Stuff

A few weeks ago, I saw someone get stuck with a javelin. He did not get hit. He got stuck. In the spine. The javelin literally stuck almost an inch in his spine and didn't come out until he hit the ground. And guess what? He was perfectly ok. The trainers were checking him out and he was sitting up talking on the phone. As we watched this, a teammate made the offhanded remark "The Big Guy upstairs must be looking out for that guy." I do not think this teammate truly believed that God was watching over this man, or even if he believes in God at all. Which is why his comment was so odd to me. It seems to me that there are certain things in this world that cannot be explained by science or facts or things like that. Some would call it blind luck that this guy didn't die from that javelin, but how many people truly believe in blind luck? It hit me then that even the nonreligious seem to grasp the fact that there is something behind luck, or chance, or whatever. I watched a Richard Dawkins (probably the world's most famous atheist) program recently in which he said that atheism (his form of atheism seems a bit naturalist to me) is the greatest way to appreciate nature. I could not agree less. He admitted that every living thing and many nonliving things have the "appearance" of design, as he calls it. I can't quite understand how someone could see so much "appearance" of design without searching for the creator. For Dawkins, the thing most worthy of worship is natural selection (Romans 1:25). Which to me seems a lot like blind luck. The logistics behind one cell becoming millions of species is incredible. Ten thousand monkeys on a typewriter and all that, maybe. I guess my main point is that there is something within each of us that is crying for the Creator, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. From crediting an unknown "Big Guy" for the life of a man to admiring the beauty of living things, our spirits are constantly crying out for their Lord. It's just sad that some choose to drown out this cry.

Tyler Erwin.

Tyler Erwin was one of the people who convinced me to start writing this blog. Last time I sent him a message about my newest post, he decided to tell me I should write a post about him. And so I am. I'm not going to introduce him because all 5 people that actually read this blog probably already know him. I've known Erwin pretty much my whole life. He is always a source of joy and laughter, without fail. We haven't always seen eye to eye on things, but for whatever reason, I've always felt some sort of indescribable pull torwards him. I can't explain it, but that's the way it is. I remember one time in particular when he said something to me that has meant more to me than almost anything anyone has ever told me. I don't remember the time, or the circumstances, or anything else about the conversation. I can have a terrible memory sometimes. What I do remember about the conversation was that he told me he respected me. I don't even remember doing anything to earn his respect, but it was there. That was the first time I remember being told I was respected. People had always told me I was smart, which is not my fault, or other good things such as being ridiculously good-looking (obviously)... the point is, I realized at that moment that Tyler Erwin respected me. That meant more to me than I can describe with words. I suddenly realized the weight that our actions and words can have on others when we don't even realize. Erwin probably never had any idea how much that meant to me, and he probably doesn't even remember saying it. But I most certainly do. As silly as this sounds, sometimes that statement haunts me when I screw up. I know he isn't watching me and he would forgive me even if I screwed up a million times, but his respect means that much to me. So there you go, Erwin, I wrote about you. Thank you so much. Love you bud.

A day in the life, the life of the grind,

the grind of the Mind, no time to unwind.

Easy chair seat back, body at rest.....

Mind working double, but doin its best

to slow down, but wont let down with the thoughts and the work,

the images, equations, ideas and words.

Can someone please stop this? Its driving me nuts.

Always the volume like a full school bus,

inside my head, just wont let me be.

The blessing and the curse that is being me.

Flip the switch, pull the cord, just do somethin,

so the endless what if's will maybe stop comin,

at least for a second so i can recharge

and stop.






Then maybe I'll rest easy within my mind,

before it starts back up one more time.

What Is Your Purpose?

I remember the first time I really thought about my purpose and God's plan for me. I was sitting in the little foyer to Golden Meadows Baptist Church in some little town in Louisiana. I was in maybe the 11th grade with my youth group helping rebuild some stuff and do a little Bible camp for some of the kids there. We broke up individually every day for our own Bible study with the packet that was prepared for us. I remember sitting there and the packet said something to the extent of "God desires for you to be right here, right now, reading this." He had not only planeed it, but He desired it. For some reason, that really stuck with me. I sat by myself on the floor of that sunlit foyer, and I just started crying with the realization that God had planned for me to be, of all places I could have been at that moment, on that floor. Sitting. Reading. Learning. Growing. That was when I first thought about my purpose. I had always considered purpose as some distant future, the ever-present "What are you doing after high school" question. My life purpose, my career, my calling... But that morning I realized that God had a purpose for me at that very moment. He didn't say to me, "Wait for another few years and I'll give you a purpose." He had always had one for me, and I didn't have to wait until after college to fulfill it. That was when I really discovered that purpose has nothing to do with jobs or anything like that. Purpose has to do with our relationship with God. The reason we were ever put on earth was because God was lonely. We were made with the purpose of having a relationship with the Creator. If you are running a race on a track and you stay in your lane, it is only natural that you will come to the finish line eventually. Purpose is the same. If we continue to grow closer to God (our original purpose), it is only natural that we will arrive at our long-term purpose eventually. We just have to stay in our lanes.

I'm Not Feeling Philosophical

My mom decided to let me know it was time for a new blog. Problem is I usually don't write unless I feel like I have something worth writing about. These deep thoughts don't come very often, but when they do, I write them down and everyone who reads thinks I am very deep, smart, and thoughtful. This post won't be one of those. This will be a post where you read it and think "Why in the world is this guy allowed to write stuff for the whole world to read?" (That is if the other posts didn't already make you think that.) But anyway, that's how it goes. So there's your disclaimer. I'm sitting here listening to Lecrae and typing whatever pops up in my head. Well, not whatever pops up. Maybe one day I'll write a stream of consciousness post. That would blow your mind and probably mine too. I have no idea what goes on up there. I don't know that I want to figure it out either. Anyway, in case you were wondering, I'm doing fine. I'm pretty amped that I finally found some people who will play Risk with me. I'm gonna take over the world. The board game world. I'm gonna be all jacked up on Mountain Dew and the opposing forces will have no idea what happened. I'll be like Sherman through Georgia. Except I'm not gonna literally burn the board because then I would have to buy a new one. If you are still reading, I congratulate you and also question your sanity. I would also advise you to go out and find friends so you'll have better things to do with your time. But thanks for reading anyway.
In conclusion, this post has shown that Caleb Osborne has written a new post (Osborne line 1). It has also shown that he should not be writing things for people to read (lines 6-7) and that he will conquer the world while jacked up on Mountain Dew (lines 16-20)....... So I will end with the idea that my life is great and so is yours. Remember that.


p.s. - here's a brand new haiku straight from my noggin.

Five syllables please.
Next comes seven in a row.
Five more ends haiku.

I Don't Have A Catchy Name For This

I've been thinking a lot lately. Well, not so much thinking as retrospecting. Remembering. It seems odd to me that my sister will soon no longer be Whitney Nicole Osborne. She will be Whitney Nicole Osborne Gustafson, or Whitney Osborne Gustafson, or Whitney Nicole Gustafson, or some other combination. Her entire life - my entire life - she has been Whitney Nicole Osborne. Not for much longer. To go along with this thought, I was at our old house a few weeks ago. I had to stop by and pick up a vacuum cleaner. I walked through the house slowly, noticing every nook and cranny, memories flooding over me faster than I could remember them. I remembered backyard wiffleball, hours upon hours upon hours of driveway basketball, my awesome hanging bed, so many memories. One thing that stuck in my mind more than almost anything else was remembering waking up and taking half a step out of my bedroom and knocking on my best friend's bedroom door. I can't do that anymore. That best friend now lives in Atlanta and will soon have a different name. All that being said..... I am thankful that Whitney Nicole Osborne will soon have a different name. I am thankful that she finally found a man that almost deserves her. I am thankful that all those memories are not my life anymore. That house is not my home, and while Whitney's door is no longer a foot from mine, I still live with the best family in the world. There is no doubt about that. I have learned throughout the years that family has absolutely nothing to do with blood. Whitney will soon have a different last name than me. That's ok though, all my other sisters already do. And I am thankful for that.

Just so you know.....

I feel like I've kept this a secret for too long. So I want everyone out there to know.....

I am dating Beyonce Knowles.