building both knowledge and character."
                                             --from Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy, chapter 2 pg. 7-8

         Why is it so important to, from the beginning, exercise your brains to their fullest? well, like Tony said, "Who I am today and the way I think were shaped by that time with my parents." Tony, being one of the world's greatest football coaches, knows what he's saying when he states that not only thinking about the hows but also thinking about the whys can really get you far in life. For example, my personal accomplishments would certainly not be as fruitful as they are today if it weren't for my parents challenging me every step of the way. My brain wouldn't be able to keep up with the more difficult aspects of life. Clearly, its important to exercise your brain everyday so you can be ready for whatever life throws at you.