The crack of the old back door, the drive to church, the view of a sunset in the field during deer season, cruising through mound city with an old friend. Those are the moments that I am at home. Those are moments that I cannot help but smile.  While some couldn’t wait to leave, I have nothing but pride for where I grew up.  It was not something that was people were dying to get their hands on nor was it highly publicized or wrote about. But, to me, it was everything. It was home. What I have learned to appreciate most about home are the lessons it taught me and the chance to share those lessons with others.

When I think back to my younger days I find that many of my favorite memories involve riding around in the pickup truck with Grandpa. I always loved when Grandpa Ed would pick me up from school and we would go get a soda pop or ice cream, Grandpa had to, of course, fill up his coffee, and then we would cruise all over the county. I loved Grandpa’s stories of his younger days and the lessons that he learned from working hard on the farm, using horses to plow the garden, and helping neighbors put up hay because they needed help before the rain. There is one day I can remember Grandpa teaching me one of those hard lessons. It was the last day of 8th grade and my friend Jaret and I wanted to go fishing. Not having a driver’s license yet, we called grandpa for a ride and he picked us up and offered to buy us lunch. Over lunch, Grandpa asked why we were out of school. We explained to Grandpa our plans and how everyone was playing games on the last day of school and we thought it would be better spent bass fishing before we had to be back for eighth-grade graduation later. However, we soon learned that our explanation of our afternoon plans was interpreted very differently by grandpa and after buying lunch Grandpa asked if we would like to work off our lunch before we went fishing. Instead of Jaret and I catching fish that day, Grandpa had caught us with the lure of lunch and now intended to make us pay up for playing hooky. It was almost 90 degrees that day and about 90 percent humidity, but, that did not stop Grandpa from having us help him and the rest of the fair board take apart the old bleachers at the Fairgrounds. Piece by piece we diligently worked to dismantle the bleacher’s bolt by bolt and board by board. We worked for hours and barely made it back in time to get showered and cleaned up for graduation. My Grandpa taught me three lessons that day. First, be careful letting grandpa buy your lunch. Second, don’t skip school. Third and most importantly, when someone needs your help, help them, even if it does cost a good day of fishing. I will be completely honest with all of you, I absolutely did not want to take those bleachers apart. But grandpa was teaching me valuable lessons that were building me into a better person. I was learning my lessons from home.

All of us come from somewhere. We all have those people and places that taught us lessons that made us who we are. The lessons that impacted us so deeply that we will never forget them. I learned a lot of them throughout Linn County with my grandpa, but everyone learns differently. Let’s all close our eyes. Think of someone that we admire from back home. That person could be a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin, friend, Ag teacher, or preacher or someone else who’s played a meaningful role in your life. Now think of a specific lesson that they taught you. Now open your eyes.  Regardless of who it was, it was someone, and those lessons are life-changing. Maybe it was learned in the Rodeo Arena, or the Volleyball court, or maybe the Ag classroom or greenhouse. Every day that we are here in God’s creation we have the chance to learn and grow. We have the opportunity to learn from who and what is around us, and greater develop ourselves. We have to remember where our home is, and the lessons it taught us. All of that is part of the home that built us into what we are today, and it is up to us to soak up those lessons in our roots and take them with us.

“We have to remember where our home is, and the lessons it taught us.”

Throughout time people have been able to build themselves up from the bottom not by luck but by the lessons instilled in them at home growing up. One such individual is Adam Brown. Adam Brown is an incredible American hero who has a story like no-one else. Adam learned to give it all you have at an early age back home in his beloved Arkansas. The football pads taught him to give it everything he had all the time. Working for his dad taught him to be dedicated as well as the value of integrity. Everybody knew that he would outwork everyone and help anyone, and this resulted in a positive and successful high school experience.  Adam went on to college – but his attitude changed and he soon dropped out. Then, he fell into what you might call the “wrong crowd” and began a dark streak of drugs and addiction. This all cumulated into his parents having him arrested for 11 felonies. Adam knew he had to face what he had done. But, he did not have to go at this challenge alone. Adam reconnected with his faith in Jesus and remembered his lessons from home. Remembering the many lessons he’d learned from home helped him to overcome addiction. But, this was only the beginning for him. After getting married, Adam became a Navy SEAL. He then worked his way to the top one percent of SEAL’s joining DEVGRU commonly known as SEAL team six. As a result of his “never give up attitude” and his “down home” lessons, Adam became a leader. He led those around him with a simple phrase, “I got it.” whether it was saving someone on the battlefield or Sunday school at church, When Adam was around it was covered, because Adam had been raised to be kind, work hard, show compassion to others and to lead, so he did. He was a natural leader, but it took remembering the lessons from home to make him a leader among leaders, and he shared those lessons with everyone around him.

Adam was able to make a huge impact on others around him not because of chance. He made a difference because he shared the lessons that he learned from home. He did not keep them to himself nor did he merely talk about them now and then. He demonstrated them day in and day out. He used them to lead and guide others to their destinations and goals. He used them with a purpose and everyone benefitted from his leadership and his lessons from home.

Remember that person from earlier. Think of that unforgettable lesson you learned from them. Now picture a way that you can share that lesson with others daily. Maybe it is that lesson of dedication you learned from a coach, that you demonstrate by doing extra workouts with teammates. Or maybe you were taught to always be honest, and have to tell a hard truth to a friend. These lessons may not come easily, but they do enhance our impact and understandings. Think of how we can build the world and people around us with the simple lessons that we already possess. Every one of us has the potential to be an example, every day we can be one. All of us can. It is time that we will.

The world needs leaders.  It needs individuals that are capable of more. Let us all take the lessons that we have from home and lead the world with them.  We have identified the teachers and lessons from home that we have learned. Now, all we have to do is use them every day.  We cannot idly sit by and let the time to make our impact pass. We have the tools that we need to be the leaders, and game changers that can make the world around us better, because we have our lessons from home to make our world better for all. We just have to use them. Kansas FFA take it from home!