At the risk of sounding cynical:

1.  Most friends are only as good as the next thing you can do for them.

2. There is a reason the Christian ghetto is called the Christian ghetto.

3. When you finally end up in the real world, it looks a lot different than said ghetto.

4. That life is not a melodrama.

5. That suffering, self-inflicted or not, sucks.

6. If I truly attempt to live out my creative potential, I should expect to be misunderstood—by almost everyone.

7. Most of the people you give the greatest care and love will abandon you.

8. That when the Apostle Paul laid claim on the title “chief of sinners,” he obviously didn’t realize I was going to come along and unequivocally wrest that title from him.

At the risk of sounding idealistic:

1. As college basketball coach Jimmy V said during his battle with cancer, “Never give up. Don’t ever give up.”

2. As college basketball coach Jimmy V said during his battle with cancer, “To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.”

3. I should never let anyone stop me from believing in magic.

4. I am not called to change the world, I am called to create culture.

5. If you find someone that will care for you, in the words of the great theologian Don Henley, “You better hang on tooth and nail.”

6. Some things are worth fighting for.

7. One thing is worth dying for.

8. Thankfully, I am not Joaquin Phoenix (Commodus) in Gladiator and YOU are not Russell Crowe (Maximus). (See #4 above.)

Question: What one thing have you realized as you grow older, or which one of these most resonate with you?

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