Restoration; Found in Truth

First of all let me say I am sorry I have been away for so long. I have been on a journey. When I began this journey I wasn't really sure what I was looking for. Having finally reached my destination, I would like to share with everyone my discoveries. This blog is fairly long (but not as long as my journey) please take the time to read the entire thing, I think you will enjoy it!!!


My journey should of started a year ago; however, it only began in December and just ended two days ago. The path was not an easy one but I found a way to make it through. What I found at the end of my journey was truth. Any readers who have been with me from the beginning may remember some of my first blogs which touched on what I viewed truth to be. Its kinda funny that my journey ended where my blogs began. I had the answers in front of me the entire time, but my perspective wasn't broad enough for me to see it. That is the danger of a limited perspective.


The title of this blog has multiple meanings, for one it was through discovery of "truth" that has led me to again start up on the blogging trial once again. So in essence it restored my desire to blog so all the world can get a glimpse into the eccentric mind that is Josh Mayne.


The other more personal meaning to this title is that recently a truth has been revealed to me. When truth is finally obtained the sense of confusion and uncertainty vanishes. It is as if the clouds have been rolled back to expose the radiant rays of sunshine that is "truth". There is a popular phrase "The Truth will set you free", and it has set me free.



This blog is about truth and it is truth that holds everything together. Without truth we are living a lie. The truth for us is everything we know to be true. The truth can be painful. The truth can be beautiful. The truth can be brutal. The truth can be healing. The truth is powerful. There is only one real truth in this world. Ultimately it is only truth that matters, everything else is non-essential. Without truth there are only lies.

You may remember me talking about "The Keys of Life" in an earlier blog. Perspective, Communication, Patience, Experience, Rebounding, Determination, and Passion are the tentative seven "Keys Of Life". This is a change from my initial belief that Perspective is the Key to Life. Over the year or so that I have been blogging I have grown away from that idea, perspective is important but it isn't the only thing. It is ultimately "Truth" that allows "The Key" to work.

As we go about are daily lives there are choices we make as we interact with others. We choose to either be real or false. We choose how much truth about ourselves we are willing to share. How truthful someone is determines how much we know and it influences the world we live in. People have there own reasons for being truthful or not. Some reasons are with good intentions at heart others with ill intentions. Even if you have good intentions in your heart when you decide not to be truth the results can be bad.

What we believe to be the truth is due to either what we have learned at school, from parents, or from what friends have told us. This truth that we believe influences every action that we take. Therefore it is central to everything we do in life. Look back at a decision or a series of decisions you've made. Now ask yourself what was the reasoning behind the decision. I can bet my "bottom dollar" that it was due to something that you knew or at least thought was true. What I am trying to get at is that we make decisions based on what we think to be the truth. One of the hardest things to hear and accept is that something you thought to be true is a lie.

For this reason we should do our best to be truthful even when you think it may be painful for someone to hear or may not be what they want to hear. It is far more painful to live out a false truth than to hear a harsh truth from the beginning.

At times it is true that dancing around the truth is an ok course to take; this is usually when it can have no long term effect.

One important thing that goes along with this topic is the communication aspect. People are not perfect and there are often misunderstandings due to this fact. There is not much you can do about somebody misunderstanding what you are trying to say. But if you realize it is a possibility you can take precautions to avoid it.

Saying whats on your mind isn't always best, sometimes it is best to hold your tongue.

Most people think they are pretty good at distinguishing truth from lies. We are constantly barraged with lies of this world. Untruths that make it hard for us to focus on the one truth we have in this world. Which is the truth found in God. Being able to latch onto this truth allows you to see the world through new eyes. Once this truth is attained things of the world look different feel different and are different for you. If you are not able to find the only real Truth, you will never be able to go through life living in Truth. I believe there are different levels of this truth and as we grow and mature we are able to learn and accept more and more intricate levels of this truth. Which allow us to live a "successful" life.

The search is over. The metaphor is complete. The final component to the "Key to Life" has been found.

This has been a long blog but I am glad that some of you took the time to read it all of the way through. There are a few changes on the way for my blog. One of them will be more consistency. I really didn't shed any light on what I have been up to but I may have some exciting news to share pretty soon.

What Is Broken Can Mend

Have you ever felt as if everything wasn't working right, like it was all broken? Well I had that experience last night and it was not a good one. My evening didn't go very well, I had a track meet that I was hoping would go well and that I would get a good throw in. Well I didn't do to hot, I ended up only throwing 46' 3" and got third place in the meet. It wasn't the fact that I got third that had me so upset, it was the fact that I performed so poorly. My goal is not to beat the competition, my goal is to beat myself and get a PR every time. I am very upset with how I have done so far this year I ended last season throwing almost 50 feet and expected this year to be well on my way to 55 feet. So far that has not happened. I am doing something to change that I have recommitted myself to eating right and doing anything I can such as push ups & sit ups to keep myself in the best condition for competing.

It wasn't only my throwing that was broken last night but also a couple of other things. When I got home I was trying to hook up my iPod to the computer but for some reason the computer couldn't recognize the USB device. I then went down to play some wii and the wi-fi connection wasn't working right. Well i found a solution for my iPod, I got new one at Best Buy. I still haven't fixed the wi-fi. It seems to me that there should be one more thing that wasn't working for me last night, but I can't put a finger on it. Anyway I just thought it was odd that it seemed like nothing was working for me last night.

Today was a little better the only thing that almost broke was my patience, as I was watching I Am Legend, which by the way is a great movie. There were a few people who weren't happy with the ending but I for one thought the ending was beautifully written. Anyway there were more than a few rude people in the theatre with me. There was almost always someone talking, many people were laughing at inappropriate times and a lot of people had to get up and leave. I am not sure which one I am more upset about, the talking or laughing, both were very annoying and made it hard to watch the movie. I didn't appreciate the laughing because they were laughing at a man who was having a breakdown after being alone for so long (kinda like "Wilson" in Castaway). The talking was almost unbearable a few times I wanted to get up and leave because I really couldn't concentrate on the movie.

I will end with some thoughts on a discussion that took place at the movies, before it started. The discussion was about being a gentleman and being ladylike, we were discussing the criteria for each. The basis for either is manners in order to be either a gentleman or act lady like you must have manners. I don't mean you have to be formal in everything you do but just have common courtesy towards other people. This is something any one should know how to do and everyone should strive to do. If someone doesn't consider you to be a gentleman or act lady like you should do your best to become one. I am amazed by how many people don't care or just automatically say that they are not either a gentleman or lady. If you have respect for yourself and respect for other than you should always strive to act like a gentleman or a lady. I can't really remember the message but this reminds me of Impact last March, I know it had something to do with what a gentleman was.

If I don't end up getting a chance to blog before christmas I would like everyone to know that I am wishing you all a Very Very Merry Christmas!!

Nothing Inpaticular

As I sit down to write this blog I have no real goal or purpose of writting, I just feel I am past due for a new blog entry. I am going to start just writting about what I've been up to lately and see where that takes us.

Christmas is fast approaching I beleive last time I wrote I had just bought presents for my family, (man that seems like ages ago). I currently have two more days left of school before the winter (christmas) break. I am very excited about having some time to sleep. I also feel like I have been very busy and it will be nice to get a chance to relax for a while. However this will probably not work, I usually find something to keep me busy if there is nothing scheduled.

In other news; I am broke, and no it isn't from buying all of the christmas presents. I shelled out $400.00 to replace an iPod that I had sold to my sister, which she broke within 4 hours). You may be thinking what type of iPod cost that much, the answer is the 16 GB iPod Touch. For those that do not know the Touch is like an iPhone except without the phone feature. That is the best way I can explain it. I would have to say that I am impressed with my purchase. If you are considering buy an iPod look at the touch.

Track......, well I am currently undefeated in the shot put, but I have not performed as well as I wanted. I have only hit 46' 8'' so far and that is about 3 feet less than my PR (personal record). I have a meet on Friday so hopefully I will have a big performance.

I felt like ending with something that allows me to work my mind muscle, as I was sifting through a few possible topics, I came across a few similar ones, but here is what I decided on.

We fall down so we can learn to pick ourselves up.
-Batman Begins

Yes this quote is from Batman Begins, it doesn't matter if you aren't familar with the movie you should be able to follow me. I believe this quote is about failure and experience. This quote is saying we fail so we can learn how to keep going. It is only through experiencing failure that we know how to overcome it.
I am going to expand a little beyond the meaning of this quote, I am going to say it is only through experience that we truly learn. When you first read this you may think that I'm crazy there are plenty of ways to learn like by hearing or seeing or reading. My answer to this is sure you can learn about something that way. The key word is "learn about", what does this actually mean. Untill you have your own experiences to go off of what you know about the subject or topic is just someone elses perspective on it. You could sit in a class for weeks about building a car, but do you think the first time you get out there on your own to build it that it will work. I don't think so, but maybe building a car is a bad example. What about playing football, if somone tells you how to play are you instantly going to understand all of the terminology and know how to fake people out or whatever. No you are not, for you to truly learn you have to experience it. I am not saying that people shoul ignore trying to gain an understanding or knowledge of things through reading, but what I am saying is don't underestimate experience. The way one individual comprehends something may be completely different for another, the only way to find out is to experience it. An example of this relating to football is Todd Collins, he may not have all the tools that Cambell has but he has led the Redskins to two Victories, because he understands the game and he understands the offense, those things can only be attained through experience.

I sure got a lot out of not having a direction, I hope that as you read the quote above you take the time to challenge the meaning of it. Take the quote and make it mean something to you, only then will you be able to appreciate it.

(Sorry for any spelling mistakes, I could not get the spell check to work)

Enjoy!

I know I already talked about the new look but I want to make sure everyone knows about the new features as well. Feel Free to answer my new poll question or to view some of the video reels I have displayed, I put it there for whoever views my blog.

Today has been relaxing, I had a whole day off of school because of yesterdays snow. I spent today working on my record book for 4-H, it isn't my favorite thing to do by a long shot but it is necessary for raising 4-H market hogs. After that I took Emma and Katie to FSK mall so we could do a little christmas shopping. I feel like I was able to find a good gift for everyone in my family this year. Especially my Mom and Dad I am certain they will love their gifts.

Thats all for now, and remember to check out the videos and vote on my polls.

How Do You Like It?

At first glance you may not notice anything different, look again. While I was over at John Yoho's house the other night working on my graduation project, I asked if he could show me how to set up a list of links, like I see on everyones blog. So he did and I really didn't do much that night, but today (I had a little extra time because of the snow) I spent about 2 hours making my blog the best it could be. There are a lot of cool features that you can add to your blog and I am trying to take advantage of all of them. Let me know what you think about the updated blog.

This coming Saturday is a bid day for me. The first track meet of my Senior year is taking place, I am excited and nervous at the same time. Excited because it is the first track meet and nervous because I don't know how well I am going to do. I have high expectations for this season, and this first meet will be a small indication as to how I am going to do this season. I say small because I shouldn't judge to much from the first meet, I am not trying to peek at this meet as my main goal is The Outdoor State Championships. It is hard to tell but I don't think I am going to have any personal record breaking throws. While it would be great to start the season off that way it is unlikely, but I plan to be up to A PR by Christmas.

Also this Saturday is the Second annual 10 Buck Ball, this combines two of my favorite things into one, dressing up, and wearing crazy things. Believe me when I say that my Outfit is crazy and looks good, Emma told me it looks too good for the 10 Buck Ball, but I'll wait and see. I like my outfit more than last years in some ways, but in other ways not so much.

The other at SMYDEK, we watched a video about great people who many look up to. This video wasn't about thier accomplishments it was about thier failure. Failure is as much a part of life as success. Success is made in between your failures, Fear of Failure IS the fear to LIVE. Don't forget that.

To end I want to touch on a statement made by Clinton Portis at the Funeral of Sean Taylor. As Portis was talking about how Taylor was always smiling and making people laugh he ended by saying "Whatever you do, do it with all the heart you have." This is a statment I think we all need to take to heart. I personally believe in this and I think the only one you are hurting by not giving it your all is yourself, and if you make the choice to always give it your all remember Sean Taylor, who was more than a Redskin

Rebounding

Rebounding is a term most commonly used in basketball, a rebounding is essential to being successful in basket ball, there may be some games where the team that won got out rebounded by a large margin, but more than likely the team that won either dominated the boards or it was about even. The idea of rebounding is to catch or grab a missed shot, this either gives your team a second chance to score or it means you stopped the other team from scoring (depending on whether you are on offense or defense). For the duration of my basketball career rebounding has been my life, over half the points I scored in a season have been because of offensive rebounds. I knew that more than likely my team was not going to be looking for me in the post, so I had to put myself in the best position, when they took a jumper or drove, to get a rebound.

There are times in life when we need to rebound, and I'm not talking about basketball. Rebounding is essential in life, as I just described rebounding is done when someone misses a shot, we all miss in life. No one not even Micheal Jordan, Lebron James, or Kobe Bryant, take your pick, makes every shot. No one will make every shot they take in life either, and just like I learned in basketball when you miss you have to grab the ball and either take another shot or pass it back out to set up the offense again. If you don't rebound someone else takes the ball and you will have to wait to get it back again.

From what I have learned to be a good rebounder you can't be afraid of your opponent, no matter how big they may be. I know for me I grew at an early age so up until 9th grade I was pretty much as big or bigger than all of my opponents, as I got older I stopped growing but everyone else didn't so I was going up against people who were now bigger (taller that is) than me. If you go out from the beginning of the game thinking that your opponent is going to dominate you and you play timid because of it, then you beat yourself not your opponent. Fear can make you lose before you even tried, it is about heart and how much you really want the ball, not size. In life if you make a mistake you have to seize the opportunities to rebound from them. If you are afraid of messing up again then you won't even try and someone once told me this quote, "You Miss 100% of the shots you never take." don't let fear be your master.

When I started this blog I never thought it would lead here it was just on my mind as I thought of how I have to rebound from a mistake that I made, I never looked at rebounding this way before, but I'm glad I did. Rebounding is now officially one of the Keys to Life, I am still compiling a group that will make up the big Key.

Hope everyone had an awesome thanksgiving and didn't eat to much. Track is in progress and I will continue filling you in on how I do during my senior year. Thanks to those who read my blog, who knows what I will write about next?

Josh In Real Life

Does this title sound familiar, many of you may have heard of the movie that was recently released Dan In Real Life. I was fortunate enough to see this movie last night and it was amazing, that is one of the reasons I say that I was fortunate to see it. It is instantly one of my favorite movies and I can't wait for it to come out on DVD.

I'm not going to give anything away but I will touch on one aspect of the movie I thought was important. In the movie Dan had a column in his local newspaper where he answered questions on parenting. Dan also had a book in which there was more advice. This is just the basics but I hope you get the point. By the end of the movie Dan admits that he hasn't been reading his own column. By this he meant he wasn't using the advice that he had given to people through his column. I thought that this was very meaningful to the title of the movie. I'll let you decide for yourself.

Dan realized that the advice he gave other didn't reflect his life, I believe that often I do the same thing. I often write about topics that are about a new perspective or viewing things from a new way. When I get away from the computer and from my blog I often forget what I wrote about and the "advice" that I gave. This was just on my mind, this movie sure makes your think, but it also makes you laugh, and Cry............

Anyway sorry about the long break I have been very bust these last couple of weeks trying to get my grades up and doing college stuff. The hunt continues and as each day passes the pressure builds. I visited Bucknell this past Friday and I loved it, the campus, the students, the track program, and the coaches, all of these things were great. The only draw back is there are no athletic scholarships at the school and the tuition is $46,000 a year. Also it is a very prestigious school, and while I could probably get in the coaches told me point blank that with the SAT scores I have right now I wouldn't be able to get the major of my choice.

Time for lunch, it feels good to blog once again. Latter