3 words.  I heard/read them the first time in a long time the other night... I know everything isn't all better, but that is a start.

Music.... I love music.  This was gonna be a post all about how the music that I listen to is better than what you listen to...  but that's not right.  That is kinda mean.  Just listen to whatever you want to.  Listen to what makes you happy.  If Taylor Swift and other over produced stuff makes you happy, well, listen to it.  To each their own...  I know that I am a music snob and I get kinda bothered when bands that I like hit it big and change their sound,.. but that is not a way to be.  Music is awesome... I love music...

All I want is one thing.  One thing in this entire world.  She has her dreams and wants and needs and I have mine.  She is fulfilling her's.  Mine are taking longer than anticipated and it is no one's fault but my own.  This is so much harder than anything else in my life.  I am lost and doing what I have to.  I have to do school, I have to graduate.  That is what I have got to do right now.  Maybe once that is done, everything will fall back into place. I pray that it does.  One thing... I could have absolutely nothing in life and still be utterly happy.

What is love?  noun-

1.

a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.

Paul writes-

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:1-13)

This has been in my head lately.  I keep thinking about it.  I am tired of throwing the word 'love' around like it can cover everything.  I say I love my family and that I love steak, but I can not love the both in the same way.  I really like steak, I do not love it.  There is a difference between like and love.  Love can do many things.  I want to love like Christ.  I want to love others the way that Christ loves me.  I want to stop judging folks so quickly.  I want to love those who I claim to love like they deserve to be loved.  I want to stop being short with people.  I want to really love...  I hope I love like I should.  I catch myself wondering if I love enough.  If I am living up to my words.  I hope I am....  I may add to this later...  I want to expound on it, but i want to publish it too... 

This week has not been a very fun week.  There are times when I am ok and then there are times when I am on the verge of a breakdown.  I just want things to be normal and without stress and without fear.  For once in my life I am scared.  I am down right petrefied.  Right now I am doing everything that I can.  I am staying in the Word and am praying and that is what I can do right now.  I want God's will.  The sad thing is that I am not very sure what that is right now.  I think I know.  I am pretty sure of it, but then doubt creeps in. I feel like I am stuck in a sad movie and I am waiting on the good part at the end where it isn't sad anymore.  That is all that I am waiting on.  I am gonna sit here and eat my popcorn and wait. 

People...

Ok.  So this is some stuff that I have been writing over the last few weeks and just have not had time to type out til right now.  If anyone knows me they know that I am kind of a people watcher.  I am not a creeper or anything.  I just like to observe people.  Maybe I am a little strange for that, but everyone watches people a little.  Those people are just afraid to admit it.

     Ok, so there is this guy in my classes who should maybe be beaten with a stick.  He is your fairly typical frat boy wanna be.  Shaggy hair, two day scruff, collar popped, you know the kind.  So he is talking in class about all of the colleges he has flunked out of or been kicked out of.  This guy has been to more colleges that me, evidently.  If anyone talks about anything or anyone then he always puts it down and talks about how dumb or stupid it is.  (ok.. I admit, I am as guilty as anyone at this) The other day we are in Historiography.  I sit in the middle of the second row and he sits right in front of me.  This class is not the most stimulating.  I make sure that I drink a red bull or other energy drink before I go in there.  So yeah. He sits on the front row directly in front of the teacher.  This one day it is fairly hot in class.  It was about 95 outside.  We are in class and this joker lays his head down on the desk and sleeps.  On the front row!  That just totally blew my mind.  That shows absolutley no respect for the professor.  Once this class ended I wanted to walk up the Mr. Thompson, our instructor, and shake him.  I did.  He should have sent the kid outside.  I personally may have told him to not come back. 
     Same class, different day.  We were talking about people who impacted history and we were comparing W.E.B. Dubois and Booker T. Washington.    Mr. Thompson asked a question and I answerd it 'Duboy' and the kid says 'no, its dubwah'.  This was the middle of class in front of everyone.  I told him that yes he was correct for the french, but the founder of the NAACP pronounced his name 'Duboy'.  So I am kinda fuming that someone would call me out in front of an upper level class and tell me I am wrong.  Its one thing if I am wrong, but in this situation I was correct.  THEN, I was sitting and we were about 15 minutes into class and he is fooling with his phone.  He hands it back to me and says 'here, look'.  It was the pronunciation guide on how to say the name.  I wanted to sling it against the wall... 

yeah.. That is really it.  That's what happened.  I may start a comic series based on this guy.  I could write a lot.  There is a bunch more that I have that I could write, but I will save it for later. 
Hope everyone has a great and wonderful day.

Races...

     I am sitting here on campus at Dalton just kinda taking a break from school work.  Today really feels like fall outside.  I am attempting to kinda shut down my brain for a few minutes and just chill.  As hard as I try to do this, I cant.  It is just not happening.  As I try to slow everything down all I can think about is what I am doing and where I am going and what I am attempting to accomplish.  I am currently living my life the best way I know how.  Every day I work and go to class.  I wish that I could work a few more hours and have a lil more money, but that just can not happen right now.  Every day I am working on school work.  Every day I am studying.  I am either reading or writing something for class.  Daily I am in a professor's office or the library. 
     I know that there are those out there who will scoff at me and tell me to cry them a river.   That is not what I am trying to do.  People will say that these are everyday, run of the mill, things.  I know that they are.  They are, however, things that I was not doing before this semester.  I always talked a big game when the semester started and would fall to the wayside by a couple of weeks in.  I was trying to just get by, but in that I was not accomplishing anything at all.  I was not even 'getting by'. 
  Right now I have so much motivation to finish this race strong.  I want to make people proud of me, I want to accomplish something.  I even want to prove things to people.  Those who are negative and doubting me.  I want to prove them wrong.  
     I started this race hard and fast, but somewhere I fell.  I lost the course.  I am back up on my feet, thanks to some genuine friends and outside motivation.  I am running harder than I ever have.  I may not win this race or have a great finishing time, but I will finish it. 


I know that this blog sounds like everything else I have ever writen.  I am sorry if anyone who reads this is bored.  I just had to sling ink to paper. 

The Real World or Who I am or Insert Title Here

The real world.  This concept is something that we have been told about all our lives.  'I can not wait to get in the real world', 'Just wait until you are in the real world'.  Where does it start?  What is it exactly?  My world feels pretty real right now.  I work everyday nearly 40 hours a week and go to school full time.  I have a few good friends and I have people in the world who are not real big fans of the Wilbur.  When I was young I wanted to be a fighter pilot.  I did not take my genes into account when I was six and made that decision.  I did not realize at the time that I would grow to be six foot and weigh 240.  That is quite a bit too big to be riding around in an F-14.  Here I am at 27 in my long awaited senior year of college.  Finally I feel like I am doing everything right.I am really excited about my life and where it will take me.  I hate that it has taken me this long, but I am here.  I can not dwell on what has already happened.  I can not keep going back to my failures when I get down.  I know what I want to do with my life, I know who I am going  to spend it with.  I have never, never felt as confident as I do right now. Rain will still fall, I will still slip, but I can get back up.  I know how to get back up.    I fully understand how this real world works.  I am just excited that I am finally starting to see who I am.  I have lived my whole life unsure about that.  Unsure of how I feel, unsure of how to react.  Right now, somewhere within the last few months I have found Will Bradley.  He is a man who wants to love people.  He is a man who wants to work in God's creation.  He is a man who has finally figured it out that it is better to please God than people. I could type on this all night.  If anyone reads this I hope that you get something from it.  I actually needed to put this down on digital paper.  It is something that I have been wanting to get out. Now, I have.

I wish that I could make this the coolest, most hip blog that you have ever read.  Maybe there happens to be someone out there who thinks that it is.  Maybe, per chance, there is someone who is patiently waiting for me to publish this post.  There are so many directions that I could take this particular post into right now. I could discuss the state of my life and  how things are really going better than they have in a while and how I actually and honestly have a new drive and desire in life and how I am figuring out who I really am and who I am supposed to be.  I could talk about how the Braves are in first in the division and how they really look good.  I could write about college football starting in a week.  I just do not know.  Maybe one day I will be able to make sense.  Maybe this will become something more than a public journal.  Maybe I will bring back the lists.  I love making my lists.  They make me smile.

Why does loneliness just creep in.  We don't even expect it, but then there it is.  it jumps up and gets you.  out of no where...  That is where I am right now.  I am totally surrounded by people, good people.  Friends.  But there is one who I miss so much that it just totally drowns everything else out.  So I sit here and type and sound like I am bipolar, but I am not.  I am just a guy who is in love.  1,500 miles is a long way.

Day 2

Ok. So yeah.  I am going crazy.  That is all.  Maybe it will be better tomorrow...  I doubt it.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow I am going to class. Then work. Then I am going to drive to Cleveland to see the one I love. I am so excited. That is what makes everything better.

Wow. It is the middle of spring and, well, I don't know what to say. I just can not believe how fast the last four months have gone by. School is going better than it has in a long time. Life is amazing. I just don't want summer to get here. I have work and school to keep me busy and to keep my mind off of it, but it is still going to be summer. Time keeps pushing us forward regardless of whether we want to go or not. I want to go forward, I like to think that I always have. Deep down, though, I know that is not true. Right now I have reasons to push forward, to do things right. I just want to find Doc Brown and have him take me to the future... The future is what I am running for. What I am longing for. I love the here and now. I do. I love every day. I just want to get life started.

The Book list

This week I have been thinking about music and books and what makes them good, or what makes a person like them. I have really never sat down and written out what my favorite books are. I have a bunch of books that I like and that I have read. This is by no means an exhaustive list. It is really just a list of the most memorable and meaningful books that I have read. There is no order, no best and worst of the best. The numbers are simply there in order to keep count.

1. A Walk in the Woods- Bill Bryson

This book is a great take on the Appalachian Trail. Bryson is rediscovering his native country and decides the best way to do that is to walk the trail. This is one book that has really given me a desire to hike the AT.

2. The Things They Carried- Tim O'Brien

This is O'Brien's memoir of the war in Vietnam. I read a short story from this book my senior year in high school. This book talks about the war and the reasons behind it, but it also digs deeper into the men who fought the war. I laughed and cried with this one.

3. The Road- Cormac McCarthy

Post apocolyptic/nuclear holocaust novel. McCarthy is one of my favorite authors. The chemistry and relationship between the father and son in this story is amazing. To what ends would you go to survive and protect the only thing that you have left?

4. A Walk Across America- Peter Jenkins

Jenkins has recently graduated college and is recently divorced in this book. He walks away from everything in 1973 to find the real America. This is another book that really makes me want to just walk. To throw on a pack and leave.

5. Bleachers- John Grisham

I love Grisham's law novels, but this is not a law novel. Bleachers is a book about small town life and football. I read it in next to no time. It is not a very intimidating read, but it is a great book.

6. The Daybreakers- Louis L' Amour

I know that L'Amour wrote a million books. I also know that many of his works run together. This book is my favorite of his. It is part of the Sackett series. It was the first L'Amour book that I read. It is one that you cant put down.

7. Ender's Game- Orson Scott Card

Book about a kid who has to save the world from aliens. What can get any better than that?

8. Monster- Frank Peretti

Peretti is a great author and this was the second book by him that I have read. It really makes you think about what is right and what is wrong. It also takes the whole 'If you have not seen it then it does not mean that it does not exist' idea into account.

9. Friday Night Lights- H.G. Bissinger

Everyone has seen the movie, but I recommend that you go out and get the book. If all else fails ask me and I will loan you the copy that my brother stole from our high school library. The book covers things that the movie could not. It goes into detail about the oil bust and the de-segregation that was taking place in Texas during the 1980's. The characters are deep and complex. These are real people. That is what makes this book so good is that it is real.

10. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil- John Berendt

I always heard that this was one of those books that you should read if you like southern literature. I found it for a quarter and read it in two days. Part fiction part reality it is a book that kind of haunts you. I really like how the city of Savannah was as much a main character as anyone else.

11. The Orchard Keeper- Cormac McCarthy

This was McCarthy's first novel and may be his best. As I have stated before, I am a big fan of McCarthy and am tying to read all of his books. This book is in the same vein as William Faulkner and that is a good thing. It is another book that takes place in the south. Knoxville, Tennessee area to be precise. McCarthy paints this book, he does not write it. The characters and landscapes are beautifully written.

The Music List

Alyssa and I were discussing music yesterday. We got into the subject of favorite songs. What makes a favorite song? Everyone has songs that mean something, or that they just like for no reason. This is my list. Numbers in this list mean nothing. They are just there to keep track of things. These are my songs in no particular order.

1. Melissa- Allman Brothers Band

*No story behind this song for me. It is just a great song. I love it.

2. Lonesome, I know you too well- Shawn Mullins

* Great song, got me through hard times...

3. Rural Route- Chris Knight

* Describes the way that I feel quite often. All about being in the middle of no where.

4. Yellow Ledbetter-Pearl Jam
* Great guitar tone, McCready sounds like a combination of SRV and Jimi Hendrix on this one..

5. Alabama- Cross Canadian Ragweed

* I love the idea of this song. gives a feeling that i just cant explain..

6. Helpless- Neil Young

7. Box of Rain- Grateful Dead

I am tired, eyes are droopy, ill finish this later...

Jealousy...

I want one thing all of the time. Its not sex or drugs. Its not money or reassurance. It is to be with that one person. Just to be. To sit and talk. To sit and do nothing. To sit in silence. That is all that I want. I want that one thing so bad.

Football and life starts this week. Thursday is UTC's home opener, I may go. Just not sure right now. Florida kicks it off on Saturday against the College of Charleston. I am excited. I have been a huge University of Florida fan for a long, long, time. I'm 26 and I can not remember ever pulling for another college program. I got a Danny Wuerffel jersey for Christmas when I was in 6th grade. A week later I used it to wipe tears off of my face as UF got demolished by what may have been the best college football team ever in the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers. A year later I was wearing it when Danny Wuerffel, Ike Hilliard, and Terry Jackson totally anhialated the former all girls school in Tallahasee. So yeah, I am a die hard. I hate bandwagon jumpers. The guys who go after whatever team is hot at the time. There used to be a guy who was the biggest UGA fan you would ever meet. He seemed like a pretty good guy. After Florida won the 2006 Championship he was a new guy he totally renounced his loyalty to Georgia. That aint right. You have to dance with the one who brought you.

Willis' List of Favorite Gators (no historical guys, ie Spurrier, Collinsworth, Carlos Alvarez, just guys that I watched and have seen, no currents either.)


1. Danny Wuerffel- QB 1995 and 1996 All-American First Team 96 Heisman winner
2. James Bates-LB- #44, Total and utter butt kicker. Wasnt the most athletic but had a motor that never stopped. Second team All-SEC
3. Chris Doering-WR
4. Todd Johnson-FS 2-time All-American
5. Rex Grossman-QB Despite his mediocraty in the NFL Rex was the best QB in the country in 01 and 02
6. Travis McGriff-WR The white kid with the crazy speed. Made the circus catch seem mundane.
7. Jevon Kearse- OLB The Freak. Before he was a sack master in the NFL he was killing SEC QBs.
8. Fred Taylor-FB played in a pass happy offense but always gained positive yardage.
9. Lawrence Wright-SS- All-American
10. Billy Latchko-FB/LB did it all for the Gators in the early 2000's. Was a former walk-on who was all heart.

Thats my list. I know I left guys off, I could do this all day. I just dont have time.

This summer so far...

So yeah. I know that it has been forever since I last wrote anything on here. I have not been doing a whole lot of writting anywheres to tell the truth. I have been busy working two jobs and trying to scrape and save every cent that I can. This summer has been pretty good. It has been one of the busiest of my life. All is going well. Climbing on an airplane a week from Thursday. I have never been on one, but theres a first time for everything. I miss my friends right now. Some are not too far away to hang out with, but others are either far away or are moving that way. Life changes. Nothing stays the same. That is one thing that I have learned during my 26 years of existance. You may think that you have everything figured out but then you don't. Sometimes its not good, sometimes it is. We get ourselves in a lot of situations, but sometimes God steps in and turns that just a little and tweaks things and the coming out is a whole lot better than the going in. I know that I am not perfect. I know that I have spent plenty of time running from God. I had a time when I pretty much hated God. I hated him for a place that me and my own actions had gotten me in. God never leaves us. We are the ones who walk away. No matter where we go he is there. Psalm 139 tells us this. This has been very rambling, sorry bout that. This is what has been on my heart. Im gonna keep goin...
So yeah having hate in your heart is a very bad thing. Hating people and just having a total disdain for them only eats you up. The other party doesnt care, they are probably moving on with their life and dont worry about you any more. Its better to move on and forget things and let it go. We have to learn to let go of things. We have to put things down and get rid of them. We cant treat this stuff like a backpack where we can take it off and put it on when we feel like it. Give it up to God. Our sins and transgressions are from as far as the east and west when we give them to God. Okay... Im out. Got to do work tomorrow. Peace, love and handgrenades.
Willis A.

That Guy

Yesterday the question came up over whether I am a 'redneck' or not. I guess that all depends on what your defenition of redneck is. I do not particularly know what I am. I am just me. Thats all I care to ever be. Will Bradley. The good guy, the guy who you can always count on. The guy who knows how to have a good time, but also knows when to shut his mouth and listen. I just want to live my life and do the best that I can. I want to serve my God the best that I can. I want to strive to do the best by His word and His plan for my life. That is all I want. That is all that I want to be.

Where I Belong...

Yesterday I got back into Cleveland after a trying weekend to say the least. God is so good and amazing. He has been such a comfort to me over the past week. I am so thankful to my friends who have texted and called me with support and words of encouragement and mourning. I have said it before but I have the best core group of friends in the world. I have the best group of people surrounding me right now than I have ever had in my life up to this point. This is not saying that friends from the past were not good people or that they were bad friends. Im surrounded by a group of friends who are better over all. If that makes any sort of sense. These guys are blunt and cut to the core. They build me up when I need it and they knock me down when I get too tall for my own good. They have cried with me and they have danced with me. They listen to my hopes and fears and they offer their shoulders to cry on. They laugh at my stupid jokes and tell stupid jokes of their own when I need it. They are not perfect, nor have they ever claimed to be. They love me for who I am and for who I have the capacity to be. They walk to the post-office at 11:30 just because. I love them dearly for all of this and so much more. Peace, love, and hand grenades.
Willis A.