Potatoes

Did you know that there is over a hundred recipes for just mashed potatoes alone?! That's a ton of recipes and that's not even counting baked potatoes, grilled potatoes, steamed potatoes and many many more! Wow I guess you could say that we like potatoes. You know what the really crazy thing is though? Potatoes are poisonous. Yep you heard right potatoes are poisonous! You see the poison runs viciously through the stems and leaves of the plant and while the potato is still attached to the poison source it is also poisonous. Sometimes while the potato is still forming it is a greenish color due to such a high dosage of poison running throughout the plant! All the while we still eat potatoes on almost a weekly biases. Luckily for us once the potato is fully formed it separates itself from the stem and leaves and pinches off the poison source. Which results in one of my many favorite foods! Often times in our lives we too also face a "poison source" which begins to take over our lives. When the source is first discovered only a little here and there seems to be leaked into our lives; but as we gain confidence and comfort begins to become natural the "poison" makes it's way into our lives more and more. It becomes routine, natural, a way of life. Eventually we don't even have to justify this guilty obsession because slowly the title shifts from "guilty obsession" to "obsession." The time before the "poison" slowly seems to be erased from our memories. All together we begin to turn "green," the poison has made its way so far into our lives it seems hopeless. We will surely die out, the poison is so strong and vicious that we have lost all control. We begin to shrivel up into uselessness. Though it is dark and hopeless we hear a distant foot step. Then another. With every growing step the hope is restored. The darkness turns to light. It's a farmer. As he pulls his blade out he begins to harvest; cutting the potatoes from the source that was fueling their "poisonous" addictions. Life is restored. I don't know where you've been or what you've endured. I don 't know your highs or your lows but I do know that we all suffer "potato" moments throughout life, and sometimes the "poison" seems too strong not to give into; but I also know that right when things seem to far gone to make its way back is right when harvesting season rolls around. And when the stems are cut; life itself is restored.

The Mixtures of Life

I remember sixth grade science, a time when we were just starting to learn new and exciting things using chemicals and matter. However, the one experiment that vividly stands out in my memory is one that simply used only water and cooking oil. The days leading up to the experiment we discussed the differences between heterogenous and homogenous substances. It absolutely amazed me how two very similar substances would not even begin to mix. It was like magic to a bunch of sixth graders! Sometimes we are so sure that two things should mix. Regardless if we are an expert on the subject or just a beginner. I still feel as if oil and water should somehow mix together even though I have seen the result time and time again. In the real world things naturally mix. Peanut butter and jelly, milk and chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter and chocolate. Those are just a few of my favorite foods to mix, but food is such a boring mixture. Look at a friendship that cannot be broken. A love between a man and a woman that can't be tarnished. And even a man's best friend, his dog. Mixtures are a beautiful and special thing. It's like adding seasoning to a secret recipe. The recipe needs the seasoning to thrive. As do we. We need to form mixtures with people and develop our relationships into our own "secret recipe." But as the water and the oil time and time again will not mix, sometimes we don't mix with certain people, which results with us trying to change ourselves in order to "mix" with the cool group. We change the way we dress, our hair, the way we talk, and even how we act. We do everything in our power to be "water." We want to smell like water, look like water, and even taste like water, but when the two are together there still is water and oil. Not just water. Did you know that oil is being used to grow hair now? And that certain kinds of oils keep our world in operation mode? It adds flavor to our foods, and allows us to cook more efficiently. Seventy percent of the world is covered with water which makes water way more common then oil; however 96.5 percent of that water is unusable and undrinkable. Water is so common but yet so unspecial. So don't change for anyone. Mix with the ones who you mix with. Be who you were meant to be and put your "oil" to good use.

The Man That Thinks He Can

If you think you are beaten, you are;

If you think you dare not, you don't.

If you'd like to win, but think you can't

It's almost a cinch you won't.If you think you'll lose, you've lost.

For out in the world we find

Success begins with a fellow's will:

It's all in his state of mind.If you think you're outclassed, you are:

You've got to think high to rise,

You've got to be sure of yourself before

You'll ever win that prize.Life's battles don't always go

To the stronger or faster man,

But sooner or later the man who wins

Is the one who thinks he can.

Communication

“If speech were to stop, all civilized living would suddenly vanish.” Out of the twenty eight possible paragraphs I chose this one. The shortest one, with only eleven words one would think to overlook it right away. For it would be easy to think that there is simply just not enough material here to write a good reflection, but I beg to differ. Reread this statement again; “If speech were to stop, all civilized living would suddenly vanish.” As soon as I read this statement my mind was drawn to Genesis 11: 1-9  “Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused[a] the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.” 

Language is such a powerful part of society, in fact I would take that a step further to say that language, words, and communication are what keeps society in full function.  In verse six it says how  The Lord came down and had saw what the people with only one language had done and how nothing would be impossible for them as long as they could communicate. Think about the life of Helen Keller. This was a girl they described as incurable, problem some, a wasted cause. Ann Sullivan saw the root of the problem, a lack of communication. After failing time and time again it finally clicked for Helen. When communication played into Helen’s life she accomplished many great things and left this world better off for it. I picked this topic because of the significance of it, like it says “all civilization would vanish.” Without our words and actions we have zero chance at running an effective economy.

Love These Emails

Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. 

Your challenge is to accept yourself as less than perfect and don't be afraid of letting someone down.  You are still valuable as a person, even if you fail.  It is through our failures that we learn how to be successful.  Hard work earns the respect of others and overcomes failures.  Do me a favor and go out and practice and play like your're not afraid of making a mistake.  You are going to get called out on things, but what they're really looking for is to see if you can work and get better.  You've got the talent you just need to overcome the challenges in your mind.  You can do that!!!!  And in doing that, you will have more peace and joy in every aspect of your life.  
Maybe find some quotes you like and hang them in your locker or put them on your phone as a constant reminder.  
I love you!   
Mom

A Mom Thing

This past week has been so incredibly busy for me! From sun up to sun down its football. That's a lot of football. Being that my mom is so great she sends me these daily emails with thoughts of the day kind of theme. This one is awesome. Being that it is so awesome I want to share it with you guys:

There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing. –Aristotle
Criticism can help us to reflect, self evaluate and push us to grow!!

Also, here's a thought for you today....

Jock vs Nerd

$ Michael Jordan having "retired," with $40 million in endorsements, makes $178,100 a day, working or not.
$ If he sleeps 7 hours a night, he makes $52,000 every night while visions of sugarplums dance in his head.
$ If he goes to see a movie, it'll cost him $7.00, but he'll make $18,550 while he's there.
$ If he decides to have a 5 minute egg, he'll make $618 while boiling it.
$ He makes $7,415/hr more than minimum wage.
$ He'll make $3,710 while watching each episode of Friends.
$ If he wanted to save up for a new Acura NSX ($90,000) it would take him a whole 12 hours.
$ If someone were to hand him his salary and endorsement money, they would have to do it at the rate of $2.00 every second.
$ He'll probably pay around $200 for a nice round of golf, but will be reimbursed $33,390 for that round.
$ Assuming he puts the federal maximum of 15% of his income into a tax deferred account (401k), his contributions will hit the federal cap of $9500 at 8:30 a.m. on January 1st.
$ If you were given a penny for every 10 dollars he made, you 'd be living comfortably at $65,000 a year.
$ He'll make about $19.60 while watching the 100 meter dash in the Olympics, and about $15,600 during the Boston Marathon.
$ While the common person is spending about $20 for a meal in his trendy Chicago restaurant, he'll pull in about $5600.
$ This year, he'll make more than twice as much as all U.S. past presidents for all of their terms combined.
Amazing isn't it?  However...
$ If Jordan saves 100% of his income for the next 450 years, he'll still have less than Bill Gates has today.
$$$ Game over.  Nerd wins.

Love, Mom

Gotta love moms emails! Hope you guys are blessed throughout the day, love Zane

Reflection Monday 9

It only takes one drop to start an insurmountable current, and it only takes one person to start a revival.

Prayer Request

Today we officially checked into fall camp which is awesome. I am definitely ready to try and show everyone what I got, but at the same time the nerves are starting to set in little by little. So I want to ask for your prayers. Prayers that my body will hold up and that God would give me the ability to preform at the highest level that I possibly can in order to bring glory to HIS name not mine. Thank you so so much for your prayers!

In Love- Zane

Summer Workouts

So tomorrow is our last summer conditioning day and I can not be more excited for it! This summer has been a wake up call to say the least. A lot of sweat, a lot of pain, and ALOT of hard work. Part of me wishes that I did stay home to enjoy my summer with family and friends, but the more that I think about it, the more that I realize is how that would have been the easy way out. That sure as heck would have been a lot more comfortable for me then being up here working like a dog all summer, but would it have been beneficial? You see as the end of summer approaches fast more and more freshman are coming in and slowly starting to go to workouts. They look like me on my first week. In pain. Therefore I am soooo glad that I gave up my summer to be up here to workout. In our walks there is one of two roads that we can take. We can stay in the comfort of our house and enjoy our "vaycay" or we can walk into the lions den where we may not be comfortable and in may seem impossible, somewhere where we can hardly find the strength to take another step. You see when we put in the work we see results. We become an insurmountable current ready to take out any mud bank that lies before us, overturn every pebble. So while the work may cause you to sacrifice your time, effort, money, and resources.....when we start to see that light at the end of the tunnel we still have the strength to sprint through that finish line without letting up.

Reflection Tuesday?

Mowing Straight Lines

So the other day my dad asked me to mow the yard. Besides the fact that it was a hundred degrees outside I had no problem doing it. Infact I actually enjoy mowing my yard. The neighbors.....not so much, probably because I sing along to my iPod way to loud! The one thing that drives me crazy when I am mowing is when the lines aren't straight. IT DRIVES ME INSANE!!! The downside about this being the thing that bugs me is how unbelievable impossible it is. Lots of factors play into this. The wind, an uneven mowing surface, an itch, or even a sweat bead can throw you off your game. You can imagine my frustration. Until I figured out the key that is. The key to mowing a straight line is not to look only a couple feet in front of the mower, but to instead shift your eyes directly down the line towards the end of the yard. (Warning the first couple of times you try this it may lead to extreme levels of anxiety) but after those intital moments of anxiety it becomes second nature. So as I was relaxing and partially laughing in my head thinking that I had defeated all of the worlds problems a car of friends drove into the neighborhood and laid on the horn. Quickly I looked up and threw up a wave. As I returned to my mowing I was horrified. You guessed it, my line was messed up. I think it is so easy for us like when we are mowing to just tend to look only a couple feet in front of our faith walks because looking far ahead my cause some anixety that we may not always want to burden. We tend to forget that the goal is to mow straight lines, not to only think about mowing them straight, but also like in the mowing we can never get to comfortable in our walks, we always have to keep moving towards the goal and when we do tend to relax and get comfortable we may take our eyes off of the prize. Paul said in 1 Corninthians 9: 24-27 "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." When we mow our yards, or walk by faith, or even play scrabble all we can do is remember the goal at hand and put it into action and when we do that we end up with a nice yard and a happy Zane.

Busy Busy Busy

Of late I have been really caught up and busy! I came home for like 5 days and I have been trying to see everyone, unfortunately that leads to me forgetting certain things like my daily post! So I'll keep this one short and just ask you guys to really be praying for me to remember my priorities in life. Ya friendships are so special and needed but at the same time I really need to step back and ask myself what really is inportant in life to me. 

Music Friday 5

This song is so cool. Has made a bunch of my athletic warm-up CD's.

Zane Black

A Simple Post

Simple post today. I moved today, and to say the least I wasn't to excited to do so. You see all this summer I have been stayed in nice upperclassmen dorms that had air conditioning. Today I moved into poopy underclassman dorms with no air conditioning. Not cool. The one thing that did pick my sprits up was all of the help that I received and not just from my teammates. Almost everyone that I saw asked me if I needed any help. A random Grandma was parked close to the door and she offered to hold it open while I carried loads inside to my "prison cell." This shocked me, and it meant more to me then any of them will ever realize. Just that fact that they offered is incredible to me. I have found that when you really try to see the good in everyone, it almost never disappoints you.