Kayaking With Some Ladies

Two Thursdays ago, Alex's "wicked amazing" cousin, Jen Smith, came to Montgomery for a visit. She flew all the way from Rhode Island to spend a week with our beloved Alexandria. Early in the week, Alex and Brittany and I decided it would be a good idea to go kayaking as soon as Jen arrives, one because Brittany has the day off, two, I had the afternoon off, and three, it would be the only time for us all to have together during the day. So, it was set, after the girls picked up Jen from the airport, we were off to go Kayaking. 

Where in Alabama can you go kayaking? Well, good question, it's one I had to ask several times. Lacee and Corrine, two of our close female friends, went kayaking the other weekend and told us about this place... Coosa River Adventures. It was fairly cheap to go kayaking... 22.50 for a two man, tandem, sit-on-top kayak. The whole course was about seven miles... The true question was... are we up to the challenge?

Well, it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. Alexandria and I flipped a total of four times. Brittany and Jen flipped only once. What a day . . . It was a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to the next time we go...

However, there was a lesson learned from this day . . . Kayaking is very much a team building sport when you have double kayaks. Double kayaks are referred to as tandems  . . . that means working as a single unit. Well, I had some problems with that . . .  I was a very prideful man... I didn't want to listen to Alexandria, she had a different way of rowing . . . I was taught one way, she another. However, I should have known better than to puff up my chest and expect her to follow my lead no matter what. That's not team work... that's egotistical and insecurity. I love her so much. I should have been more willing to love her and work next to her, not drag her along.

I am sorry, babe, for the way I treated you that day! I love you and I should have known better. I want all over guys to know being a man isn't overpowering or belittling . . . humility and meekness. And meek doesn't mean weak... it's POWER UNDER CONTROL. Christ was meek, so why can't we be?

Me and Gulliver

A couple of days ago, I was watching "Gulliver's Travel" with Alexandria, Brittany, and Jen (Alex's 'wicked amazing' cousin from Rhode Island). Lemuel Gulliver (Jack Black) has been working in the mail room of a New York daily newspaper for the past ten years. Afraid to put himself out there, he considers himself a loser, as do all his peers. One day, after having finally had enough, he decides to declare his flame to the beautiful Darcy Silverman, the newspaper's travel editor and one of Gulliver's only friends...only to chicken out at the last minute and instead tell her that he'd like to try his hand at writing a column. Darcy accepts and sends him on an assignment to the Bermuda Triangle. There, Gulliver becomes shipwrecked and ends up on the island of Liliput, where he is twelve feet taller than the tallest man. For the first time, Gulliver has people looking up to him.

Well, I really enjoyed this movie, I've been enjoying a lot of Jack Black's more recent movies... he's becoming quite the actor. Anyways, I was able to really identify with this movie. I've been in the same shoes as Gulliver has, I was Gulliver, minus the job and inverted whirlpool.

Most of my life, I use to lie about who I was, the things I've done, the people I know, just to be able to impress other people. I thought my life was so dull. I thought my life was nothing compared to everyone else. I had a very vivid imagination, I could come up with stories that were so amazing, yet highly believable. I wanted people to think I lived a crazy adventurous life. I wanted them to envy me, at least the me I wanted people to know. I not only did I want other to like cool, always on the go, me... but I wanted to like myself too. But man... keeping up with all those lies and trying to make up new stories all the time is so hard and tiring. I wasn't happy with my life, I wasn't happy with who I was, I was ashamed and disgusted with the things that I have done. It was just easier to make up a new me than face the real one.

Well now, at 22 years of age, student in college about to became a husband to a very wonderful woman whom I do not deserve.... I still struggle with my self-esteem. I still struggle with wanting to be someone better without having to work for it. Lazy and immature, I know... slowly, I'm growing out of it, accepting myself, more and more everyday. Love who God has made me... knowing I am constantly being molded into who HE wants me to be.

This next reference is a shocker, but hear me out. Lady Gaga has a new anthem, Born This Way. Through this song, Gaga encourages people to accept who they are, don't try and change anything, don't try and be something they aren't... don't try and be someone their not. Just be you and own it. Good stuff, huh? I think so! It's a daily lesson I face, but thank God I don't have to face it alone. God has surrounded me with some pretty awesome people to support and encourage me and smack me back to reality! Thanks Guys and Gals! Ya'll be a lot to me!

Until next time, God bless!
Lucas