Every little kid aspires to be a big kid... The trick is to never grow up...

     Today one of my best friends Charles Jones (CJ) and I had the honor of going to First Babtist Church, Folkston and do a skills demonstration for the kids who were playing in their Upward soccer league. It was their last day and the church staff thought it would be a good idea if we came and showed off a bit hopefully to keep the kids interested and show that they could also go far in soccer if they worked at it. This was a truly big honor for me because I was always one of those kids growing up that looked up to high schoolers and college people so much!
      I remember being little and getting so crunk on Fridays because that was the day that the Ware County Gators played and I looked up to them so much! And it's funny how when you grow up those memories of how awesome everyone was that was older than you, stay with you. You can still think back and be like, "Man, I remember watching Fred Gibson play for Ware County and the stadium used to be packed out every game!" (Even if the stadium was only half full it still felt like it was packed out.) I do remember one time while I was attending Williams Heights Elementary they brought Fred, and two other Gator Football players to our lunch room all decked out in their pads and jerseys... Pretty much every kid in the lunchroom tackled them and brought all three of them to the ground. It was quite intense, and to be honest I don't think they were ready for the whole 3rd and 4th grade, pads or no pads.
   Even to this day, Fridays hold something special to me. And I doubt that will ever change. Today, we got to  be a part of that whole "kids looking up to older people" scenario. It was great, I don't ever remember doing something like that before. As we did tricks on the field and played some 1v1 I could hear the kids on the sidelines shouting and saying, "Wow! They are so good!" and do you know what? Hearing those words from the kids meant more to me than anything a coach has ever told me. It was great, and it made me feel like maybe we really did help these kids to want to play the sport even more. I hope that they saw that these older guys are Christians and they are still playing soccer and loving it. I have always prayed that if I am not going to use soccer to honor the Lord then I do not want to play it anymore.
     After we finished up our skills demonstration a bunch of like 9ish year old girls came and asked us to take pictures with them which was pretty funny. And then this one younger girl and her mother came over to get our autographs which was really humbling because I don't know that I have ever given a serious autograph before and it was cool to think that to this little girl I am really something special.
     So for me, I am going to continue to remember this day. When I am down on myself for having a bad practice or game I won't give up. If someone that truly matters to me tells me that I can't make it anywhere, I am not going to listen. I am going to remember these kids and know that to someone, I matter and those someones are the ones I am going to play for. I am going to play for the little kid inside of me and love life and live it to the fullest and try and honor God in all that I do.

Never grow up.