Hello all! It's been a while. I have certainly wanted to jump into the political climate debates and commentary for quite some time, but I have decided some things are best left unsaid. So, Instead, I thought I'd take this opportunity to spend a little time lifting up a certain young man you all may have heard of.
In past posts, I've detailed some trials and tribulations of my eldest son, Clayton. I've spent a great deal of time on social media, singing his praises. I've also spent a bit of time gloating about the younger son Danny's latest role or his most recent vocal performance. But both of these young men are unique in their own ways, and I felt it necessary to explain Danny a little more. Now, you may be rolling your eyes and saying under your breath, "oh, here he goes again, bragging on his kids!" Yeah, you'd be right. So if you want to bail now, feel free to do so. But I will make no apologies for highlighting the amazing things this young man has already accomplished at the young age of 18. He deserves it. He's worked really hard for a long time. He deserves that recognition.
Let's do it this way. Imagine you are an employer, looking to hire a bright new face. You're looking for someone who is smart, has a great work ethic, is a self starter, is genuine, truthful and virtuous. You hope to find an individual who is not afraid to "go for it". Your ideal candidate possesses not only the ability to be creative, but also the talent to express these ideas well in a public forum. Ideally, although you can't exclude others, you secretly want to hire a fellow Christian, strong in faith, principle and practice. This is someone, who you could always count on to do the right thing, even when it doesn't benefit them, personally. If you could pick the perfect person to fill this role, they would have a resume to back up the skill set required for this position. "No way I could find someone like that", you may think to yourself. However, you'd be wrong. These folks do exist, even among the millennial generation's sea of unqualified, over-educated, entitled masses.
Contrary to popular belief, some of us GENXers, are still actually RAISING our children. We're not all leaving this task for the schools and daycare centers to do. Those who have a vested interest in raising their own children in a Christian home, know that the fruits of this labor can be an incredible blessing. Let us begin, shall we?
At the young age of 6 years old, Danny became the youngest Black Belt in US Tae Kwon Do history. This was highlighted by several local news stories and even garnered an invitation from the Dave Letterman show. We ultimately declined this invitation, because it would have excluded his older brother, who had also earned this honor.
Beginning in Elementary school and throughout his entire school life, Danny maintained straight A grades, even while participating in extracurricular activities, which he often led. He also became involved in his church youth group and went to King's Kids Camp each summer. In Middle school, following in his older brother's footsteps, Danny became involved in the choir program. This carried on into High School.
By the time his high school years began, Danny had transitioned into becoming a counselor at the camp every year, where he mentored younger children, ministered to them, and in many cases, helped them to make their first ever decision to follow Christ. Still a member of his Church's Youth Group, he participated in many other outreach programs, volunteering his precious little spare time for charitable causes. Still maintaining his grades, he got involved in the high school choir department. He was a member of the Mixed Concert Choir, Men's Ensembles and Show Choir. He was a member all four years and as a Senior, was named student Director of the Department. As a senior, while attending a National Festival and Competition in Los Angeles CA, Danny was presented with the National Ovation Award, which is only given to one student, nationwide, each year. Over the course of his choral career, he earned multiple awards and was named as an Alternate in the Missouri All - State Choir.
He was also very involved in the Drama Club, both as a member and as the Student Board President. As an actor, he earned the lead roles in several of the Schools productions, including musicals. Even though he was busy with rehearsals and the business of his Presidential duties, not to mention his choral commitments, he still maintained his grade point average, and even held down a part time job. Early in his Senior year, he felt compelled to become a voice for the arts, as the School Board was trying to pass a proposition for various funding and budget items. Fearing the arts may be the target of possible budget cuts, he attended several school board meetings and spoke on behalf of the student artists in the district. This garnered local newspaper and TV coverage, where he was recognized for his efforts. This publicity got the attention of the Missouri delegation of a National Arts Advocacy Group, who ultimately chose him to lead a delegation in the State Capital, where he spoke to state congressional members, concerning the necessity of funding the arts in Missouri's schools. Later , he would be named to lead the student delegation from Missouri, to our Nation's Capital in Washington D.C., where he would speak to U.S. Senate and House members about increasing federal funding for the arts.
To cap off his high school career, Danny gave a commencement address at graduation ceremonies. He graduated in the top 7% of his class, earning him numerous scholarships for academics, choir and theatre.
Today, Danny is finishing up his freshman year at the University of Southeast Missouri. He is double majoring in Music Education and Political Science. This summer, as always, he will be a counselor at King's Kids Camp. He will also be taking a mission trip to Uganda, with members of his church, where he will lead a new group of God's children in worship and song. And, as always he will work at his part time job, whenever he has the time.
So, there's the resume. I'm sorry, but it is impressive. This young man seeks to excel in everything he does. But that's not the point of this post.
Raising our kids in a fallen, dirty world is no easy task. Richelle and I are certainly proud of our kids.....OBVIOUSLY. But we didn't do this on our own. I hate to use this phrase, because of the political figures attached to it, but I must. It takes a village to raise a child. Although it's a tad cliché, nonetheless, it is true. Without outside influences, you'll never be able to do it alone. Where the rubber meets the road, however, is in the choosing of those influences. Who will you allow to be their influences? Their role models? Their leaders? Their teachers? Each and every one of these choices are critical. I'll not take credit for a conscious decision in each and every one of these categories. In fact, we sort of fell into most of them. Some would say we lucked out. But it's much deeper and much more spiritual than that. Many of our children's influences came directly from involvement in the church and participation in ministry. While we made church a priority in our kids' lives, they were the ones who immersed themselves in the ministry. They were influenced by pastors, elders, fellow youth group members and leaders, etc. This kept them focused on their faith, and their roles as children of God and as followers of Jesus. While Richelle and I had spent a great portion of our lives apart from God, our kids were raised in the church. They knew the right path at an early age, and only due to God's providence and Grace, they were able to stay on that path. Of course they have wandered and stumbled, as we all do. But through accountability from their Christian peers and leaders, coupled with scriptural reinforcement and reassurance from us, they always right the ship. Richelle and I are far from perfect parents. Most of the time we were just winging it. And, we made more mistakes than we can count. But a decision we made when the boys were very young, assured us that we would not be on our own. We made a decision for Christ. Then, we gave our boys to Him.....fully. The way we saw it, they weren't really ours in the first place. They were His. He had entrusted them to us to bring them up in His ways. We owed it to Him to make sure they were surrounded by those who would help to guide them along that narrow path.
THAT is the point of this post. No matter how bad it looks out there in the world; no matter how dreary and devoid of decency and moral compass; there are those who will come alongside you in any journey, and help guide you, if you are only willing to give HIM the wheel. Our children are who they are, not because of me or Richelle, but because of God's Grace. What a blessing!!!!
Oh, and Danny.....you're a freaking Rock Star!!!! So proud of all you are and of all you have done!!!!
Thanks for Reading,
Drew
