What I REALLY Want People to Know About Me

-I play baseball, I have played all of my life, and I currently play in college.
-I love my family, I still call my mom Mommy and I still tell both parents that I love them
-I am a huge dog person
-I have a sick obsession with cars, I love to work on them, look at them, own them (I have owned 4 different cars, crashed none of them, and sold all of them just to move on to the next one)
-I am a very quiet and introverted person. It takes me a very long time to warm up to people enough to the point where I am comfortable talking at all. I am shy. On a daily basis I will sometimes catch myself going hours upon hours without ever saying a word.
-I am very observant. I consider myself to be a people reader. I "specialize" in analyzing situations, people, circumstances, and anything else for that matter. I am usually very good at seeing through to the truth. This is all a constant obsession of mine, I honestly wish I could just stop thinking so much! At any given moment there is more on my mind than should be... Again this is a part of my introvert personality
-I absolutely CANNOT fake a smile, my friends and family all make fun of me for having THE worst fake smiles ever. Therefore, I do a terrible job of ever hiding my moods. People know when something is bothering me... Versus when I am truly happy, joyous, and smiling.
-I don't quite identify myself as a social person. I don't do that well in large groups (I am more of a one-on-one person), and I usually feel out of place in "crowds" of 4 or more people.
-I am a very serious person, goal oriented, hard working, and focused. If there is a problem I solve it, if there is work to be done I can't just sit around and procrastinate. As a classmate put it "I live my life in constant fast forward", I really have to stop myself in order to let lose sometimes...
-My favorite thing to do in order to relax is to work out. Some people read, some people play music, some people get on Facebook... I go and work out.
-All of these traits so far pretty much make me sound like a stick in the mud (which can in be the case), but I also REALLY love my friends, when the time is right I like nothing more than to just put the world aside in order to go have a blast with my friends. I can let lose and have fun, I can laugh a lot, I can smile a lot just like anyone else...
- I have a "Guardian Type" personality. In other words, I am a protector. I am constantly looking out and seeking to help my friends and family. I will drop anything and everything to help someone in need... I would do anything to to help a friend, or anyone in need for that matter. More recently however I have found my friends acting the same way, being the ones to drop anything and everything to come help me in my times of need.
-I am a good listener. I mumble when I talk, and can't get my thoughts into words when I try and express myself... But when it comes to hearing what other people have to say, I tend to listen to every word (unless its my Mom talking, for some reason I have subconsciously learned to block everything she says out).
-I tend to be a relationship type person, I respect girls, I don't see girls as trophies or things to enjoy randomly for one night at a time, I open doors, I still clean my car before dates, and I do my absolute best to look at a girls eyes instead of boobs when we talk.
-The last thing I will share with you is that I am a person with a huge temper. I have lost control in only a few very memorable instances in my life. Because of this, I suppress any feelings of anger that I may have. There isn't a person in my life (minus maybe my direct family) that has ever seen my lose control of myself... I have purposefully taught myself to be extremely slow to anger, to be patient, and to never lose my cool. For this reason I also stay soft spoken, quiet, and turn the cheek whenever possible... Acting out of love is much more rewarding...

So there you go, a long list of things that NO ONE cares to know. But this is my attempt to list the things I would want a complete stranger to know about me.... Only there is one very important thing missing from this list....

I am a Christian... I love Jesus Christ, I strive to live like him, speak like him, and love like him. Though this is IMPOSSIBLE, it doesn't hurt to have as a goal. I sin every day, but it is because of the blood of Jesus Christ that I will be offered salvation... I LOVE my Father in Heaven... I AM A CHRISTIAN. This above all things is what I want people to know about me...

But I am afraid (for the most part) that I am failing at this... I often wonder what people think of me if my name is ever mentioned. While 99/100 people will say "I don't care what people think about me," to any of you I say this is a total lie! We care what people think of us... And I am telling you right now as a Christian you should care what people think about you (in a sense)...

You should want people to look at you and think to themselves "What is it about them? What does he/she have that I don't?" Before you start thinking I am trying to give you a heightened sense of self worth, I assure you this isn't the case. This "thing" I am referring to is Jesus Christ. Its that walk, that talk, that light of Christ that just pours out of some people's every ounce of being. At this moment I don't necessarily consider myself to be a good example of that. But that is the issue, I want to be that person who is reflecting God's love in such a way that people would want to find Jesus for themselves. Only by growing my relationship with Christ can this ever be the case... One of the corniest quotes you will ever hear comes from Matthew 5:14, "For you are the light of this world, a town built on a hill cannot be hidden."As childish and on the surface as looking in the mirror moment may be, I am asking myself right now "Am I really that town on the till? am I really lighting up this world? am I really glorifying God through my words and actions on a daily basis? Am I really being a great enough reflection of the love of Jesus Christ so that people are looking at me and wanting to find Jesus for themselves?"

No.... I am not... But that quote is straight forward, if you become that light, if you walk that walk... Then people will see you, they will notice. That town on the hill needs to be me...