Perspective

Wow, how artsy and mysterious does that title sound? Is this some type of indie pop album title?

My last post was on June 20th. So, needless to say, things have gotten in the way of my blogging.

To my 7 fans out there… I’m sorry that you’ve been waiting so long with bated breath. But I’m back, baby. 

I will be moving back to the thriving city of Clinton, SC, to begin the second installment of “Cooper Short becomes college athlete at small liberal arts college.” There are 24 hours in a day. I sleep for about 8 of those. I sit still for about one. And I’m busy and/or eating for the rest. So, I’ve blinked twice, turned around, and it’s now August. Almost.

This summer has put a lot of things in perspective for me– a lot of things. And large swathes of my life have come full circle this summer, resulting in one of the most fulfilling and joyful times I’ve ever had. I do understand that, eventually, crappy things are going to happen. But right now, I am legitimately living the dream. 

But let’s talk about these perspective changes. If you’ve read any of my other posts, you know that I give all of these huge lists of things. I’m about to give you another one. But instead of talking about all of the perspective changes– for there are many– I’m going to hit on the biggest 2 I’ve experienced. Sound good? Great. Thanks.

First off, I gained a new perspective on lost people. One of the biggest passions I have, besides useless, obscure hobbies, is lost people. And it’s not people who are atheists or of other faiths. It’s mostly people who think everything is okay for them spiritually, when in reality, it’s not. There are no real numbers to quantify how many people are lost who think they are not, but I’m sure the number is a lot higher than we would like to know. This perspective has changed for me on 2 accounts. First, I’ve noticed how being of the world completely rips your life apart. I work with some guys, and they are truly wonderful people. They are solid guys with fantastic work ethic, maturity, wisdom– I love working with them. They have been great to me as the new, younger guy (I am a LOT younger than them). But they do not know the Lord. Period. They struggle in a lot of ways. I can see them literally struggling to understand hardship and battle things because they have no hope. They don’t have the hope I have in Christ. It’s not that committing to the Will of the Father makes the bad stuff go away. But, dang, you sure can handle it a lot more when you know someone who can when you can’t. It’s very concerning. The other way I’ve been really made aware of this lostness is to see my friends. I feel these deep convictions in my heart that I fully believe the Lord lays on me. And these convictions are all centered around where the people I care about are spiritually. I have had such a burden for my friends to either come into faith or to take their’s seriously. This is all out of fear that, upon death or the Rapture (whatever comes first), they won’t be going with me. They’ll be going to Hell. And I don’t want to see that. I love them all too much. So, my perspective on the lost has changed. I have such a fervor to tell people what the real deal is– like, such a fervor that I’m more annoying than I was… which is a lot.

My perspective on a dating relationship has changed. I met this girl– Sydney Kate Grubb. And, let me just tell you… I don’t know what God was doing when He was drawing up her plans, but He spared no expense and made zero mistakes. I’m beyond smitten. I’ve been gut hooked since moment one of minute one of hour one of day one. Period. End of story. I cannot even begin to explain how extraordinarily perfect this relationship happens to be. It is like unbelievably perfect. Everything in every way clicks so well, I’m like having a hard time believing it’s happening to me. Her faith? Solid. Her family? Incredible. Her personality? Phenomenal. Her heart? Golden. Her drawing ability? Impressive. Literally everything about her? Exactly what I was looking for. I know, I know… oh my gosh, this is so corny. Ya’ll haven’t even been together for that long. You’re right. But let me just tell you this– Sydney Kate is literally incredible. This has changed my perspective. For one, I was totally unaware that such a flawless person existed. But on a less corny note, I didn’t know how hard dating was. I have dated other girls. And the key word was always compromise. The respective girl and I were always compromising things we wanted in someone to date because of this big, ambiguous idea that is “love.” This overshadowed obvious incompatibility, and caused a lot of pain, for which I apologize for sincerely. I found things about myself (unfortunately, often after the relationship) that I realize take the right person to deal with. I am honestly hard to have any kind of relationship with because I’m inherently selfish and preferential. Other people have compromised things to be close to me. I have compromised things to get close to people. All of those relationships, dating or not, either don’t exist, or are starting to very noticeably fade. This makes us hurt– every time. And you shouldn’t compromise– neither person. Dating is about compromising on where to eat dinner or what to watch. It’s not about compromising on qualities that obviously don’t mesh, and can’t ever mesh. Relationships predicated on ignorant compromise fail. I would know because I have a whole list of lost relationships because we both ignored the warning signs before feelings got hurt. But Sydney Kate? She is not a compromise. I don’t have any desire to settle for someone that isn’t tailored to fit my dating difficulty level, or to settle for someone who doesn’t challenge me to be a better person, or to settle for someone that I can’t see myself marrying. I’m almost 20 years old. I have this exact mold of a girl in my head. She is essentially all of the intangible things I love about the incredible women of my family (plus, obviously super pretty and smells like sunshine). And literally, SK fits that mold almost to a T. The only thing is she doesn’t like coffee all that much. I’m praying about that. But, seriously– Sydney Kate is truly beautiful and amazing. She is everything– in a person, in a family I’m dating into, in a girl– that I could ask for, plus like 193231283 other things. But more importantly, she is everything that I am not, and never have been, and never will be. She is compassionate, and she’s thoughtful, and she’s people-minded, and she’s exact, and she’s steady, and she’s brilliant. She’s what I want to be. So, I’m going to hold her hand and call her on the phone until I start to see the world like she sees it. Sydney Kate taught me that everyone has a someone. I’m super hard to date and talk to and eat lunch with and text and call and buy things for and listen to and predict. But she does all of those things with her big, gigantic, wonderful heart wide open. And you don’t let girls like that just run off into the sunset. 

So, moral of the story…

People around us are lost. We need to get on the ball and advance the Kingdom. Do what only we can do, and Christ will do what only Christ can do. Matthew 28:19-20.

And everyone has a someone. Mine is short, blonde, dorky, and low maintenance. #Dub

Love God. Love People. Hate Sin. 

And as a Christian Rap nerd side note, CHH has just been absolutely knocking my socks off since like April. Check out:

Solar by Nobigdyl. (!!!!!!!)

Let the Trap Say Amen by Lecrae (prod. by Zaytoven)

Better Late than Never by BrvndonP

The Vantes Project III by Joey Vantes

Plus tons of singles, the best of which has to be either “Joe Budden” by Jarry Manna and Parris Chainz or “Fight for Me” by Gawvi (feat. Lecrae).

Outty.

–@CShort_116