Rise Like Paul

As I rode through the mounts and peaks of the mighty Appalachian foothills of Northern Tennessee and Southern Kentucky. I started praying, lord save my soul, please lord save my soul. I wasn't asking the lord to save my soul as in the sense of allow me into heaven, let me walk through your gates and see your face. I was praying that God would save me from the misery that I try to inflict on my soul by believing in the things of this world and finding my hope in this world. This world has done nothing for me beside destroy me and the people I love and the only hope I want to find in this place is the majestic sites written by the hand of God and the moments in which he shines through people and situations. Those moments give me hope, those moment where God energizes me to continue to fight to change this world for him. Moments when, this world denied my good friend a landing place when he had none, as his airplane engine sputtered and went crashing to the Earth, God steadied his hand and allowed Ben Price to avoid killing an interstate full of people and his passengers. When the world strongest Air Force promised my close friend the opportunity to fulfill his dreams to fly for this nation he loves, but he was denied after four years of service to them because of a slight shade of green. His smile that he still wears is why I persist, it's why I continue to seek a way to do something big even though I have failed at my attempts for 23 years and 364 days. It's amazing what a person can do after finding the right reason to do something. It's amazing what Abraham Lincoln wrote in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania because of the dismay he had for the practices of owning another human being. It's amazing the strength Nelson Mandela found in the walls of an iron prison because of apartheid taking place in his country. It's amazing what we continue to do as this world throw blow after blow and we continue to turn cheek after cheek. We must take on life as Paul did, Paul took more beatings than any follower of Christ and he continued to get up time and time again. I believe as the rocks pounded his bones and the rods landed upon his body, Paul saw past this world, he didn't ask why this world did this to him. He persisted because as the packs surrounded him and the dust stirred as they all lined up to take their shots. He saw Jesus in the background, He saw him carrying a cross that ripped his shoulders from it's sockets. He saw Jesus skin being ripped from his bare bones by whips. He saw the savior of the world being hung and eventually giving up life for the love of a world that hated him and continues to beat us. RISE LIKE PAUL continue to fight for what we believe in, for it's not of this world. We are the salt of this place that taste so bad to God but it's edible only because of us! God bless You, God bless these United States of America, and may god continue to bless us as we find hope in him.