There is a quote by Dr. Seuss that says, “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”
With that being said, I write this final column for The Brewton Standard with a smile on my face.
This Thursday will be my final day at the paper—just a few days shy of what would have been my eighth year anniversary of taking this job back on Sept. 17, 2007.
Some has already asked me this, and I am sure more questions will be asked as to why I am leaving, so I will briefly tell you.
As many of you know, I am a Christian and a strong believer in my faith. I have been seeking the Lord for a while now for just the direction He wanted me to go. Not too long ago I just felt Him say that it was time for me to leave the paper.
The Bible says in Proverbs 3:5-6 that if we trust in Him, He will direct our paths. So that is what I am doing. When He says do it, I can’t argue with it.
Remember the story of Jonah in the Bible? He disobeyed God and was swallowed up by a whale. In the words of my pastor, Patrick Carden, I don’t want to smell like whale throw up…so I’m going to obey!
Like I said, many may not understand this— Proverbs 20:24 says “The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?” There have been times I have missed it, but this time I’m not.
This is a faith step I have to make with my family.
My time at the paper these almost last eight years have been quite the ride. I have been able to meet numerous great people during this job, interview some famous people, and cover many exciting games and events.
I want to thank all of you for allowing me to be a part of your newspaper and Internet reading over the last few years.
While most of my job has been sports, I have had to do the occasional news stories and have taken on the role of doing both sports and news a lot here in the last year or so.
Even those I have had to work with outside of the world of sports, I thank you for allowing me in your homes and your worlds to cover your stories—good or bad.
My intentions were to carry on the great tradition that the sports section had before I got here, but at the same tome, to make it better. I hope I succeeded. I tried to do everything to the best of my ability. I know at times I might have failed, so ask forgiveness for this.
I am thankful for the numerous friends I have met with this job. I hope that even though I will no longer be at the paper that our friendships will continue on. While I am sure I made some enemies as well, the friends are way ahead as the majority.
I have done my best to provide you with information on your local sports teams and your favorite athlete to the best of my ability. I hope you have been pleased.
My thanks go out to all the coaches, league presidents and others who I had the privilege to work with.
There are too many to list individually by name, and I don’t want to miss anyone, but I hope you know who all of you are.
Thanks for all those who helped me in gathering stats, stories and pictures. Without you, it would not have worked. You definitely made that part of my job work a lot easier.
I also would like to thank all the athletes I have covered. We have gone through the great games, the championships, the sad games and the losses. I wish all of you the best.
The only thing I missed in covering over the years was a football state championship. I wish I could have done that, but I know one is coming soon for our area.
While some times columns of this nature can be a lot of bragging from the person that is leaving, I will not do that. But I will say one thing I am pleased to have been part of here is that when I first started in 2007, around Battle of Murder Creek time, I wrote a column about the winner of the game needing some kind of trophy.
My intentions were not to change the rivalry, but let the winner have something after a win. I wrote a column about different rivalries and trophies and later that week, Melanie McGoughin from JusDo called and said she had made a trophy.
Ever since then, the trophy has been given to the winner and they keep it until the week the next year’s game. Thank you, Melanie, for helping me with this and I hope all have enjoyed the trophy.
Hopefully it will continue on even though I will be gone.
I also want to thank the staff at The Brewton Standard. This includes the current staff and the ones that have left before me. Thanks for allowing me to work with you and for being great co-workers.
Lastly, but certainly not least, I want to thank my wife, Shari, and my daughter, Hatlee. They have been troopers through my tenure here at the paper. At times I am sure my wife has felt like a single mom, as I would have to be out late at night working.
Thank you for being my rock and supporting me during this time and this next adventure.
Let’s both just keep our focus and faith in God and He will direct our paths. Love both of y’all very much.
While I will no longer be at the paper, feel free to look me up on Facebook and get up with me if you ever need anything.
Again, thanks to everyone and for allowing me this time. It has been my pleasure!
I may not know what the future holds for me, but I know Who holds my future.
So until we meet again somewhere, God bless.