Memorial for the Fallen

There are a lot of people that seem to hate our military here in the United States.
I am not one of these people.
I am someone that loves our military and those that have paid for freedom and liberty with their lives.
I salute those that have given their lives.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
You guys are some of the strongest people on earth; mentally, physically, and emotionally.
Those people that have had limbs blasted off or have been wounded in past wars, I salute you.
To the families of those fallen soldiers that carry on the legacy of those fine men and women, I salute you.
To those men and women that have gone through chaos and utter pain after watching their friends and buddies blown apart in the field of battle and then have held their broken bodies, I salute you.
Many people don't see those deeds of soldiers that have died in the wilderness of Vietnam or in the deserts of Afghanistan or Iraq, I salute you.
To those people that have died in the World Trade Centers, those people in the Pentagon, those people in Boston that were innocently slaughtered, I SALUTE YOU!
Thank you for giving your lives for the people of this great land.
To the paralytic, the broken, the lives lost, the soldiers that remain scarred from war, the people that have suffered for the cause of the liberty and freedom for the United States, I salute you!
May God bless everyone that have given their bodies and lives for us and may God bless America!

~JDS

Check out the video below for a tribute to those fallen!
Click here!

"...to save a wretch like me"

I want to share my testimony as a Christian for you guys today. It is something that I am proud to talk about because it shows the grace, love, mercy, and greatness of God in and through my life. Anyways, on to the testimony.

I was a young man of 7 years old. I was a typical 7 year old with all my questions and curiosities. I had gone to a public school and saw how kids treated one another, which turns out to be not very good. I had grown up in a Christian home since I was 4 years old, so I knew the implications that followed being a Christian. I just didn't know what it was to be a Christian. I stood up for myself in school before becoming a Christian. We went to Church every week, and every week I wanted to be baptized. My pastor and parents didn't think I was ready. We waited for another couple of weeks until I went up to the front and asked Jesus to be my Savior. It was at that point that I felt the love of Jesus in my heart and I wanted to do the right thing in my life. My pastor wanted to meet with my parents and I to talk about what it meant to be a Christian and to get baptized. I was finally baptized. My life as a Christian reflected Christ to the best of my abilities and strength as I had my parents helping me each and every day. I walked through each day of my life following my father and the ministries that God had him in. 

The love of God was new to me at a very young age, but I have no doubt that God saved my life then and there. John 3:16 in the Bible says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This verse and my Christian faith became real to me as I watched the outside world and the unbelievers perish and felt a heart towards seeing them come to Jesus. I have lived as Jesus taught to live. I do still fall into sin and I fall on my face. God still comes and picks me up and dusts me off. The love of my Savior for me is beyond even what I can imagine. When God comes into your heart He makes you into a clean and new creation. You are born again without going into your mother's womb again. You are reborn spiritually and are given the Holy Spirit of God. Today I follow Him wholeheartedly in full surrender to what He has for me. God does not wish that any perish or die without salvation. He loves you and wants you to come to Him! I have Godly, Christian friends that encourage me daily and help me live for God. I play piano in Church services to help others to know the same love that I know. God bless!

~JDS

Ladies and Gentlemen...or not?

I have been thinking about a great blog post topic and I have come up with one.
Over the last semester I have started back up at going to a community college.
There are a lot of people that treat other people terrible.
You would think that people could be ladies and gentlemen.
I was wanting to address this topic.

Have you met someone that goes through a door and lets it slam in your face while you are carrying something heavy? You drop that heavy thing or hurt yourself trying not to get whacked by the door.
Other people will flat out act horrific without any qualms.
For example, when someone is sitting next to me in a college class and they cuss like a drunk sailor.
I do not by any means think that your speech and the way you talk when you cuss sounds good at all!
I mean, what is the point?

Ladies, when you cuss and act worse than the guys do, its very hard to treat you guys with any decency.
I am pretty good about letting a lot of stuff go, but its hard to be around people when they are terrible to be around. Guys, when you tell bad jokes, treat women with disrespect, and have no regard for life, I can not respect you!

I am being VERY honest with you guys right now.
I think it disgraceful that I find so many people that are the characteristics that I've mentioned above and so much worse. I mean, how old are you guys?
If you answered, "I'm 20 years old," or, "I'm 25 years old," or maybe something younger, then I would say, "ACT LIKE IT!"

I am speaking to the adults here.
If you are an adult, then act like it!
Act like it doesn't mean going out to drink, do drugs, cuss, and do everything under the sun.
It means to act like a respectable, civil human being.

Ladies, have lady-like qualities that are lovely and right!
I challenge the ladies to act like a respectable, civil, and right lady-like human being.
Be someone that people are going to want to be around, be likable.
Be a lady, not a man!

Men, I strongly urge you guys to act like men!
That means, giving respect to women, being a gentleman, being nice to be around, and being someone that people can respect and recommend.
Get rid of those friends and people in your life that are bad influences and MAN UP!

I know I have stepped on people's toes, but I felt that this subject needed to be addressed.

Carpe Diem, Seize the Day

Failure is a Good Thing?

There are a lot of things in life that we don't understand.

Here are some examples.

"Why do bad things happen?" 

"Why can't I do anything right?"  

"Why did I have to fail?"

"Why did my loved one have to die?"

There are many, many more.

Did any of these apply to you?

Today I wanted to talk about failure being a good thing.

A lot of people are hurting in our world and a lot of people fail.

I am here to tell you that you will grow the most in your life when you fail!

This is the opposite of what most people will tell you.

Why am I telling you this?

I'm telling you this because you can use those failures to learn from them and empower yourself for daily living. With failure comes great pressure to be better than you were before you failed.

Keep a journal and write down your failures.

Next time it comes to the task that you failed at last time, look back to that journal entry and learn from the failure. Being in school for longer than you would like may be annoying right now, but later it can be useful for having a better understanding of certain subjects.

When you fail, fail forward.

I'm going to tell you a little story:

Think about a running back in football.

This running back only needs one more yard to get the game winning touchdown.

The quarterback snaps the ball and hands it off to the running back.

The running back takes the ball and is met at the line of scrimmage by defenders.

He falls or (fails) forward and gets the touchdown.

In the same way, we fail forward and gain experience in a certain area of our lives and we are stronger for it.

I would suggest that you keep a journal for your failures like I mentioned earlier.

Also, I would suggest that you keep going forward, never give up!

Be inspired that you are not alone, you can fail to SUCCEED!

"A life spent in making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing." ~George Bernard Shaw

Carpe Diem, Seize the Day

Inconvenience...the Ultimate Bother

Have you ever met someone that really inconvenienced you to make themselves more comfortable?
Have you met someone that just can't seem to function properly to let the world revolve better?
If you answered yes to any of the questions above, you are not alone!
This afternoon I was driving to school and trying to get there on time and someone is driving 50 m.p.h. in the second lane. On top of that the gas station wouldn't accept my money!
Life would be easier on all of us if we would try to help one another function better if we were convenient towards one another, instead of being the ultimate bother.

Do something to lift a helping hand for the people around you.
Take out the trash, do the dishes, wash the cars, take notes in class for someone, drive the speed limit (or get out of the way), help each other study, pick up some slack for a friend!
I'm sorry to offend someone of you guys, but please, for the love of all that is right, "Do to others as you would have them do to you!"
This means a little bit of inconvenience to you to help someone else and hopefully someone will help you!

There are those of us that are blood sucking leaches that take a lot from everybody, and then there are people that give a lot to everybody.
The leaches take a lot of resources from people and give nothing!
Be the person that goes the extra mile to make someone else's day!
I urge each person that reads this post to do one act of service in your day to help one person in one day.

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” ~ Muhammad Ali

Carpe Diem, Seize the Day

Are You Living Life?

Are you living life or merely existing?
There are a lot of people that don't realize that they aren't even living life!Have you ever been going so fast in your life and doing so much that you have no time to rest?
That is not living life!
If your mind has gone to a specific person that you know that is like this, or yourself, then you know what I'm talking about when I ask, "Are you living life or merely existing."
Living life is spending time with those you love and stopping long enough to see the beauty in the world.

You often see these people that go and go and go until they find that they don't have many friends anymore because they have given up on inviting them to social events.
So many people in the world do not like over-achievers. 
We are a lazy people in this world that like our down time and vacations.
When we have someone working overly hard it makes us feel bad or guilty.

So, what then is living besides spending time with family and seeing the beauty in the world?
Living is being conscious of everything and learning from every moment.
It is the living of every moment as if it is your last!
Within a second a life can be taken, or it can explode with life! 
I urge you to start living life, not merely existing. 
For those of you that have been living life, encourage others around you to live and help them to enjoy life. 
We are here on earth but a moment, then we are gone.
"Every man dies. Not every man really lives." -William Wallace 

Carpe Diem, Seize the Day

Right? or Wrong?

Have you ever met someone that you could not get a word in edge-ways?
You try talking with them, but they just won't budge from their standpoint.
I have met a LOT of these in my lifetime.
They are the type of people that are loud mouths and they REFUSE to be wrong!
I spend a lot of time at college and so I'm around a lot of young people that think they know everything.
We have all met these people.
Are you one of them?

I have had tendencies at times to be a know-it-all, we all have!
The difference between some people is that some people are humbled and they can take a hint.
Other people are humbled and they power through only to be humbled again.
The latter of the two are hated in society.
You may be asking the question, "Why are they hated for wanting to be right?"
The reason is that it normally gets physical if someone overly persists they are right.

This happens in men more than women.
We as guys want to be the, 'alpha male.'
I think if the people in our world were flexible toward not being right all the time it would alleviate a lot of problems in our societies.
You have heard the expression, "Do to others as you would have them do to you?"
Our world is a selfish people, we want what we want and we want it yesterday!

Selfishness is one of those silent killers.
Two or three people are fighting about being right about something and then those people have to be right in another situation. By the time you know it, we have a bunch of backstabbing people that have multiplied massively! Today I want you guys to be willing to accept someone else's concept of something even if you think you are right. Treat others like you want to be treated.
In the end you will find that your life will be more peaceful than what it was when you were fighting.
Cease fighting and wanting to be right and lay aside your selfishness!

Carpe Diem, Seize the Day