Regent Scholarship Essay!

I just finished my Regent Scholarship essay! They wanted students to write an essay explaining how they are going to change the world and the winner will receive a full scholarship for four years of school including books! I wrote the original draft and my wonderful mother (who is a professional writer) edited it for me and it took a few more drafts but I just finished it! We will see if by God's grace I win. But regardless, I am proud of my essay.


“How I Will Change the World”
By Ryan Burgett

I was getting nervous. My sixth-grade teacher was going from desk to desk asking each of my classmates what they wanted to be when they grew up. Soon she would be at me! And I didn’t have an answer.

I listened as the other students told her how they wanted to be things like movie stars and sports players. I couldn’t believe it. The last thing I wanted my life to revolve around was a ball and a hoop! But what did I want to do?

Then the answer came to me.

When the teacher stepped up to my desk, I summoned all my 12-year-old courage and told her the truth, “I don’t know exactly what I want to be when I grow up, but what I do know is that I want to make a difference.”

That was how I felt back in sixth grade, and that is how I still feel today - I want to make a difference. But how?

Once again, I knew the answer.

Who is the most significant person to have ever walked the planet? Who made the biggest difference of any one human being? Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. I believe the best way I can make a difference, and ultimately change my world, is to model and communicate the life and work of Jesus to my family and to the people around me, regardless of the job I hold.

But that is a tall order. How do you narrow that down to put it into practice? I decided to read the book of Mark to find out. This book focuses on Jesus’ humanity and how He lived his life practically. I knew it could give me valuable insight.

As I read, I made a list of the qualities that most defined who Jesus was. According to Mark, His life was characterized by: Prayer - He rose up very early in the morning to pray; Humility - He never took personal credit for His miracles; Empathy - He deeply felt the pain of those around Him; Patience - He always calmly explained truths to his confused disciples; Faith - He trusted in God His Father to do the miracles; Teaching - He taught in the Synagogues and everywhere else He went; Wisdom – He truly understood what He felt, saw and experienced; Power - He worked incredible miracles that had never been seen before; Authority - He embraced the authority given to Him by the Father; and Mission – He was always trying to bring people to Himself and to the free gift of salvation.

If any man wants to change the world, these are the qualities that need to define his character. They need to define my character and I am actively taking steps in that direction. But how does changing me, change my world?

It’s called the ripple affect. And the entry point needs to be my family.

I am happily married with a five-month-old daughter. She is hopefully the first of many. But with children comes the responsibility to raise them “in the way they should go.” This involves more than just teaching them the alphabet or how to tie their shoes. It requires clearly communicating through both my life and my words the message I most want to give my children - the truth of the Gospel, so that they can trust in Jesus and live as He lived.

Then, like a pebble dropped in a pond, I will be raising up a family to carry on the communication of these values both during my life and after. And as the circle widens, it will change, affect and make a difference not only in my world, but in their world and the world to come. That is how I can amplify my voice.

Changing the world is a monumental task and communication is essential to all of it. I do not want to be unprepared! Learning to better communicate will give me the skills to clearly and articulately present my message to my family and ultimately, the world.

Can one man make a difference? Yes. Can one man with his family make an even bigger difference? Absolutely. Jesus said to, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” I hope to spend the rest of my life with my family by my side communicating the wonderful message of Jesus and living His life to the world. That, I believe, will make the biggest possible difference in this world.

Not As Expected...

So this day was not the "Christmas in June" that I thought it was going to be. I got my knife from the sharpeners during lunch and was very disappointed with the job they did. It is not very sharp. Granted, the steel is relatively soft, but I know they could do a better job than that. So they told me that they would not charge me and directed me to another professional knife sharpener who might be able to do a better job. We will see. Then afterwards the traffic was so bad in Pennsburg because of construction that I did not have enough time to eat lunch and ended up getting back to work 5 minutes late.

Throughout the day I kept checking on Shane's flight which was scheduled to arrive at 5:36pm in Allentown. But it kept getting bumped later and later and then right before I left to come home it said, "CANCELLED." So now he is in a hotel at O'Hare Airport in Chicago (his layover) and tomorrow hopefully he will make it here.

Then this evening was Charlie's party and I was quite excited about it, though I was disappointed Shane could not come. Then Riley was fussy and Hannah did not want to mess up her sleep schedule, so she decided to stay home and not go to the party... which left me going to the party alone. It would have been a lot more fun if Hannah had been there, but I went alone and had a decent time.

Ugh.

Now I am going to watch a zombie movie... I am in that kind of mood.

Shane is coming in today!!!

Today is like Christmas for me. First, I am getting my sharpened knife back! I am so excited about that! Second, my brother Shane is arriving today! He is going to be here until next Thursday and we are going to have such a great time! And Third, Charlie's party is tonight! Charlie is a Texan that started working at Walkers a number of months ago and is having a type of house-warming part for the company! He is an incredible cook and makes the most incredible variations on Mexican dishes. He is having a sampling of all sorts of dishes tonight! So after we pick up Shane, we are going to head there to eat and hang out for a bit before going home.

I am so excited!!!

Sean is Gone...

I really, really liked our FedEx rep, Sean Kenaan. I have been working with him for probably two years now and he has been an incredible help to us. Because of him we almost switched all our shipping to FedEx (until we heard their pickups would have to be at 1pm). But today I got a call from a nice woman named Lana who is going to be our new rep. I was so very sad to hear that I was not going to be able to work with Sean anymore. I told her to tell him that he is going to be truly missed and she assured me that I was not the first to say that.

Way 2 Save!

Anyone who knows me knows that I do not like Wachovia Bank. I went from Washington Mutual in Texas to Wachovia here and the difference between the two is beyond description. But shock of shocks, Wachovia did something right! They started a new savings program called Way 2 Save which I just enrolled in! I am really excited about it. Wachovia opens a high interest Money Market account (5% is the "high" interest) for you and for every purchase you make, it transfers one dollar into the account. So if I make three purchases today, three dollars will be transferred into our savings account tonight! It is a small and manageable quantity, but adds up very fast! I am excited to see how this goes. This is going to be our "no touch" long-term savings account.

Yesterday

Yesterday was very busy. Work was fine, nothing special. I was kind of tired during the day. I got quite a laugh when I heard Barack Hussein Obama say that we need to provide "breathalizers" to kids with asthma. Then he caught himself and said that we need to provide "inhalators" for kids with asthma. I am quite sure an "inhalator" would be just as helpful for an asthmatic kid as a "breathalizer." Nyuk, nyuk.

I took my new knife in to get sharpened during lunch. It is Rambo's knife from the new movie. It is my new camping knife. I had told the guy beforehand that it was really big. But when I got there and pulled it out he exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! What is that thing!" Then I watched as he filled out the ticket to attach to it and under description he wrote "Big Scary Knife." I laughed.

So after work I headed out to find a new air conditioner. I first went to Wal-Mart in East Greenville but they were totally sold out. Then I went to Wal-Mart in Trexlertown and all they had were 5000 and 12,000 btu (I wanted 10,000). I grabbed a 12,000 just so if there were none anywhere I would at least have something. Then I headed to Home Depot to see if they had what I really wanted... and they did! I got a 10,000 btu very energy efficient LG brand air conditioner! It is wonderful! So today I am thankfully returning the huge one from Wal-Mart. I did not want to spend that much on an a/c.

Then I got home and immediately got onto the internet for a live orientation for college. It was getting late so I had to try and listen to the orientation while I was installing the air conditioner so Riley Joy could go to bed. Eventually I had it mounted and was covered in sweat, but was done. I went downstairs to find some dinner and Hannah got me a salad. Then we relaxed for a little bit before going to bed.

Getting In Shape

So this is my third week running three days a week. I get up at 6am and head out for a run. It was tough for the first two weeks, but today I just zipped through it no problem! It was great. I ran faster and got back home in less time and yet was far less tired at the end than the other days. It felt great! Though, that is my cue to increase my distance... not really looking forward to that. My goal is to run 4 miles a day (at least three days a week). As of now I am running just under 2. So soon I am going to need to up my distance. But regardless, it is working! My body is adjusting and I am getting back in shape!

Air Conditioning

It is very hot here right now, been in the mid-nineties for two days now and we are really feeling it. We got a little air conditioner a year ago that I call the "A/C That Could" because though it is small, it really pack a wallop. But... it just does not seem to be cutting it now. It is blowing out cold air, but it disappears within four feet of the a/c and is not cooling the room. And it does not help that our room is against a brick wall in the direct face of sunlight for the second half of the day. So we are baking right now. When the baby could not sleep this evening (because of the incredibly uncomfortable heat) we decided we had to do something, so I went out looking for a new a/c. Besides, we are going to be getting a new apartment soon and we need one that can cool it all. So I went to Ollies, but it was closed. Then I went to K-Mart where we have recently found some shockingly good deals, but this time there was nothing good. Finally I went to Target where Hannah's mother got a new one yesterday (Sam took her old one) and I was going to get the same one she got, but when I asked where they were they told me, "We are sold out of all our air conditioners." NOT A SINGLE A/C IN THE ENTIRE STORE!!! AAAAAAAAAH! So what, did all the air conditioners in the Lehigh Valley suddenly go bad (like ours)? I do not want to hear from anyone that our economy is in ruins when a bunch of wimpy Pennsylvanians can go out and get new air conditioners just because it is summer again! Does everyone just need a new one or something? Do people just go buy new air conditioners every year? How can all of them be sold out! We actually have a broken one and need a new one but there are none available!!! Ok, I am just annoyed that our one and only a/c died and we can not replace it, at least yet. Maybe some day I will be one of the ones that owns five air conditioners and goes out and buys a new one each year just for the heck of it so that the people who actually need them can not get them.

I know this is a very self-centered and selfish tirade, but I am more trying to let my frustration out than pass judgment on those obviously terrible people who bought up all of the air conditioners.