Who was raised by God to live forever and Who Inspires Us to Truly Live<\/strong><\/p>

There are some things in life that make us feel alive and some things that inspire us to truly live.\u00a0 What I mean is, I sometimes go in search of things that will make my heart race and my senses heightened.\u00a0 They might involve behaviors like downhill skiing or rock climbing or eating something beyond the expiration date (do not try this at home).\u00a0 I also used to wait to the last minute to get things done so I could use the stress to sharpen my focus.\u00a0 Actually I may still do this though it feels much less like being alive as I get older.\u00a0 I have also found people that inspire me to truly live.\u00a0 Often it is through witnessing their generosity that inspires me most.<\/p>

The first person who comes to mind, aside from my parents, was my first basketball coach.\u00a0 His name was Mr. Pangrazzi.\u00a0 He also was my fourth grade teacher.\u00a0 He was the first teacher who really got me.\u00a0 Somehow saw the potential that was lurking inside me and helped me to see the future.\u00a0 As a basketball coach he was enthusiastic and giving.\u00a0 In my sixth grade season he personally bought new uniforms for our team.\u00a0 We looked like a team and started to play like one too.\u00a0 In practice he gave us all nicknames inspired by our favorite pro basketball players.\u00a0 I was Magic Tahtinen.\u00a0 He brought us to a college game and treated our team often with pizza.\u00a0 More than anything he got us to believe in ourselves.<\/p>

A second person who inspired me was the Pastor at the Bible camp I went to every year from third grade, to my third year of being on the staff.\u00a0 HIs name was Pastor Cy.\u00a0 He loved kids and hired counselors and staff that loved kids too.\u00a0 The thing I remember most was that he was a great storyteller.\u00a0 I heard stories from his life and he aways found a way to work God into the meanings of them.\u00a0 I remember crying while listening to a dixieland band as they lowered his body into the ground. \u00a0<\/p>

Another person who has inspired me is my, wife Sharon.\u00a0 She has turned her obstacles including a hearing impairment and a life long battle with Crohn\u2019s disease into a passion for caring after patients as a nurse.\u00a0 One of her best qualities is that she keeps an open mind and loves to listen and try new things.\u00a0 She is most generous with her time and attention not just to me but to all her many friends.<\/p>

The last example I will give here are the people of the two churches that I serve.\u00a0 They inspire me to keep going when it is tough.\u00a0 I have made many mistakes at both churches and said things in sermons that I wish I hadn\u2019t.\u00a0 They realize that I am human too and are quick to encourage and slow to judge.\u00a0 They have taught me that true generosity is found in using our gifts for the sake of serving others.\u00a0 That is not a feeling of excitement, but a confidence that we are all in this together and with God\u2019s help, we can make it.<\/p><\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who was raised by God to live forever and Who Inspires Us to Truly Live FEELING ALIVE There are some things in life that make us feel alive and some things that inspire us to truly live.\u00a0 What I mean is, I sometimes go in search of things that will make my heart race and my senses heightened.\u00a0 They might involve behaviors like downhill skiing or rock climbing or eating<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-40daysofthespiritofpeacecreed"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.originalblessing.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.originalblessing.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.originalblessing.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.originalblessing.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.originalblessing.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.originalblessing.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139,"href":"https:\/\/www.originalblessing.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions\/139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.originalblessing.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.originalblessing.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.originalblessing.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}