Sacrifice!!!

I have told you all before that I feel simple words are often times overlooked. The simple word sacrifice means to give up, let go or to forgo. Simple enough right?

When I hear the word sacrifice, the first image that pops up in my head is my mother and father. My parents have sacrificed so much for my little sister and I. Neither one of my parents has a college degree, we are not rich and sometimes they wonder how some bills are going to get paid. But there is one thing that my mother and father do on a consistent basis…and that’s make sacrifices for my sister and I.

My mom gave birth to me as soon as she got out of high school. My parents were determined to give me the world, in order to do that, they put their dreams aside to allow me to have dreams. To this day, my parents have never told me…but I know for a fact that they live their dreams through my sister and I. Now that I know that, everything that I do is done with passion and persistence.

When I began to manifest into a man is when I really realized the sacrifices they were making. Their sacrifice keeps this flame burning inside of me. This flame will not allow me to quit…

I am on a steady battle of reaching my full potential. I used to hate reading books, now I want to write one…I used to hate school, after undergrad I’m going to get my masters…I though organizations were stupid, last year I lead in creating one…I used to use curse words all the time, now I understand that’s a lack of vocabulary…I used to use the N-Word, then I realized my people were being handicapped by it.

Every negative thing that I used to do was because I had a lack of understanding about the sacrifice, the dreams and the much needed change in our culture and universe. If I ever feel like giving up on anything, all I need to do it think about the Sacrifice! Gotta’ love Momma and Pops!!!

Peace and Blessings!!!
Dre’s Think TANK (Thinking Above the Naturally Known)
http://drewagner.blogspot.com/

(Community) Is Change Really Going To Come?

Here is a quick thought before I hit the road for a basketball game...

Every day that we wake up, we have the option to be peaceful or hateful…to do positive or negative…to help or to harm…to lead or to follow…to stay the same or change.
As our new president Barack Obama enters into presidency, one quote we hear on a consistent basis is “change is coming”. One thing that society needs to understand, we CAN NOT just sit back and think that Obama is going to do all the work alone. For change to happen in your community, it’s going to take help from all.

The society that we live in today has lost the concept of community. Back in day, even before my time, communities really were communities. People supported shops and thrifts in your community, every adult in the neighborhood and at church was your parent, there was unity, trust and love.

Now days, youth don’t understand the concept of respect. Instead of parents being in charge and head of the house, kids are coming and going as they please. Parents are not even parents of their own kids, let alone kids in the community. Neighbors don’t even know each other and there is no sense of love, unity or community.

As much as you want to see change..what are you doing to help?

Peace and Blessings!!!
Dre’s Think TANK (Thinking Above the Naturally Known)
http://drewagner.blogspot.com/

A True Brother…

Desmond Harold Tutu Owusu…Happy Birthday Bro!!! We been friends for three years now kid…man time flies! I remember about 3 years ago when I met you at the CLC (Cultural Leadership Conference) here at school, little did I know you would have such an impact in my life.

As soon as you got on campus we automatically clicked. We went through a couple downs but a lot of ups. You really showed me how to be a true friend. When you have a true friend, you find yourself trying to be the best person you can be because you know they will keep you accountable for the things that you do. When you have a true friend, you know you can talk to them about anything and they will never judge you. When you have a true friend, you know you can count on them to have your back. When you have a true friend, you do things for them because you know they will do the same for you!

Three years ago, I would never express my feeling to another male because our society says as men we are not to show feelings and emotion. That’s why the society is messed up now. We need more brotha’s like you to be a positive male role model in this crazy world!

God places many people in our life…some just for a moment, some temporary and some for a lifetime. I know you’re my bro for a lifetime. I just want to thank you for being a true friend as we all know that’s hard to find now days. May God bless you with many more to come!! Love
you bro (no homo, lol)




Peace and Blessings!!!
Dre’s Think TANK (Thinking Above the Naturally Known)
http://drewagner.blogspot.com/

Where Is Your Energy Going!!!

So…I was sitting here on the computer finishing this program that I am going to implement with the kids that I am working with at work, but I can’t focus because my mind keeps wondering off. As some of you know, I worked at a youth camp last summer in NY. Working there for the summer was one of the best experiences that I have ever had. I took myself outside the box and was willing to do things that I never saw myself doing.

I camped outside for two months…slept in sleeping bags, went hiking, cooked over a man made fire, learned how to swim(a little bit), taught basketball and tennis, taught an educational club and got to meet a lot of great people. I got to experience these new adventures in my life while working with youth from the inner city.

Working at this camp last summer allowed me to sit back, evaluate my life and be thankful for all the blessings that I have. The camp site is so high in the hills and mountains that you have no cell phone service, the air is supper clean and at night the stars look close enough to grab. It made me re-evaluate and recognize what’s important in my life. Right now, I focus my energy to being the best man of God that I can be. I give energy to loving my family to the fullest. I give energy to being the best friend I can be, and I give energy to giving back, serving people and helping youth! When is the last time you re-evaluated your life…are you giving energy to things that are necessary?

..here are some pictures from the summer camp

Peace and Blessings!!!
Dre’s Think TANK (Thinking Above the Naturally Known)
http://drewagner.blogspot.com/

2 Weeks Strong!!

Again, I want to thank you all the support that I am getting from my blog. I finished 2 weeks of it last week and got a lot of positive feedback. As you all know I am currently interning at the Juvenile Court System here in Storm Lake Iowa. This week I will not be posting any blogs because I will be working on finishing this program for the kids that I work with. The program will involve personal development such as self motivation, accountability, manifesting into a man/woman, reducing stress and anger, self reporting and common misconceptions of men/women.

Check back with me next!!

Peace and Blessings!!!
Dre’s Think TANK (Thinking Above the Naturally Known)
http://drewagner.blogspot.com/

Make It A Day On…Not A Day Off

Thanks for all the continued support of my blog. This past week and upcoming week are going to be very busy for me as my basketball team as a lot of games coming up. I don’t know if I’m going to get to post as much as I may want to but come back and I will try to keep you all posted on how the games go.

Today is MLK Day! I challenge you to do some research and learn something new about Dr. King that you didn’t know before… Make this a day on, not a day off!!!

Peace and Blessings!!!
Dre’s Think TANK (Thinking Above the Naturally Known)
http://drewagner.blogspot.com/

Our Work Is Never Over

Any journey that you start, either if it’s a thousand miles, or just twenty feet…it all starts with that first step. I hear so many people say they wish they had this, that, and everything in between…The thing that amazes me is most about these people, is most of them have not even taken the first step to getting what they want. I mean, they make it seem as if these desires that they have are just going to fall in their lap. Anything that is worth having in this world is not going to be handed to you, or be easy to obtain…somewhere down the road you are going to have to put in the work.

The approach that I take is to not have a great desire of money and material items… but to have a desire of success, and to have a desire of success; I have to have a BURNING DESIRE TO WORK! If I position my focus there, I know everything else will fall into place.

Matthew 9:37 says… “The harvests is plentiful, but the laborers are few”

As my boy Des and Kanye say…”Our work is never over!” Need I say more?…

Peace and Blessings!!!
Dre’s Think TANK (Thinking Above the Naturally Known)
http://drewagner.blogspot.com/

Who are you?

About a week ago I had an away basketball at this school called Cornell. After the game, on my way to the bus, I was talking to two young ladies on our girl’s team, and they proceeded to tell me that there were some people behind them that was talking about me and calling me the N-Word! One girl off our girl’s team turned around and said something to them, and the people calling me names threw water on her. To solve the solution, the ladies went to the Athletic Director of the school to let him know what happened. I just want to thank the ladies on the basketball team for standing up and saying something, it is greatly appreciated!

When I first heard this, I didn’t know how to fell…I needed to think about it for a little while. One feeling that I did have was that we just have some people in this world that are so ignorant, living in Storm Lake…I have seen a lot of ignorant people. I am a person that does not use the N-Word because it puts down the African American culture and all the people that fought for our freedom! But I wanted to look and think deeper about this situation…..

Before African Americans had the right to vote, we were called “nigger.” After African Americans started going to the pools to vote, we then were called “colored.” Then in the 40’s and 50’s when African American started moving north, we were called “Negroes.” Now today, the proper word is African American. Another example is that “wetbacks” became known as “illegal aliens” and then soon after that “undocumented workers.” Old people became “elderly” and then “senior citizens.” All of these are labels, and yet some people accept that to be their identity.

A lot of people have no idea who they are. There is an African American proverb that I feel is so true. It says “If you don’t know who you are, anyone can name you; and if anyone can name you, you will answer to anything.”

If you hear anyone name you, or give you a label…what will you say? I will say that I am a Man of Character, better yet…a child of God, and that I can do anything that I set my mind to!!!

Peace and Blessings!!!
Dre’s Think TANK (Thinking Above the Naturally Known)
http://drewagner.blogspot.com/

Do The Right Thing

A young man and his father were on vacation. On the first night, the young man went out to the rental car to grab the rest of his luggage. There was a woman that walked up to him and said “Do you have any money to spare, my car ran out of gas and I don’t have any money on me.” The young man though about the five dollars that he had in his pocket, but wanted to use it for some snacks for his hotel room. After thinking about it, he said “No, I’m sorry I don’t.” After he walked upstairs to his room, the key card was not working so he went to the front desk to get it activated. He saw that lady again leaving the front desk and walking out of the hotel. He thought to himself again, is this five dollars really going to kill me. He ran after the lady and gave her the five dollars that he had.

After he walked away, he had this great smile on his face. He had this sweet feeling inside, it was a great feeling because he made a sacrifice to do what he knew was right.

There are many times when God and the universe give us opportunities to make this world a better place. There are even more times when people look at these opportunities and turn their head.

There is a great power of good in this world, greater than anyone will ever know. This power can change your life or someone else life at anytime you want it to…you just have to make the sacrifice. Will you do the right thing when your opportunity comes?

Peace and Blessings!!!
Dre’s Think TANK (Thinking Above the Naturally Known)
http://drewagner.blogspot.com/

I LOVE MONDAYS!!!!!!!!!

Too many times on Mondays, either if you are at work, school, the gym, or in your own house…you hear people say “It’s Monday (sigh).” Or you hear, “It’s just another Monday, you know how those are!!”

NO, I DON’T KNOW HOW THOSE ARE!!! Life is a gift that God has given me today; this is the best gift that any person can receive. With that on the table, I am on a daily strive of living life to the fullest with no regrets.

Anything that you want to do in this life, you have to do it with hard work and dedication. I have learned by changing my major four times in college that you have to find that “something” that you can apply to your heart and soul. Once you find something that you love to do, no one can stop you from doing it. Since I am blessed to have the opportunity to work with kids on a daily basis, I love Mondays because I see that as another day to change someone’s life. I love Monday’s because this is another day that somebody didn’t get to see. Why do you love Mondays?

Peace and Blessings!!!
Dre’s Think TANK (Thinking Above the Naturally Known)
http://drewagner.blogspot.com/

It can always be worse!!

So Wednesday morning when I was on my way to work, I started my car and then proceeded to scrape the ice off my windows…I then noticed that another car had to hit my car because I had some minor scratches and a dent on the passenger side of my car. My first reactions WOULD have been cursing up a storm and letting it ruin my whole day. BUT..I’m striving to be a better man today than I was yesterday. So as a Man of Character, I just said, “it is what it is”…I’m blessed to even have a car. There are millions of people in this world that would love to have a car.

Basically, anything and everything that God puts us through…it can always be worse. I have only been working my internship for a week now and everyday that I work with a child and/or their family, I am always reminded how blessed I am! TRUST ME..IT CAN ALWAYS BE WORSE!

Whatever your current situation may be, just ask yourself…Is it really that bad? Is this something that I can’t handle? Would someone that is not as fortunate as me feel the same way I do?

I just want to take a quick second and thank everybody for the support that you are giving me on my Blogs. Have a safe and blessed weekend!! I will be posting again on Monday. Remember, if you are going through anything…the situation should never leave you the way it finds you!

Peace and Blessings!!!
Dre’s Think TANK (Thinking Above the Naturally Known)
http://drewagner.blogspot.com/

Follow Rafiki!!!...He know the way

Here is a quick note before I hit the road for our basketball game today…

For some reason I was sitting here thinking about the movie the Lion King. I haven’t seen this movie in a long time. I was thinking about one part in this movie in particular…it was the part when Simba was following Rafiki through the jungle and they stopped running when they came up to this pond. Now Simba was in search of finding who he really was. Rafiki told him to look in the pond. The first time he looked, all he saw was a reflection of his-self. Rafiki said “No! Look harder…” This time he saw a reflection of his father, who was King before he died.

Proverbs 27:19
As in water face answereth to face, So the heat of a man to man.

Now this basically states that the condition of a man’s heart indicates his true character, like a reflection of one’s face in a pool of water. In the Lion King, Simba had run away from being king, when in fact deep down inside he knew he what he really needed to do.

This relates to our daily lives because there are so many people running away from who they really are, or what there purpose is in this life. Next time you look in the mirror (I will do the same)..ask yourself, do people know who you really are? Or a better question…do YOU know who you really are?

Peace and Blessings!!!
Dre’s Think TANK (Thinking Above the Naturally Known)
http://drewagner.blogspot.com/

Women sho’ do TALK!!!

I know you seen the title and probably wanted to read this, sorry…but this is most likely not what you think it is. Women were probably thinking..“I’m going to read this, and then give him a piece of my mind!”lol And men though they were off the hook because they thought I was going to talk about how women gossip and talk too much…in all actuality, men don’t talk enough!

Behavioral scientist say that women speak an average of thirty more thousand more words a day compared to men, when men only speak ten thousand words a day. Women have an average of six close friends for social support, while men average only one. Without this social support, both genders are at three to five times’ greater risk of premature death and disease from all causes. Eighty percent of those who have serious drug addictions are men. Eighty percent of the homeless on American streets are men. Men are forty percent times more likely than women to be admitted to psychiatric hospitals and twenty-five percent times as likely to end up in prison. Eighty percent of suicide deaths are men. Life expectancy for men is seven years less than what it is for women. Men have higher death rates in the fifteen leading causes of death.

These are outstanding numbers!! And to think…these numbers can be lowered if men just opened up and have more healthy conversations! To you this may seem simple, but in fact most men don’t have a clue on how to connect with another guy at a deeper level, the reason is because they never saw that openness modeled in their fathers or the male culture.

There is a story about a man walking his dog in the park; he walked behind two women on a bench as they were talking. While his dog was taking care of his business, he overheard the women talking about jobs, family, friends, fitness, education and even their marriage. Just as the man was walking away, he heard the two women say…“It was nice meeting you, take care.” He turned around with his mouth wide open while he though to his self, WOW..they didn’t even know each other!! Now by no means am I telling you to go tell your life story to strangers, but you need to find someone who you can have healthy conversations with and not just talk about sports/fashion, women/men, and video games/shopping. Women naturally are more out spoken and willing to talk…while men are more conservative and keep to their-self. Everyone…find someone who you can have healthy conversations with, you will be surprised how much it can help! Food for thought!

Peace and Blessings!!!
Dre’s Think TANK (Thinking Above the Naturally Known)
http://drewagner.blogspot.com/

Saturation!!!

Sometimes I feel that simple words are overlooked…take saturate for example. This simple word means to soak, drench, flood or oversupply. That’s simple enough right?!?! I found this scripture that we can apply this simple word to…

Proverbs 4:23
“Keep thy heart with a all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.”

What this basically is saying is that, if we store up good things in our hearts, our words and actions will be good. I truly believe that whatever is built up in your heart, your mouth speaks. This word saturation comes in to play because you need to saturate your mind on whatever you want to be in your heart. The old saying, “You are what you think,” is true! You will take on the characteristics and be identified of whatever occupies the majority of your thoughts. Saturate your mind with righteousness and peace..and you will live this out. Saturate your mind with evil and hate, and you will act and think in such a way that is not divine for your purpose. Saturation is a force that will determine your destiny!!!

Peace and Blessings!!!
Dre’s Think TANK (Thinking Above the Naturally Known)
http://drewagner.blogspot.com/

Dre’s Think TANK!!!

So for part of my social work degree I have to do a senior year practicum. This is basically an internship for a whole semester with no classes. I start work on Monday at 8am and work Monday through Friday until the end of the semester. I will be working at the Iowa Court House here in Buena Vista County. My job is to work in the Juvenile Court so I will be working with youth and their families.

The reason for my blog is to keep feeding my mind with intellectual thoughts since I will not be enrolled in class this semester. I have a web site that you can go to, its http://drewagner.blogspot.com/ or you can catch most of my post on Facebook. The Blog is named Dre’s Think TANK! TANK is a acronym for Thinking Above the Natural Known, as I will challenge myself and other to think deeper than what’s on the surface. As you read my post, feel free to comment…good or bad! If you have any suggestions or anything, just let me know. I will try to post something every day, depending on how busy my basketball schedule gets. Thanks for your time..Enjoy!!

Peace and Blessings!!!

Dre’s Think TANK (Thinking Above the Naturally Known)

time to SHARPEN UP!

Proverbs 27:17
Iron sharpeneth iron;
So a man sharpenth the countenance of his friend.

I am certain that you are not going to see an eagle kickin’ it with chickens! Eagles surround their self with other eagles just as chickens surround their self with other chickens. This same analogy needs to be used in your life! If you are a woman/man of God, you need to surround yourself with other Christians so you can sharpen the life you live. If you are married man/woman I don’t think it’s in your best interest to have all single friends, as you might be persuaded to be involved with actions as if you are single. If you are a man/woman of character, you should hang around people that you want your character to reflect.

This is a very simple concept to grasp, but the only way for it to be effective in your life is to actually apply it! To get to where you want to be, you have to surround yourself with others that have goals and ambitions as well. This is a great way to start off 09…just apply this and watch the sparks in your life fly, like a loose muffler dragging on the back of an old Chevy! lol

Peace and Blessings!!!
Dre’s Think TANK (Thinking Above the Naturally Known)
http://drewagner.blogspot.com/