I have a pretty horrible memory.

My friend Anthony (http://www.thebanisterslide.com) has one of the best memories that I know. Not only can he remember people, places, and dates of memories, but there’s been a couple times where he’s even remembered what someone was wearing when we were hanging out back in high school.

Anyways, one of the very few things that I do remember is my Macho Man Randy Savage wrestling buddy. I feel like we may have got it at ToysRUs, but I could have received it for my birthday or Christmas, considering they’re only 3 days apart. Not really sure how I got him, but we became instant best buddies.

That wrestling buddy never left my side. Most people had a “blankie” or a stuffed animal that they would sleep with at night, but I had my wrestling buddy.

Back then the WWF (apparently it’s the WWE now) was my entire life. I still remember going up to my friend, Brian Watson’s, house to watch all of the pay-per-view events together. I feel like it was very similar to what the UFC is now. We even had Brian’s sister paint our faces to match some of the wrestlers for one of the events.

Sadly, Macho Man passed away this week after having a heart attack while driving and ended up hitting a tree.

I’m not quite sure where that wrestling buddy is now, but I’m glad I had a best buddy to share some of my childhood with.

I had the amazing opportunity this past summer to take a trip to the beach with some of our friends. On our 8 hour drive down to Charleston, South Carolina, we had plenty of time to share stories about our lives and share dreams that we have.

One of my dream jobs, although it may sound kinda strange and really not something you would think I would ever want to do, is to be a high school football coach.

*A couple years ago, I actually e-mailed every local school asking the head coaches if they needed help on their staff, and actually received one answer back, but I ended up going on tour that summer and couldn’t make any of the practices, so I had to turn it down.

So I began to think of how I could make this happen. With practices beginning in the summers and most practices starting right after school around 3 o’clock, I didn’t see how having a full-time job could work. And so my friend, Todd said, “Have you ever thought about becoming a high school teacher? That way you would teach and then be a coach as well.”

At first, I thought he was a little crazy, but then decided that it actually made sense. I’ve been working with high school students for the past 10 years of my life in a church setting, and I love being able to teach in that setting as well, so why not. Plus, I’m really excited about being able to be a part of these high school students lives on a daily basis. Being able to be a tutor after hours and going to their sporting events, and being there for them if they ever need to talk about anything all got me really excited.

I began looking at schools and nothing really was panning out. I found this one program at a school called Middle Tennessee State University called MTeach, which was created especially for people who want to teach math and/or science in the secondary education level. I sent an e-mail, but never heard back.

Until 1 week before Christmas.

I received an e-mail back from Lee Gostowski, who is the coordinator of the program, that said somehow my e-mail went into spam and she would love to talk to me about becoming part of the program. So I went to MTSU and had a meeting, and within 3 weeks, I applied was accepted and got into the program.

My first day of classes was Friday.

I’m feeling pretty excited about school. After my first education class, I actually left saying “I’m even more excited about becoming a teacher now.” Which is always a good thing.

The program is going to take me 3 years, as I have to take all of my math classes and all of my education classes. I also decided to take a little slower pace through school, so that I could work part-time as well to help cover expenses of the family.

I know this is an exciting step in our lives and a little scary at the same time, but I was reminded in church today of one of my favorite verses that was spoken to a guy named Joshua. Joshua was given the command from the Lord to lead the Israelites after Moses (the guy who was given the 10 commandments) had died. This is what the Lord said to Joshua:

“No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them…Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:5-6;9.