hanging with louis and clark.

Prompt: What did you discover?

i like to consider myself a very adventurous person. i like the odds and ends of not knowing things sometimes, and i feel more often than not that i discover new things about myself and others every single day. this year i discovered a cornucopia(yeah, i just used that word) of different things. some were funny, some were ironic, some were tough, and others i wish were never discovered. but nonetheless these discoveries helped me learn.

i discovered that i am not made for mountain biking.

my brother-in-law, matt, took me and my brother on a biking trip to ride some trails over thanksgiving break. i did not like it at all. that was the first time that i had every attempted mountain biking and he had me riding the "more advanced" trails. i think i bruised my hands more than anything because i was gripping the handle bars so tightly as i peered off the side of the mountain. my butt also hurt by the end of the ride. i definitely told him that i would have rather ran the trails because i was better at that. any who, it was a new thing for me and this discovery was definitely one that will impact any further decisions about biking.

i discovered that 9th graders are super funny.

i teach all the 9th graders at hillcrest and each and every one of them has a quirky side to them. i even have found new things out about kids i had known prior to working there. i won't list any names, but here are some of the conversations that i have had with these kids in class:

Student: "Coach Teague, are you Chinese?"

Me: "Ugh, no. Do I look Chinese?"

Me: "So the plate movement of subduction simply means that one tectonic plate goes beneath the other one."

Student: "Subduction! You mean like aliens!!?"

Me: "No. That is abduction."

Me: "I am a very wise person."

Student: "No you're not."

Me: "Only an ignorant and unintelligible person would not think I am wise."

Student: "I don't know what that means."

Me: "Point proven."

Me: "Industries like NASA moved down here to the South..."

Student: "NASA....like them racecars?"

Me: "No. That's Nascar."

Student: "Same thing."

Me: "The majority of Russia has a tundra climate."

Student: "I thought tundras were those things that came out of an elephants mouth."

Me: "Those are tusks."

and this is my favorite phrase...

"Coach Teague, this may be a stupid question, but...."

and usually a very unintelligible comment proceeds.

i just love these kids. there is never a dull moment.

i discovered my affection for a certain individual.

i knew Laura for a little over a year before we actually started dating, but i think that affection was always there, i just didn't know what it was. i didn't know how i felt about her until we both worked a weekend retreat in brewton, al together. i got to watch her first hand love on and disciple kids again which is one of the aspects that i love about her. she has such a heart for others and the Lord that it is breathtaking. and i tell people all the time that the number one thing i like about her is that her relationship with me looks like garbage compared to the affection that she has for her Maker. that is something i have prayed for and desired in the person that i date. its amazing that she has stayed with me this long, but i am glad that she chooses me every single day. i learn and discover new things about her on a consistent basis and i can't wait to learn more from her. so thank you laura for being so awesome!

i have discovered more and more who Christ has made me to be.

my journal has page after page on things that the Lord has taught me over the past year. there are prayers on things i have yet to discover and ones that i have come to discover and learn from. it is amazing how beautiful the Lord continues to be each day. so i challenge each of you to ask the Lord to help you discover something new about Him and yourself on a daily basis, and i promise you that if you so desire it, then it will happen. "Call to me and I will answer you. I will tell you the deep and hidden things that you do not know." Jeremiah 33:3

i think that is it for the night.

until next time!