Chapter 1: The Undiscovered Fire

Dear Furnace Level followers,



Today, I am going to tell you all a story, but this is not just any story. This is a tale that is still continuing, that has not finished and that is not planning to anytime soon. This story is about something that no one knew existed, but that was discovered as time went on. A tale that comes from an everyday person's life that changes his life into something more incredible than he could have ever possibly imagined. Most of all, it is an adventure that reveals many lessons and discoveries about life, all by how one single day can change a person's life and the way he will be living it forever.



I do not remember the date of this special day because, at the time, I didn't know it would have such a significant impact on my life. I only realized this much after the event happened, so the exact date is  very much lost in time. However, from what I do recall, it was a day that was not much different from any other. I was still in high school at the time, so my days were pretty much routine: wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, go to school, go through my classes, sports after school, and then head back home.




In high school, I played basketball. I wasn't the star player, but I started at the point-guard position, which was a huge step for me being a sophomore. At times before practice, my friends and I would play a pick-up game until the coaches arrived. This particular day, I arrived at the gym a few minutes later than usual, for an unknown reason,  and my friends had started without me. The teams were already five-on-five, so I waited on the sideline, putting on my court shoes while watching them play.



After a bit of time, I found watching the game quite amusing because my assistant coach, who was playing on one of the teams, had exhausted himself and had decided to wait on the offensive side of the court for long passes while his teammates played without him on the defensive end. This stategy resulted in my assistant coach scoring all the points for his team, which I found funny since he wasn't doing any of the work.


Meanwhile, the rest of my team started pouring into the gym, and as they would sit down, I would inform them with what had been happening in the game, by serving as the game's mock commentator. Refering to my assistant coach, I told them, jokingly, "He's on fire! He is burning it up out there! He's like a furnace." My friends caught hold of my humor and started to laugh and enjoy the game with me.


Not much later, my head coach arrived at the assigned practice time. As my teammates and I started to huddle in with the coach before starting practice, I got serveral humorous looks from my friends while saying "furnace," referring to my comments from earlier. However, once we were huddled up around our coach, he overheard the "furnace" calls from my teammates and misinterpreted it as being my new nickname. Once the coach said it, the nickname stuck, but that was just the beginning for the whole life that I never saw coming.


To be continued...



The Furnace