I had my time in college. And though it was not the best experience, it set me up for something of great redemption.

Simply put, when I was attending college I still had a mindset of “just trying to get by”. That wasn’t something I picked up at 18, it was something I carried for a large part of my life. I realized that the lack of self-discipline and motivation caused me to retreat when things got tough. Reading books, writing essays, studying for exams, and getting involved in community projects seemed too far out of my reach. I spent many hours drowning in laziness and procrastination. What I failed to understand was that the more responsibility you carry does not make you successful or disciplined, it's the mindset of being excellent in the small things that leads to success in the larger things. Endurance becomes exercised and suddenly success is apparent.

I remember listening to lectures and toward the end of the class thinking, “How will I do all this? Where do I start?”. I let the tasks become heavy burdens that just sat on my shoulders. How bad I wanted to be an A student. How bad I wanted to be recognized. Leaving the University, I felt major discouragement. The giant had beat me and left me to die.

At this moment I find myself on the other side of a 3-month Leadership Academy, which was in a classroom. Now, you just read all that was swirling around in my life then, but let me pull you into now. These three months gave me hope. As I found myself in class, my whole posture changed. A key to that was being told the truth of who I was as a man created in the image of my God. The other key was letting the stored-up passion I had inside, come forth.(And yes, that meant yelling sometimes!) Suddenly, my focus, awareness, and creativity began to spark. Partnering with an attitude of excellence, I saw great revelation come from my effort. Now the desire to study, write, and be involved in the community is alive, because I addressed the essence of who I am, and embraced the passion within. One thing I’ve taken from this classroom experience is that I get the privilege of going the extra mile to make something great! Life doesn't happen to me, I happen to life.