Saturday, November 20th, 2009, 11:05 pm

This is a surreal moment.

As I sit in my apartment in my third year at Ohio University, soaking in the last hour of my second decade on this planet, it’s hard to believe how fast time passes by.

Everyone anxiously awaits their 21st birthday. A day of freedom and celebration. Freedom to do just about anything outside renting a car at a premium and celebration for the years passed and those still to come.

I rejoice over each year I’ve had the pleasure of spending on this earth—overlooking the handful of bad days in the last 76-hundred or so and counting my blessings that I’m totally undeserving of.

I wouldn’t trade the memories and friendships I have for anything, but the time on this planet is merely a millisecond in light of eternity, so living it with purpose and joy is the only option for me.

I’m at a college that feels like home. I have a wonderful family I love, friends that I’d do anything for, and a future ahead of me that only the Lord knows what’s in store, but one that I’m excited to see. I am blessed beyond all belief.

If we’ve ever met, I’m confident you’ve had some impact on my life. In honor of this birthday, I wanted to commemorate some of the most important lessons I’ve learned on this earth by chiseling them into stone. I don’t have a chisel or a stone slab, so I’ll settle for cementing them into the new history book—the blogosphere.

I’m certain I’ve learned more than this (at least I hope), and I’m confident I’ll leave out some important lessons, but I know the following have shaped who I am.

  1. Don’t worry about anything that can’t worry about you.
  2. Love people.
  3. Optimism is the only outlook worth having.
  4. Manage your character and your reputation won’t be in danger.
  5. Do what you say you’re going to do, and you’ll shock the world around you.
  6. Be genuine in apologies when you inevitably screw up.
  7. Perfection isn’t achievable, but you should live like it is.
  8. Give everyone a chance.
  9. Smile. A lot.
  10. Find your passion and chase it.
  11. Bodies aren’t meant to end up in the grave in good shape. Slide into the end of your life beaten, bruised and worn down after living a life that took everything out of you.
  12. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed.
  13. Friends come into your life for seasons. Never underestimate the power a single person can have on your life, no matter how long they’re around.
  14. Take risks. The status quo is average for a reason.
  15. Go to extremes to help people.
  16. Nothing says thank you like a handwritten card.
  17. Outside of people, nothing will have a profound impact on your life like a Book.
  18. Stand up when everyone else lies down. Pull them up when they don’t think they can stand.
  19. Do your laundry before you get to your last boxer-briefs. Urgency spikes when you wear your last pair.
  20. Live a life that inspires others to live like you.
  21. Count your blessings—and then call and thank them.

To all of those who have impacted me in my life, thank you. I don’t know who or where I’d be if it wasn’t for the Lord putting us together.