There is a state park in Georgia called Vogel State Park which is located in the north Georgia mountains. When Elaine and I started dating, her family would go camping every 4^th of July week. Early in our marriage we started going as well and would spend the week with 15-20 other families that would go the same time and we all became very close friends. Many times we would only see our our camping friends at Vogel. All of our kids grew up knowing each other and we all developed deep friendships during the annual camping trips at Vogel.

15 years ago all these families got together and decided to bury a time capsule under home plate at the Vogel ball field. We are supposed to open the capsule this coming Monday July the 4^th 2016. The idea at the time was to bury a time capsule that hopefully many of us would still be alive to see it opened.

What is really humbling is that I can remember standing on the ball field 15 years ago with my family like it was yesterday. At the time, my oldest daughter was a junior in high school and my youngest was in the 9^th grade and Elaine and I were in our early 40’s. Now 15 years later my two daughters have graduated high school, graduated college, gotten married, got jobs and we have two little granddaughters. All this has happened in what I would consider a blink of an eye.

Many of our friends that were there 15 years ago will not be there Monday because of life changes, moves, and in some cases, they have passed away. When we open the capsule and take out the pictures, writings and notes it will be a humbling moment. I believe I remember writing some meaningful things for my daughters to have should I not be there 15 years later. What a thought.

I suppose the point is to look at each day for what it really is. It is a moment in time that you will never have again. Hopefully you will have similar days but never a day exactly like today. If you miss the opportunities today, you may never get another chance. If you forget today to tell your loved ones that you love them, you may not have tomorrow. Look at each day and make a decision to fully be in that day and to fully be in those moments. The older you get, the years go by before you even know it and you look up and realize 15 of them have somehow slipped by.

Use your moments and your days to be all you can be for your family. There will come a day when you and I will no longer will be here to give advice on life issues and to hug them and tell them we love them. When that happens all they will have is the memories of you and what you did with your life. The bible says to make your election and calling sure. My main calling is not to be a salesman. My main calling is to be a husband, father, daddy and grandparent. Those are the only life titles that I care about and the only titles that will stand the test of time. KT

Sometimes the best people are not chosen first. Has that ever happened to you? Many times people are overlooked because of the opinions of “other” people.

I want to tell you a little football story:

There are only three NFL quarterbacks that have won 4 Super Bowls. Joe Montana, Tom Brady and Terry Bradshaw. Terry Bradshaw was the 1st round draft pick and won 4 super bowls with the Pittsburg Steelers. He lived up all the expectations of the experts. With Terry, the experts got it right.

Joe Montana was the 82^nd draft pick and won 4 super bowls for the San Francisco 49ers and Tom Brady was the 199^th draft pick and has won (still playing today) 4 super bowls for the New England Patriots. These are the only 3 quarterbacks to have won 4 super bowls in the history of the NFL.

I want to focus on Joe Montana and Tom Brady. Experts considered Joe Montana to be too small, too slow and couldn’t throw the ball very far and was viewed as weak and frail. Joe Montana’s real gift was the calming effect he had in the huddle. He had a way about himself that relaxed his players when they got stressed. He was said to have been one of the best ever at reading a defense and he just worked harder than everyone else. It wasn’t his skill that made him one of the greats in football, rather it was his hard work and how he studied the game that enabled him to quickly read a defense and adjust his offensive play.

The experts said Tom Brady had slow foot speed, too skinny, had a weak arm and couldn’t throw a tight spiral. Before he retires, Tom Brady (38 years old) may set the record for the longest successful football career of all time. His slow foot speed forced him to be a pocket passer. Not an easy thing to do. He worked hard to develop the quick release he is known for. Since he was slow, he had learn how to be the best at taking a snap and getting planted in the throw position quicker than his competitors. It was this focus he learned that overcame his other faults and enabled him to lead a team to the Super Bowl 6 times, which is more than any other quarterback in the history of the game.

Why am I giving you this football lesson? It is simply that we should never rely on the “experts” to determine our self-worth. Additionally, never let other people dictate our limits of success. Joe Montana’s real gift was reading the defense and keeping his guys calm. Tom Brady’s real gift was staying in the pocket and releasing the ball quicker than anyone else. When you step back from this and really look at it, many times it is the small overlooked and seemly insignificant things that make the person great. By all standards of perceived greatness and ability, Joe Montana and Tom Brady should never have been NFL quarterbacks. They were too slow and weak and simply did not have the skill set to be great quarterbacks. It is the small details and the small abilities that can make all the difference.

Don’t let anyone limit you and tell you what you can become. That’s up to you, not them. KT

At a time in our world where the issues of race, age, health, gender, etc. take center stage, it is so nice to just be one person having a friendship with another.

My friend Terrell helps bag the groceries at our local Publix. Terrell is a young black man about 19 years old with a severe speech impediment, hearing aids, and a heart that is as big as Georgia. He is my bud. Every time I go into the store, he will see me, hug my neck and then we do our own little special handshake. When he talks to me, I really have to listen close to understand when he tells me about what is going on in his life. He is so full of joy that it is contagious to be around him. When he talks, you can see right into his soul and know he has no animosity, anger, strife and harbors no ill will toward anyone. He is just Terrell.

I love the young man because the world is simple to him and uncluttered by all the stuff the media tells us to believe and feel. For him, it is just about being friends. The other day I was in the store and he came up to me for a hug and then went to the man in line behind me for another hug. Everybody loves Terrell, and he makes a visit to the grocery store something to look forward to.

I think it is a beautiful thing to see people of all backgrounds, race and religion be able to get along and enjoy each other the way God intended it to be. If we could all be like Terrell, the world would be a much better place to live. KT