It has been five years, since I spent 6 wonderful weeks in the country of Scotland. For me, just stepping one foot in Scotland made me tingle with excitement. Like many Americans, my love for scotland came from an Australian. Mel Gibson’s epic Braveheart had turned every American into a blue faced, kilt wearing Scotish lord (well, at least in their hearts). I was no exception. Around the time that the movie was released on VHS, my grandmother passed away and we were forced to move into her home near downtown Dallas for about 3 months. I felt far way from my friends and although the house was tiny, I felt removed from my family. I played high school football under Texas friday night lights. To get pumped up, I would watch Braveheart every Thursday. Every Thursday. Widescreen. Both tapes. All the way through. I tried to live the motto “Every man dies, but not every man truly lives” to the fullest extent that a dumb 17 year-old boy could. I loved it! When I went off to university, the campus ministery offered me the chance of a lifetime. Six weeks serving churches in Scotland on a mission trip. I jumped at that chance. When we arrived, I fell in love with the country and her people even more. I’ll never forget traveling to Stirling and climbing the steps in Wallace Tower. In the tower, hung the sword of William Wallace. The sword was much taller than I am. It didno’t look like the movie sword. This weapon wasn’t beauitiful. it was striking. The AP photo above is of William Wallace’s sword. 700 years after Wallace’s execution, the sword is traveling to New York City as the cernterpiece in the Tarten Celebrations. If you live in New York, try and get over to GCS and take a peak at this peice of history. If you miss it you might one day find yourselves dying. And lying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade… Sorry. I get really passionate about some things.