Explore Tags

See all Tags
                      Array
(
    [0] => WP_Term Object
        (
            [term_id] => 1304
            [name] => #HalfTheStory
            [slug] => half-story
            [term_group] => 0
            [term_taxonomy_id] => 1304
            [taxonomy] => category
            [description] => 
            [parent] => 0
            [count] => 25
            [filter] => raw
            [cat_ID] => 1304
            [category_count] => 25
            [category_description] => 
            [cat_name] => #HalfTheStory
            [category_nicename] => half-story
            [category_parent] => 0
        )

    [1] => WP_Term Object
        (
            [term_id] => 773
            [name] => 1_EDITED
            [slug] => edited
            [term_group] => 0
            [term_taxonomy_id] => 773
            [taxonomy] => category
            [description] => Indicates Drafts have been Edited
            [parent] => 0
            [count] => 2
            [filter] => raw
            [cat_ID] => 773
            [category_count] => 2
            [category_description] => Indicates Drafts have been Edited
            [cat_name] => 1_EDITED
            [category_nicename] => edited
            [category_parent] => 0
        )

    [2] => WP_Term Object
        (
            [term_id] => 16
            [name] => After the Dish
            [slug] => after-the-dish
            [term_group] => 0
            [term_taxonomy_id] => 16
            [taxonomy] => category
            [description] => 
            [parent] => 0
            [count] => 10
            [filter] => raw
            [cat_ID] => 16
            [category_count] => 10
            [category_description] => 
            [cat_name] => After the Dish
            [category_nicename] => after-the-dish
            [category_parent] => 0
        )

    [3] => WP_Term Object
        (
            [term_id] => 17
            [name] => Creative Outlets
            [slug] => creative-outlets
            [term_group] => 0
            [term_taxonomy_id] => 17
            [taxonomy] => category
            [description] => 
            [parent] => 0
            [count] => 113
            [filter] => raw
            [cat_ID] => 17
            [category_count] => 113
            [category_description] => 
            [cat_name] => Creative Outlets
            [category_nicename] => creative-outlets
            [category_parent] => 0
        )

    [4] => WP_Term Object
        (
            [term_id] => 13
            [name] => Culture/Travel
            [slug] => culture-travel
            [term_group] => 0
            [term_taxonomy_id] => 13
            [taxonomy] => category
            [description] => 
            [parent] => 0
            [count] => 104
            [filter] => raw
            [cat_ID] => 13
            [category_count] => 104
            [category_description] => 
            [cat_name] => Culture/Travel
            [category_nicename] => culture-travel
            [category_parent] => 0
        )

    [5] => WP_Term Object
        (
            [term_id] => 12
            [name] => Faith
            [slug] => faith
            [term_group] => 0
            [term_taxonomy_id] => 12
            [taxonomy] => category
            [description] => 
            [parent] => 0
            [count] => 68
            [filter] => raw
            [cat_ID] => 12
            [category_count] => 68
            [category_description] => 
            [cat_name] => Faith
            [category_nicename] => faith
            [category_parent] => 0
        )

    [6] => WP_Term Object
        (
            [term_id] => 11
            [name] => Health
            [slug] => health
            [term_group] => 0
            [term_taxonomy_id] => 11
            [taxonomy] => category
            [description] => 
            [parent] => 0
            [count] => 113
            [filter] => raw
            [cat_ID] => 11
            [category_count] => 113
            [category_description] => 
            [cat_name] => Health
            [category_nicename] => health
            [category_parent] => 0
        )

    [7] => WP_Term Object
        (
            [term_id] => 995
            [name] => HRW Music Group
            [slug] => hrw-music-group
            [term_group] => 0
            [term_taxonomy_id] => 995
            [taxonomy] => category
            [description] => 
            [parent] => 0
            [count] => 10
            [filter] => raw
            [cat_ID] => 995
            [category_count] => 10
            [category_description] => 
            [cat_name] => HRW Music Group
            [category_nicename] => hrw-music-group
            [category_parent] => 0
        )

    [8] => WP_Term Object
        (
            [term_id] => 15
            [name] => Inspirational People
            [slug] => inspirational-people
            [term_group] => 0
            [term_taxonomy_id] => 15
            [taxonomy] => category
            [description] => 
            [parent] => 0
            [count] => 154
            [filter] => raw
            [cat_ID] => 15
            [category_count] => 154
            [category_description] => 
            [cat_name] => Inspirational People
            [category_nicename] => inspirational-people
            [category_parent] => 0
        )

    [9] => WP_Term Object
        (
            [term_id] => 14
            [name] => Overcoming Challenges
            [slug] => overcoming-challenges
            [term_group] => 0
            [term_taxonomy_id] => 14
            [taxonomy] => category
            [description] => 
            [parent] => 0
            [count] => 220
            [filter] => raw
            [cat_ID] => 14
            [category_count] => 220
            [category_description] => 
            [cat_name] => Overcoming Challenges
            [category_nicename] => overcoming-challenges
            [category_parent] => 0
        )

    [10] => WP_Term Object
        (
            [term_id] => 10
            [name] => Sports
            [slug] => sports
            [term_group] => 0
            [term_taxonomy_id] => 10
            [taxonomy] => category
            [description] => 
            [parent] => 0
            [count] => 75
            [filter] => raw
            [cat_ID] => 10
            [category_count] => 75
            [category_description] => 
            [cat_name] => Sports
            [category_nicename] => sports
            [category_parent] => 0
        )

    [11] => WP_Term Object
        (
            [term_id] => 1
            [name] => Uncategorized
            [slug] => uncategorized
            [term_group] => 0
            [term_taxonomy_id] => 1
            [taxonomy] => category
            [description] => 
            [parent] => 0
            [count] => 9
            [filter] => raw
            [cat_ID] => 1
            [category_count] => 9
            [category_description] => 
            [cat_name] => Uncategorized
            [category_nicename] => uncategorized
            [category_parent] => 0
        )

    [12] => WP_Term Object
        (
            [term_id] => 652
            [name] => Wish Dish Staff Blog
            [slug] => wish-dish-staff-blog
            [term_group] => 0
            [term_taxonomy_id] => 652
            [taxonomy] => category
            [description] => 
            [parent] => 0
            [count] => 11
            [filter] => raw
            [cat_ID] => 652
            [category_count] => 11
            [category_description] => 
            [cat_name] => Wish Dish Staff Blog
            [category_nicename] => wish-dish-staff-blog
            [category_parent] => 0
        )

)
                    

Thank you! Your submission has been received!

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form

Tragedy and Glory

June 14
by
Justin Davis
in
Inspirational People
with
.

“My feelings about art and my feelings about the creator of the universe are inseparable… it means attempting to share the meaning of my life, what gives it, for me, its tragedy and its glory.” Madeleine L’Engle


So, what gives your life “its tragedy and glory?” For L’Engle, she ultimately desired to bring glory to the creator of the universe through the life she lived, but how did she do this? She wrote novels of fiction from her experiences and imagination, to allow people to simply enjoy and gain new perspective on what it means to be human. She took wisdom from her years of life, then transcended them into concepts that would impact readers, not just on the surface, but also on an existential level.

The quote that you first read, comes from one of her novels called “Walking on Water”, where she explains what it’s like to live a life of faith and pursue the extraordinary life of an artist. Now, in my own words, I will attempt to find my reason for what brings my life its tragedy and glory. Along the way, I hope you will find your answer as well.

There are two things that are essential to the tragedy and glory of my life; faith and myself.

What I mean by this, is that the faith I have in the creator of the universe, will bring His glory to my twisted tragedy that I live as a human being. That He will bring goodness and beauty to my sinful story. It’s that simple, and in this simplicity, there is a beautiful, chaotic sophistication about it. As I continue to walk in this life, I have found that there is beauty in simplicity, but there is also beauty in the chaos of sophistication. Sometimes the simplest of answers, will require you to discover the chaos and the cosmos that is held within.

As an artist, my desire is to discover these “simple” truths about the tragedy we live, so I can then share the freeing and glorifying knowledge of Christ with people who are chained to the shackles of life.

With this truth, I don’t want people to simply accept or reject these ideas, but rather I want them to test and approve this possible truth for themselves. Living with this desire as the forefront of my passion, consequently brings positive and negative ailments to my story. What I mean by this, is that the life I live, will be nothing like what I expect it to be.

Up until now, the majority of my life has been lived with Christ, and from this, I can safely say that living a life with Christ is far from the idea of ‘normal’. From the places I’ve seen, people I’ve met, lives that touched me, experiences I’ve faced; never would I have thought that my existence would look like this.

It’s a mystical, yet magnificent story that I have been called to live.

But now, you’re probably asking yourself the question of, “What possibly could be the “negative” ailments to your life?” Before I continue onto these proponents, I must say that the negative ailments I’ve faced are no more different than anyone else’s; we all experience pain and we all suffer, the most noticeable difference within this, is the type of pain and suffering that we experience and how we cope with it.

Up until the age of 16; the perspective of driven optimism marked my life. Nothing I had faced or experienced as a child or teen, was that of anything that would alter my perspective on how I would live day to day. I had walked through life with the mentality that God is good, living is easy, and I am here to make the most of it. Sure, I went through a typical teenage liveliness of getting into trouble and my parent’s grounding me, ‘break ups’ (they were never relationships, but each one ended like they were), broken bones; you get the picture. But on the night of July 20, 2012, my esprit of walking with God had changed forever. The Aurora Theatre shooting completely shattered my perspective on what it means to have a heart driven by optimism.

Everything I stood for and believed in, immediately came crashing down onto me. I was crushed by the weight of my own convictions.

Somehow I escaped from this crippling tenet and I ran. In this time of running, I chose to live my life the way I pleased, away from the One who wanted to do life with me. I ran to momentary pleasures that would allow me to escape the reality of my life, but that’s the calamity of it all, each pleasure was a momentary escape, never a cure.

After searching and falling short time and time again, I decided that I would end my life. The emotional, physical, and mental dilemmas that I was experiencing, were far too great of a feat for me to handle. I had thought that nothing on this earth could save me… and I was right, but someone who overcame the world could. As I was on my deathbed, contemplating the how of my life, with tears running down my face; God spoke to me. I knew it was He because of the simple, compassionate, and still small voice that spoke to me. He told me that my life could positively impact somebody one day, but out of my own freewill, I would have to make a choice on whether to live or die.

At the time, it didn’t seem very compassionate of God, the One who dearly loves me, to say that I had the choice about my life; I expected Him to swoop down and hold me in His arms, to let me know it would all be okay, but there is something that God has blessed us with called Freewill. It’s the phenomenon of making my own decisions in life and accepting whatever consequences (good or bad), that will follow. Up until this point of my history, I knew and had head knowledge of His most prominent characteristic being love, but I was lacking of this truth in my heart.

There is a distinct difference between knowing and believing; I, was on the side of simple belief, but not on the side of arduous faith.

Because of this head knowledge, I knew that no matter what I would choose to do, He would still love me. Whether I chose death or life, His devotion for me would never change (but that is no excuse to begin living a life of sin). By now, you can probably guess which path of existence I chose. My reason for this option, was because my time on this earth hadn’t had meaning except for what I thought was to suffer, but now knowing that my traumatic season could impact somebody one day, to have a purpose; that was enough of a reason for me to continue on through the pain.

In the years that I was absent in my relationship with God; I gained insight on things that I could never have learned if I were still with Him. My time away from the light, taught me what it was like to live in the darkness. The amazing thing is, as I thought I was running away from God, He was actually running after me. He sought after my heart, wanting to restore the brokenness and help pick up the pieces, to put me back together. After a grueling four years through all of this, I had finally decided to let God back in.

In my brokenness, I found humility and In my humility, I found strength. I discovered that I cannot walk this meaningful tragedy alone.

Since then, in times of introspection, I now understand the darkness and appreciate the light much more because of it. Like I said, my purpose in the days that I’m given on this earth, is to bring the light of truth to the lies of darkness. I went from a cave, living as a shadow in the dark, hiding from people who wanted good things for me, to a now, bright lighthouse on a hill, desiring to bring the light of truth to those who are caught in the fog of life. In other words, God has brought His glory to the tragedy of my story. My faith in the creator of the universe did exactly what I had hoped He would do.

Now a new question arises, “I thought you just said you didn’t want to be with God?” You’re right, I didn’t, but apart of me wanted to be with Him. My flesh of sin wanted to resist God, but my spirit of truth wanted to be with Him. Confusing, right? Paul, a traveling evangelist writes, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” What Paul is getting at, is this idea that we are sinners, yet we are saints. Why do I do the things I know I shant do?

This is the tragedy and glory: the tragedy of knowing the beautifully, sophisticated paradox that I am.

How do I solve the problem of self? Who am I? These questions lay dormant in the story that I live out day to day; in the scripts I write, films I create, words I choose to use. It’s the chaos within the cosmos; the wisdom to know that which I fully am and the strength to accept that fact of my enigmatic ways. David, the once King of Israel wrote, “For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep.” We, I, are Homo sapiens; man who ponders thought. The One who created thought, knitted the fabric of our very souls in the wombs of our mother’s. By the breath of His lungs and the fire of His spirit, He forged man and woman with the essence of His love.

The last part of tragedy is this: to know that we were meant for so much more in life, but our beautifully sophisticated, paradoxical selves chose (out of our own freewill) to live within not just the cosmos anymore, but also in the chaos. As humans, we were never supposed to endure the pains and sufferings of the lives that we now live in the chaos. We were called to live a life with the Creator of the universe in the cosmos. Now, there are bits and pieces of both beautiful divines that we experience day to day.

Faith and myself, the tragedy and glory. To know the meaning of my existence; the why for my sufferings, and the wisdom to understand that who I was, am, and will be, is precisely the way I should be. I am a conscious, yet beautifully sophisticated paradox that chooses to live within the chaos and the cosmos, to bring glory to my Creator, and tragedy to self.

For me to live is Christ, to die is gain. To live for Christ, means to die to self, so that He may bring His glory to my paradoxical tragedy.

This is my story, this is who I am. A conscious child of God, who is beautiful, sophisticated, and paradoxical; called to live my life in an intimate relationship with Him, so that He may use the tragedy of my life, to bring glory to Him so that all may see, so that all may know, who they too, are; a beautifully sophisticated paradox, living amongst the chaos and the cosmos, in need of a Savior, who brings glory to their tragedy.


So, I leave you with this, “Sooner or later we must distinguish between what we are not and what we are. We must accept the fact that we are not what we would like to be. We must cast off our false, exterior self like the cheap and showy garment that it is. We must find our real self, in all its elemental poverty, but also in the its great and very simple dignity: created to be the child of God, and capable of loving something of God’s own sincerity and his unselfishness.” Thomas Merton


I now challenge you to go out and discover for yourself, the truth and meaning to your life.

You Did Not Get Here On Your Own

February 25
by
Bailey Weiland
in
Faith
with
.

Coming to terms with the mortality of success remains the harshest reality to strike me in the past two years.


The summer before I started college I won two national championships in the high jump and competed at the 2014 World Junior Championship. Since my junior year of high school I believed I was going nowhere but up, and my successes only reinforced the naïve belief.

If the 17-year-old version of myself could see me now, she would not believe we are the same person.

I started jumping my freshman year of high school. I came from a family of volleyball players, but I never wanted to associate myself with my sisters’ interests. Essentially coached by a school priest and YouTube videos, I took to the event quickly and became passionate about every aspect of jumping. Freshman year was a season of constant improvement. I hit a slump in my sophomore year, which led me to make a series of influential changes, the greatest being the decision to devote myself to my faith.

I began devotional sessions every evening, reading the Bible and writing about how the message spoke to me. I attended church every Sunday with my parents, and rarely took a Sunday off, even when I was traveling. My junior season began with a personal record, and ended with a state championship after finishing first in every meet of the season. Through the entire season I made it a point to recognize my trusting relationship with God as the reason for all success. I continued this mentality into my senior season, and I continued to get better.

On the morning of the New Balance Outdoor National Championship, I attended church with my parents. I found a small Catholic church in Greensboro, NC, which is now one of the most memorable churches I have ever visited.

When it came time to compete, I had total trust in God.

Not one part of me was nervous. I knew that I had prepared as much as I could, and it was now in God’s hands. Throughout the competition I remained in constant conversation with God. I never asked for a victory. I simply just asked for His presence. I went on to win the competition without a single miss and achieved a new personal record. I used my faith in the next championship two weeks later and the success continued. The great change came after the world championship.

I slowly began to believe my success was a result of my own work. My focus shifted from God to myself. I transitioned into an arrogant and ungrateful athlete. I can remember throwing fits at my parents when I did not get what I want, at one point exclaiming, “I did this all on my own. You had nothing to do with it.” I had truly let the success consume me. I broke promises I made to myself and to God. Going into college, I believed there was no way I could fall down. I convinced myself I would continue to progress the way I had been the past two years.

Boy, did I get slapped with humility! I never stopped working hard. I never missed a day of practice. I never gave up on my dreams. However, I did give up on the one thing that got me to where I am, my faith and humility. College has absolutely not gone as planned. I jump significantly lower than I did as a senior in high school. Some days it even feels as though I am continuing to fall down into a hole and there’s no way out. In all of this pain and struggle, I have matured and learned more about myself than I ever would have had everything gone as planned. You don’t truly realize what you are blessed with until you are knocked down scrambling to get back up.

It only hit me in the past few months what really changed about me.

Now, I make it my goal to find my faith again and remain humble, so when I get back up and find success again, I won’t allow the same arrogance to creep in. I no longer believe my success is inevitable. I understand nothing is a guarantee.

I have been taught more by failure than success could ever teach me. None of this means that I have accepted failure or that I am content with where I am, and I shouldn’t be! You are allowed to be upset by your failures.

To pull a quote from Meredith Grey, “Progress looks like a bunch of failures. And you can have feelings about that because it’s sad, but you can’t fall apart.” It isn’t always about how you feel about failure; it’s about what you do to keep yourself together so you can move forward. I choose to use my faith to hold me together.


Find what keeps you grounded, let that pull you to the top, and know that some things are greater than success. As I begin to focus more on humility, I try to keep a verse from Proverbs in mind: “Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but before honor comes humility” (Proverbs 18:12).

Finding the Light

January 29
by
Shallum Atkinson
in
Overcoming Challenges
with
.

On January 3, 2017 I moved to the District of Columbia for an internship with United States Representative David Scott from Georgia. I say this because I have now supplanted myself at the political center of America and the pertinence of understanding my feelings of this regarding the greatest country in the world speaks to me now more than ever.


For an African-American male who has always felt like I am in a constant battle with an institution that is not built for me, working towards success comes with enough setbacks and disappointment of itself, requiring a hint of inspiration or hope to keep going in the midst of it all. President Barack H. Obama was that hope. To amount to the highest office in the world in the field that I take interest in was all of the hope and inspiration that I needed. But as that beacon of possibility is set to retreat from the spotlight I search for the thing that will now keep me going in the future.

In that very search I begin to reevaluate my status in this country and whether or not my ability to amount to the success I dream for is even possible. The drive is there. The passion is there. The fight is there.

But does it even matter?

Countless times those that look like me are wrapped up in an unjust justice system that treats them unequally to counterparts. Too many times those who could be my family members are on the receiving end of unwarranted force often leading to their beautiful souls settling in a better place. Too often is the balance of the financial market tilted toward the few leaving the struggling of the many. These are just a few things to mention. These are all things too close to home.

I believe my purpose in this world is when all is said and done to eliminate these unfortunate beliefs from the young minds that will find themselves in my same position somewhere down the road. But the road is brutally tough.

And at this present point in time, as First Lady Michelle Obama said “[we] feel like there is no hope.”

Setting aside partisanship and political bias, this country lives at a time where bigotry and marginalization has become a social norm—again. Just as this country had begun to move forward and I felt as if inclusiveness had pieced together a broken country, it all fell down. In a boomerang effect it had reverted right back to where it all began. This country is definitely not where it once was, but it is also not where it should be. It is demoralizing and dampens the spirit of hope.

Finding my place in the field of politics my calling is to help people. I truly want to make a change; a difference in as many lives as possible by the time my body releases its last breath. I desire to be that change I wish to see. But even I need help and sometimes when I look up the ladder for someone to help pull me up, it feels as if they are removing the rungs as I try to climb. Each and every day I wake up and work to ensure that I can move past all of the trials and tribulations and find hope in God, because often times He is all there is.


So although it may not be the most inspiring time to be alive, the greatest thing about problems is that there is a solution to be found. I hope my story will be drastically different weeks, months, or hopefully not too many years from now. But faith as small as a mustard seed can lead to possibilities unimaginable. I intend to put my head down and pledge to move this country forward, and through all of the darkness, I will find the light.

The Truth Behind Suffering

January 19
by
Justin Davis
in
Overcoming Challenges
with
.

There I was… I sat in the cinema and watched The Magnificent Seven. I sat and watched in awe, but also in terror.


The glamorizing gunshots, explosions, and loud cries kept my eyes and brain glued to the screen; yet there was a part of me that was terrified.

It was the part of me that was in the exact same cinema on July 20, 2012, watching the Dark Knight Rises, in awe of the violence being committed on screen, as it was then unfolding into cries and panicked screams right before my eyes.

Even though there was chaos, confusion, and agony that surrounded me in this moment, it fell silent and shattered my heart.

Before I continue, I would like to give some backstory into who I am. Currently, I am at the age of 20 years old. I was born and raised into a Christian household, so my beliefs and convictions align with the teachings of Jesus Christ and the truth of the Bible.

Yes, most of which that I will be writing about, comes from a place of God in my heart and the experiences that I have faced with Him. But I hope you know that I am not here to preach at you about God, rather, I am here to share a little part of the larger story that He has written for me since the beginning of time. This story is of truth, hope, love, and redemption.

Ask yourself this question and be truthful about the answer. What has been the greatest challenge in life for you to overcome? Now, if you think that you haven’t had to overcome any plight, or if you think that your quarrel was compared to nothing, I would ask you to rethink your reasonings.

The great thing about this question, is that everyone will have a different answer. There is no right or wrong way to navigate this question. We all have different walks of life. This is what makes us unique. Some people are faced with moral dilemmas, some are faced with overcoming injuries, and others with pain and suffering. To each his own.

The greatest challenge I had to overcome was July 20, 2012: The Aurora Theater Shooting.

One man open fired in an auditorium full of human beings, killing 12 and injuring 60. This is not including those who had and still are suffering from various forms of mental illness.

My pain and suffering came in the form of internal stresses. According to the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders) and my Counselor, I met the criteria for PTSD and Delayed Response, which include depression and anxiety due to the events of that night.

Three months after the shooting, I was in shock. I was going from one thing to the next, without taking the time to stop and ponder what had happened that night. One day, as I was snowshoeing in the silent mountains of Colorado, I felt a boulder drop on me. Not a literal boulder, but an emotional one.

The images, sounds, screams, and smells from that night; It all came rushing through like a tidal wave. I felt guilt instantly and it spoke to me saying, “You got out alive yet there is a little girl who lost her life, and you stood in shock and did nothing to help.” This was every day when I awoke from bed and when I fell to sleep. I put on a façade of happiness when I went to school, but inside I was desperate and crying for help.

Friends and family would ask how I was doing and my response would simply be a complete lie; “I’m fine.”

I then began to think to myself about how I could fix all these internal struggles. How is a 16-year-old supposed to deal and cope with such a trauma? My time as a child and life prior to the event told me to run to Jesus, but there was another part of me, the part of me that is now living this pain and suffering, that told me to run away. So I ran.

How can I run to a God who let such events happen? So, I began to run to worldly pleasures, thinking that they would bring me comfort and fulfillment, but I was naïve, lost, and wrong. This way of thinking and “healing”, ended up bringing me further down the rabbit hole of depression.

Growing up in the church, I always heard that suffering was valuable. It creates perseverance and reliance upon God. I truly believed this, until I experienced it for myself. The only time I would actually call upon God was when I wanted Him to deliver me from these challenges. I was too scared to face the reality of what I was dealing with. So I continued to run from my internal struggles and bottled them up. Eventually… I popped.

I attended counseling for seven months to try and change the way that I thought about that night.

To see it in such a way that is positive, rather than negative. Not every session was great, but not every session was terrible. Progress was happening and change was enacting in my thoughts, but not in my heart. During these times, It was crazy for me to experience the phenomenon of my head and my heart feeling like they were a million miles apart.

My head would say one thing, but my heart would speak another. In my thoughts I knew the truths about God and pain and suffering, but my heart didn’t want to believe it. Depression dug down deep. Lies, anger, and bitterness towards life were tenants who rented out my heart and whose payment was in the form of hate.

I began to ask myself what I wanted to do. It seemed like no matter what I did, I would still feel empty inside. Nothing could fill this shattered, yet naïve heart. Thoughts of suicide began rushing into my head and at one point, I thought it was all I had left. But to escape this suffering by the way of death didn’t seem right to me.

There was this minute piece of light within me that told me there was more to life than pain and suffering. That one day, my life would impact someone.

From the wise words of Friedrich Nietzsche, “He who has a Why to live for, can bear almost any How.”

The truth hit me: the reason for my empty, broken, and desperate heart, was having a lack of purpose to live for.

From the novel, Man’s Search For Meaning, By Viktor E. Frankl, this man attempts to find reason in his pain and suffering, while he endures unnecessary acts of evil during the times of the Holocaust. While I read his experiences in detail, I began to see that pain and suffering is a way of life and that we are promised to cross roads with it.

In Acts 14:22 Luke writes, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom.” I don’t want to speak for Viktor, but something tells me he knew this truth. So I began to constitute that, even though I am guaranteed to suffer in life, the only thing that I can do, is change how I see it. James 1:2-4 began to have new meaning for me, “Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

For far too long I chose to only see my current situation, which was agony and pain. I didn’t have a purpose to live, because I wasn’t living for anything except the depression that was killing me. I didn’t look beyond my current situation to see the glory and joy that would come.

Thus began the slow transformation of my heart and the way in which I thought. One of the biggest lies that I believe we as a human race have believed for far too long, is that pain and suffering is the end and there is no moving forward.

I lived this lie for four years too long. As God began to work in my heart over the summer of 2016, he allowed me to experience what positive things can come from pain and suffering.

From the life of Job, this man went through innumerable amounts of pain and suffering, yet at the end of the story, “… the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning” (Job 42:12). He experienced death and loss from his wife, children, and livestock, but after, God blessed him with more than what he had before. This isn’t the only truth that stands out to me, but there is one more that comes from verse five, chapter 42, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you…” What Job is saying is that he never experienced God in a true and intimate way for himself, but because of his pain and suffering, he was able to.

Job began to see God in a new way. His eyes were opened to who God is. Our God that is full of love, glory, majesty, joy, compassion, power, grace, and many more characteristics that my mind cannot fathom. Job experienced this. “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2).

Like Job and his life before pain and suffering, I too had only heard of God. Even after my trauma, I believed that I was worthless, unloveable, foolish, and weak. I believed that I was beyond saving, that I could not come back from this.

I gave up on God, therefore I gave up on life, but do you want to know what the funny thing is? God didn’t give up on me.

Even after running from him for four years, never truly knowing him before my suffering, and living in constant sin; He still loved and wanted me.

I saw and experienced His relentless pursuit and commitment of love and grace for my heart. I finally SAW the truth that God is love and He wants good things for me. Therefore, I stopped asking God to take away the pain and suffering and instead, I asked him to help me see it in a new way and to walk with me through it.

I came to this conclusion that, it didn’t matter what I expected from God or this crazy thing called life, but rather what God and life expected of me. To be in an intimate relationship with Him and to live my life as a light to those who are in a dark place.

Now it all comes back to the question I had asked earlier in my writing, “what has been the greatest challenge for you to overcome?”

By this time, I’m sure you have an answer, but I want to add a little more to this question… “and how did you overcome this?” Some of your answers may be like mine where you chose to let it defeat you, for others it may be that you whizzed on by with no problem, but for the rest, you haven’t faced it.

God has allowed me to experience such a trauma that I would have never dreamt of facing, but through this, I have come out on the other side as a testament to God’s faithfulness and to the truth that pain and suffering is a gift… because I now see the beauty in life and God.

The hope of my writing and experience is to illustrate that when pain and suffering comes, you shouldn’t run away out of fear or let it defeat you like I did. Rather, you should run head on toward the challenge and face it.

To quote Viktor Frankl once more, “Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it.” Now, while you run head on into pain and suffering, know that God is with you every step of the way and that this momentary affliction, is no match for the glory that will follow.


“Sometimes the only way around suffering is to go straight through it.” -Anonymous

A Reflection: A Poem

December 11
by
in
Creative Outlets
with
.

One day I looked in the mirror
To see if what I held most dear
Was clear, or if it was fear
That held me in its snare.
Perhaps I just didn’t care
It didn’t seem fair
I wasn’t aware
Now it seems so clear
As long as the Lord is near
There is no room for fear.

There is only one way
And though you may say nay
There will come a day
We walk together, that lonely pathway

When Fair Skin is UnFair Skin

November 30
by
Riley Loftus
in
Culture/Travel
with
.

I’m white.


Fair skinned (or so society tells me).

Very pale.

And very, very privileged.

I can stroll down the street or into a restaurant and be quite certain others will respond kindly toward me. I never fear or worry in the slightest about law enforcement. Magazines, movies, and newspapers are plastered with images of people who look like I do. I have never been asked to speak on behalf of my entire race. I can walk around unaware of my color and reap the undeserved benefits and entitlements that come along with my white privilege.

I could also choose to fight against systemic racism one day and completely ignore it the next because I am not disadvantaged by it personally. It doesn’t affect my daily life. But I affect it. Daily. The white privilege woven into my everyday life allows me to collect unearned advantages and opportunities at the expense of others.

Is my white skin really fair skin?

We’ve gotten to a point where in certain situations the color of our skin speaks louder than the words that come out of our mouth. It’s awful. It’s frustrating. It’s downright sickening. It’s the system we have been born into. Our society is saturated in white privilege. Oppression comes based upon skin color. Before a word is spoken, minds are made up about who people are based on appearance alone. Culture screams that the color of your skin determines your place.

My white skin is not fair skin. It gives me an unfair advantage that grants me unearned freedoms, unearned benefits, and unearned exemptions in our society.

I’ve heard a number of people say that they “don’t see color” or are “colorblind” when it comes to discussions about race and privilege. It’s always white people who are making these claims. Go figure. What they mean to say is they don’t consider themselves racist and don’t see themselves as prejudiced against people of color. However, it’s statements like “I don’t see color” that reek of white privilege.

Because with that declaration people are actually discounting racism all together, not helping to solve it.

Ignoring color just further promotes ignorance. As James Baldwin said, “To be white in America means not having to think about it.” Whites are in denial about their participation in the perpetuation of racism. Myself included. While I try to be aware, I know there are still hidden ways that I am contributing to this system of oppression without realizing it. Blindly going about our lives silently, and often unknowingly, oppressing other races is what has to change.

Not seeing color also strips people of their identity. Our differences are there to be seen and celebrated. I believe there is significant purpose in each of our ethnicity backgrounds for the glory of God and the expansion of His kingdom. *Surprise side note: Jesus wasn’t a white American, contrary to popular westernized “Christianity” belief*. Every human is created equal in worth, value, and dignity. I believe God has made us all uniquely in His image and it is the diversity of humanity that makes it so beautiful.

Rather than whites searching for the reflection of themselves in other people, shouldn’t we be looking for the reflection of Christ?

As a church, we need to come alongside our brothers and sisters and stand together in unity – as the family that we are.

Until people of privilege feel compelled to make this problem of privilege their own problem and do something to change it, systemic racism won’t end. We need to consciously have the eyes to see how our white privilege is affecting the lives around us. Until the issue is acknowledged and faced head on, no change will be made.

We have to become listeners and learners.

We have to become mindful of the ways we are contributing to the system of oppression and disrupt these social norms when we see them. Even if you don’t think you are contributing, you are. I’m not accusing you of being racist; I’m saying the problem of racism is much bigger than you and me. It has become institutionalized and ingrained so deeply into every aspect of our society. We have been trained to not see and simply overlook the ways we whites participate in systemic racism. So we actively have to learn to recognize the effects. By interrupting cultural norms we make the invisible visible. We shake the system.

It all begins with breaking the silence.

A dialogue has to start. It is long overdue. The time was decades ago for the conversation to begin between whites and people of color. Rather than assuming we know all the answers, we listen. We listen to the voices of the minorities who have been kicked around because of our privilege.


We listen to the experiences of those who have received unearned disadvantages because of white privilege. We educate ourselves. We remain learners, admitting we will never know all the answers. Instead of turning away or stepping back, we lean into the conversation as we humbly ask, tell me more.


 

Performance Isn’t Everything

November 26
by
Wilson Pierce
in
Faith
with
.

Too often in life we focus on performance and assessment. We are expected to hinge our success on how well we have performed. How am I doing in my job? Am I performing well enough to get that raise? Am I out performing my coworkers? All these things continually keep us preoccupied and focused on this earthly life.


My bible study was over performance and how our performance as Christians and performance in life doesn’t help us have a seat on the throne of God. How well I do in school and how well I do at work have nothing to do with how God sees me and it doesn’t determine whether or not I’ll spend eternity in Heaven.

So why is it we are so consumed by our daily performance? As long as we are saved and we walk with God we are guaranteed a seat at the table with God. With God leading you through life, you will always perform at a high level. He will lead you to the promotion or the raise or maybe even a new job in His timing.

“Let them praise the Lord for His great love and for the wonderful things He has done for them. For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” Psalm 107:8-9

Let us remember that God will always provide in any situation. We may not always understand His plan, but we should always have peace knowing that He will provide for His people.

“I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For He has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in His wedding suit or a bride with her jewels.” Isaiah 61:10

God doesn’t have performance standards. He created me in His image.


I’m not perfect and will sin along the way, but He has saved me a seat at His throne. I will always give Him praise for all He’s done for me. And I will not forget that He have a plan for me and for you. With His help, I will continue to grow in my walk with God.

Close Encounters of the Cannibalistic Kind

November 26
by
Adarsh Bindal
in
Culture/Travel
with
.

The following accounts are true, and there is no fiction or hyperbole present. It may be hard to believe. It may be hard to understand. But, even though it’s been almost two years, I still remember everything as clear as if it were just yesterday.


Before I begin my story, let me provide some context. The Aghori are a very specific sub-sect of Hindu priests. They worship Shiva, the god who plays the role of “the destroyer” in Hindu mythology.

They look absolutely terrifying, smoke massive amounts of pot, live far away from cities, ritually consume human flesh, and bathe in human ashes. As a result, they are feared by the rest of society for their cannibalistic activity, and are considered extremely dangerous due to their constant state of being stoned.

Many people also believe them to be practitioners of black magic, which only adds to the terrifying air of mystery and unknown that shrouds the Aghori. Nobody dares try to interrupt their (sometimes very illegal) practices – neither the people they offend nor the police.

One blistering summer day, a friend, who happens to be an architecture student, called me with an interesting proposition.

He had heard about an interesting structure, a large, ancient gateway running along the top of a cliff almost 500 meters high. In ancient times, this used to be the gateway to the plateau we were situated on. My friend (who will now be referred to as V) loved to go explore abandoned monuments scattered all over the state, and I was more than ready to go photograph buildings in disrepair.

We left the city in central India early the next morning, since we only had a vague idea of where it was located. We figured we’d have to do some driving around to find it. Around three hours later, after driving for miles on tiny dirt paths along the cliff with absolutely no cell reception, we got to the gateway. We were sorely disappointed.

It had been ‘restored’ poorly. They had clearly cut corners and basically just slapped ugly, graffitied plaster and cement on top of the beautiful old stone that was originally the surface. Sadly enough, this kind of ‘restoration’ is getting more and more common with Indian monuments.

Our wanderlust far from satisfied, we decided to keep driving a little further. We were already pretty far out in the middle of nowhere. What did we have to lose?

We could see what looked like the ruins of a small, long-abandoned fort. We couldn’t figure out the actual route to drive up to the fort. Luckily, we saw a man walking along the street who probably lived around there.

V pulled down his window and asked the local for directions to the fort. Before he answered, the local hesitated for a minute, and then finally asked us why we would want to visit such a godforsaken place. We were very puzzled. We chalked it up to “superstitious rural bullshit,” laughed it off, and coerced him into pointing us to the right path.

We drove up closer, parked the car about half a mile from the fort where the dirt path ended, and walked over. The doorway to the fort was pretty imposing. It was a massive brass-lined behemoth with nasty looking spikes protruding from it. Since the door looked too heavy and tall for us to move it, we opted to climb over one of the corners that was now just a pile of rubble.

The inside of the fort was almost completely bare, save a few patches of shrubbery and one solitary, tiny free-standing room right in the center. The room had a closed door on it that looked recently installed, which prompted me and V to exchange a look of slight discomfort.

I think we were both rethinking the local’s warning about this place.

We wordlessly decided to steer clear of the room, and distracted ourselves by walking to the other end of the fort to give it a look. All of a sudden, we caught a whiff of a scent that is all too familiar to anyone who has spent the night in a college dorm – it absolutely reeked of weed.

We looked around, and stumbled upon a rather large crop of weed hidden between the shrubbery. This discovery along with the local’s earlier warning and the lack of cell reception had me and V understandably panicked. We decided to head back to the car and get as far away from this spooky fort as possible.

As we were heading back, we crossed the closed door again. To our surprise, it was now open. From the darkness of the room, a menacingly tall, lean man ambled out and looked towards us, confused.

That was our first sight of the Aghori. The cannibalistic priests.

At this point in time, we didn’t know that he was an Aghori, we just saw a man in a loincloth with matted hair and a huge beard glaring at us. He broke the tension by smiling, and told us not to be scared. He told us he was a “holy man,” and that we had no reason to worry. This did nothing to ease our fear. We managed to mumble a vague greeting. He responded by inviting us into his hovel for a cup of tea. We tried to refuse, but he was having none of it.

Culturally, hospitality is a big deal in India; it would be offensive to refuse someone’s hospitality. He got slightly angry, and asked us if we were really planning on refusing a holy man’s hospitality.

Since the car was at least half a mile away and we seemed to have run out of options, we had no choice but to follow him in. A strange sight greeted us inside. There was an altar with a trident sticking out of it. We were terrified, and we didn’t know what fate awaited us.

Once inside, he took his spot on a pile of rags on one side of the altar, and gestured towards another pile of rags on the other side for us to sit on. There was no further mention of tea. Instead, he procured a chillum (pipe) that looked like it was made from bone, and started filling it up with from two neat little piles. One looked like pot and the other is still a mystery to me.

As he lit a match, he said, “We Aghoris believe this is the way to achieve the closest state to our god in this human form.”

It was then that we finally understood that this man was an Aghori. Considering the horrible rumors prevalent about them in India, we were even more terrified. He took a deep draw from the chillum, and wordlessly handed it to V.

V looked uncertain, so the Aghori told us that it wasn’t an option to refuse an offering to his god. He looked at V with a stern glint in his eye, so V gulped and slowly took the chillum from him. He lit a match, took a small draw, and then started coughing violently. The Aghori seemed to find this funny, and laughed.

He gestured to V to hand the chillum to me. With shaking hands, I pretended to take a draw and faked a cough. He seemed to believe my ruse, and took the chillum from me. At this point, me and V were so far past petrified that we were instilled with a false sense of calm, and we decided to make the most of the situation.

V asked the Aghori for his story. What made him reject all of society and take the path of the Aghori?

What we heard was very surprising – one would assume that a person wouldn’t just choose to become an Aghori. It would be the result of being born into it, or having a very hard childhood and being left with no other options.

What the Aghori told us as he sipped on a glass of water was that he was born into a perfectly normal family. He was in school through middle school like a normal child, but in his teen years, he realized that this was his true calling in life.

He thought he had come into contact with a higher power, albeit through no real critical spiritual experience. He rejected his family and his old way of life to become an Aghori. He ran away from home, searched far and wide for an Aghori, and followed him around until the Aghori accepted him as his apprentice and trained him.

All this time I had quietly been taking pictures with the camera that was still around my neck.

As he was taking his next draw from the chillum, he heard my camera’s soft click. He took a purposefully long, slow draw, all the while glaring straight at me accusingly. Once he finished, he paused for a second, and vehemently asked me whether I had been secretly photographing him.

As I stuttered, he slowly started laughing, told me he was just joking, and it was perfectly alright. He even posed for me while twirling his mustache. A few minutes later, he seemed to have been overcome with whatever he was smoking, and he lay down seemingly in a trance. V and I took this chance to quietly slip out, and hurry back to our car.

Neither of us said a word to each other during the three hour drive back home.


I understand that this story might seem pointless. But this was my first real experience with such deep religious spirituality that it converted me from an atheist to agnostic. As a photographer, this is the story behind some of my favorite shots, a story that I have never before shared with anyone in its entirety.

God Helped Me Fight Against Comparison

November 25
by
Jade Williford
in
Faith
with
.

I can wish for something different forever, but at the end of the day I am simply all that I am. I can strive to change different aspects of myself, but I’m still me. The hardest thing for people to accept is themselves. I still struggle daily to fight against comparison and loving myself, but it’s something I’m constantly striving for. It’s something I got much better at when God helped me.


Throughout high school I struggled with being okay with myself. It was always a constant battle of questioning why I did or didn’t have certain things, but always wishing to be comfortable in my own skin. That uphill battle is exhausting. Thankfully, I have the greatest praying parents in the world, and they constantly encouraged me.

More importantly, they taught me to find my encouragement from somewhere bigger than myself – from God. He has helped me fight against comparison.

Soon after getting out of high school and beginning college was when the transformation began. I started filling my days and thoughts with encouragement from the Bible and favorite speakers like Andy Stanley, Louie Giglio, and Christine Caine.

It’s amazing what can happen when you fill your mind with the right things! A peace came into my heart. A peace that helped me be okay with just being me.

This is still something I fight with. I constantly fall into holes of comparison, and sometimes it seems there is no way out. But I still stand strong in my faith, and I know that being made in the image of God means “all that I am” is exactly the way I’m supposed to be.

“Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in Him” Psalm 62:5.

Today I just want to encourage anyone who has similar feelings of self-doubt, inadequacy, or are just having a bad day. Don’t let all that God has for you be hidden by these grips of fear and doubt. Wash off the bad feelings, and choose to be joyful!

Christine Caine once said, “The biggest prison people live in is the fear of what other people think.” Today, let’s decide to get out of prison, run in the sunshine, and embrace all that you are.

“Let all that I am praise the Lord;
May I never forget the good things he does for me.” Psalm 103:2


Every day is beautiful if you choose to see it. Continue in fighting against comparison!

Match Point: Serving with Passion

November 24
by
nathan pasha
in
Sports
with
.

I started playing tennis between 6 ½ and 7 years old. Most of my tennis friends started playing tennis through a family member, but I was introduced to tennis in a fairly unique way. I remember being introduced to tennis like it was yesterday.


I was sitting on the bleachers located inside the basketball gym at the Samuel L Jackson Boys & Girls Club after school one day when a counselor entered the gym and announced “We are starting a tennis program once a week on Fridays, who wants to sign up?” I wrestled back and fourth with the idea of signing up or not.

From that moment onward, myself and a group of other kids started playing tennis with a guy I knew as Coach Dave every Friday. Coach Dave approached my mom one day after tennis practice and told her that I had talent and strongly advised me to join a tennis program and play more consistently. Shortly thereafter, my mom signed me up to play tennis on a regular basis after school at Washington Park Tennis Center.

I steadily improved from the consistent practice and eventually joined the USTA Team Tennis League and played for Washington Park. I progressed from team tennis to playing state level tournaments starting at 8 years old.

Once I reached a high ranking in the state, I progressed to playing southern level tournaments; once I reached a high ranking in the southern section, I progressed to playing national level tournaments where I reached a top 10 national ranking in the 14s, 16s, and 18s age groups.

I played tennis for the University of Georgia, from which I recently graduated, and I have created a full time professional schedule for myself to play in the near future as I try to reach my goal of becoming a successful professional tennis player.

This was my tennis journey in a nutshell. I will take you through the process of my tennis life in more detail and uncover some of the struggles my family and I had to overcome, and the people that have positively impacted my life along the way.

I grew up in a single mother home, and my mom raised my twin sister and me in the city of Atlanta. I was pulled out of school when I was 9 years old to play competitive tennis.

I’m aware that 9 years old is a little young to seriously commit to anything, but my mom knew that I loved tennis and decided to pull me out of school, so I could do more of what I loved.

From 9 years old onward, my mom sacrificed everything for me to play.

She didn’t know anything about tennis or where my career would lead; she just wanted me to keep doing whatever made me happy. My competitive tennis started when I signed up to play team tennis for Washington Park; I eventually progressed from playing team tennis to state level tournaments.

Once I worked my way up through the rankings at the state level, I played southern section tournaments. I struggled at the beginning each time my mom and I decided to play higher level tournaments, but I was able to overcome the challenges I have faced this far due to the major sacrifices my mom made for me to play tennis and the generous help of friends and coaches.  

I can 100 percent write that I would not be where I am today if it weren’t for the help of my mom and others.

There were many parents in my neighborhood that put their own needs in front their children’s needs. There are many parents in general that are afraid to sacrifice their lives for their children to play a game with hopes of one day becoming a successful professional; my mom was not one of those parents. She used all of the money we had, which wasn’t much, for me to play competitive tennis.

I don’t know how my mom had the courage to make the decision to give up pretty much everything for my career and have the faith that things would work out the way it did.

My mom was really good at stretching money and making it last. When we traveled to tournaments, we did not exactly stay in the nicest hotels; we sometimes slept in the car. Whenever we did not have enough money to go to important tournaments that I needed to play, my friend’s parents paid for my entry fee into the tournaments and let me travel with them.

The first half of my junior career was a struggle financially, but I was able to overcome my odds with the help of my Mom, Henry Hammond, Jimmy Vaughn, The Jang-Milsten Family, The Oh Family, Stephen Diaz, Bill Ozaki, and Brian Devillers.  

Henry Hammond acted as a father figure throughout my life so far. I was lucky enough for him to step into my life at random, coach me for free, give me financial support, and be a positive influence on my life. His high level of emotional investment in me as a person and as a player is a huge reason for all of the success I have had thus far.

Jimmy Vaughn was my first consistent childhood coach and is mostly responsible for building my foundation as a tennis player.

He felt like a family to me because of the close relationship we developed through countless hours spent together on the court. Both the Jang-Milsten and Oh family allowed me to go to several tournaments I would not have been able to attend because of financial problems.

They either paid my entry fee or let me stay with them and their children at tournaments for free. Henry Jang-Milsten and Eugene Oh were my best childhood friends growing up and, we are still very close despite not seeing each other often anymore. Stephen Diaz and Brian Devillers were both extremely important in developing my game in my early teenage years.

They both recognized that my family and I didn’t have a lot of money but still allowed me to train with them at their academy for little to no cost. Lastly, Bill Osaki helped run the tennis accociation office in Georgia and always tried to financially help me anyway he could. All of these people invested way more than they were required simply because they cared about me as a person and believed in me as a tennis player.

All of the help I received helped me get through the first half of my junior career; in the second half of my junior career, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) helped me.

The USTA tennis academy is located Boca Raton, Florida. They selected a handful of kids each year to live in a dorm, take online classes, and receive coaching from some of the best coaches in the world for free. Their goal was to house young, talented players with hopes of helping them grow into successful professional tennis players some day.

Due to the hardwork from everyone that helped develop me in the first half of my junior career, I was able to win one of the biggest national tournaments of the year in the 14 and under age group which put me on USTA’s radar.

USTA selected me to live and train in Boca Raton in 2015.

This was a miracle for me and my family because the USTA pays for everything: the school, living, coaching, and tournaments; our biggest hurdle which was money was no longer an issue. Rodney Harmon was the head of the United States Men’s Tennis Association at the time, and he personally scouted my game and granted me the opportunity to live at USTA. The opportunity Rodney gave me was life changing, and I really appreciate him for that.

Jay Berger eventually took over during my stay at the USTA, and I appreciate him for keeping me at USTA and believing in me as a player. Hugo Armondo, Mike Sell, and David DiLucia worked with me during my time at the academy. All of these coaches immensely improved my game on the court and were extremely positive inlfuences in my life.

These 3 coaches definitley helped shape my personality and how I perceive the world today. Hugo helped me get better on the court simply because we have the exact same gamestyle.

Hugo taught me numerous patterns to use that would help me get more looks at forehands. David is very structured, does everything with a purpose, and always seems to laugh, smile, and be happy all of the time. I’m not quite as good as David in these areas, but these areas of his personality definatley rubbed off on me.

Mike Sell was kind of like my family member away from home. He believed in me as much if not more than anyone else; he put tons of extra time and effort into me, and he was always tough on me if I was not doing the right thing. He always seemed to have an eye on me to make sure I was getting the most out of myself every single moment of the day.

On top of his emotional investment in me, he is a really good coach. Mike is one of the handful of people that I’ll always be very close with.

After the USTA, I attended the University of Georgia where I spent 4 great years. I finished as high as 15 in the country and was a one time All-American. I learned countless life lessons and ultimately learned how to be a more responsible adult. Manny Diaz and Will Glenn are great coaches and people.

The University of Georgia is such a special place because it has a family feel to it. It is the Georgia Tennis Family experience that has made me love UGA. Manny, Will, and the UGA Staff always cared about me as a person first and as a player second.

Regardless of my successes or failures in tennis or school; regardless of personal issues outside of tennis and school; regardless of me making bad decsions that everyone knew that I would later on regret, the UGA tennis family was always there for me.

I appreciate all UGA has done for me, I appreciate all USTA has done for me, and I appreciate everyone that has helped me before UGA and USTA days because I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for them.

Lastly and most importantly, I have to give my mom my biggest thanks for giving up everything for me to play tennis and giving me one of the most fun childhoods a kid could ask for.

We didn’t have a lot of money, but I got to do as a child what most people would love to do every moment of the day: I got to do what I loved. To top it off, I got to spend an enormous amount of time with the people I love most in my mom and sister.


My sister and I were homeschooled by my mom since 9 years old, so we probably spent more time together than another family would with their kids. I’m now moving onto the next chapter of my life and pursuing my dream of becoming a top 50 ranked professional tennis player and couldn’t be happier and more excited to take on the challenge.

I am extremely grateful to have a fair opportunity at chasing my dream, and I have everyone who has helped me along this journey to thank because I wouldn’t not be here if it weren’t for them.

Awesome. We will send you a quality story from time to time.

Oops... we didn't get your email. Try again?

UP NEXT