What's Your Battle?

First of all, my apologies, it's been a while but I'm back! In my time away from the blog, I've been reading and I just finished former ESPN personality Stuart Scott's memoir, Every Day I Fight. It details his life and battle with cancer which he passed away from in January. Between this book and an incident that occurred on July 1, I've adopted Every Day I Fight as my new mantra. 

    I had a neighbor who's hired help had been parking on my property and I just wanted to man up and discuss it with him. Well he decided that calling me a "fat f@&$" about 23 times in a 5 minute conversation and that people like me were the problems in his life. Thankfully, I didn't stoop to his level and didn't cuss at him once. I credit my faith and strength from God himself for allowing me to stand strong and for realizing that some people are just going to be that way. 

    Anyway, while cancer isn't my battle, I have plenty in my life and I'm choosing to fight hard everyday. Whether it's my weight loss, my relationship with Jesus, my relationship with my wife, family, and friends, or to be the best teacher, every day I will fight to be that. 

There will be days I will struggle, but I will fight. To paraphrase Scott's ESPY award acceptance speech, you beat cancer(or whatever your battle is) by the way you live. And if I work hard to do my best in every aspect, then I will feel like a winner in my battles. If you want someone to pray with you through your battles, email me, ericjustinbates@gmail.com. 

But you know, these are really just my random thoughts.