Brothers First, Leaders Second

Logan & Jordan playing with Aubie
October 6, 1996

In 1988 I was told that I was expecting twins and we soon found out that they were both boys. Their dad immediately decided that it would be fair if I named one and he named the other. Which initially sounded ok. And then he started sharing his thoughts on names. [Insert shudder here.]

I had just read a Harlequin Romance novel and loved the hero’s name – Logan Taylor. I had never heard the name Logan before and thought that would be a fine, unique name, so that’s what I chose - Logan Taylor. Then their dad started trying to figure out what to name “his” twin. He was a wrestling fan. Not good. He was seriously considering Dusty after Dusty Rhodes; Rick after Rick Flair; or even Levi after his favorite pair of jeans. I was mortified. And it became obvious to me that I had to do something. Quick.

My other favorite name was Jordan. I began trying to talk their dad into that for his twin but he wasn’t having it. He thought Jordan was a girl’s name. And then, in a moment of inspiration, driving down the highway, I innocently said, “Well. You could name him Jordan Patrick after Shug Jordan, Pat Dye and Pat Sullivan….”

Alabama Drum Major, Jordan Matthews
Auburn Mascot - Aubie, Logan Matthews
December 25, 2009

Their dad was a HUGE Auburn fan, a recent Auburn graduate, and he decided that God had spoken. (Through me, of course.) From that moment on, our firstborn was to be named Jordan Patrick. And the kids’ dad and all his friends looked at me with adoring eyes. (Anytime the firstborn’s name was mentioned, anyway.)

The boys were born on April 28, 1989.

[Fast forward…]

In middle school the boys were forced to choose between band or choral classes and they both chose band. Jordan chose to play trumpet and Logan chose to play the French horn. They enjoyed it but in high school Logan dropped band while Jordan stuck with it. By their senior year Logan was President of the high school SGA and Jordan was his Vice President. But Jordan was also Drum Major. So that year during football season, Logan led the student body in cheers while Jordan led the band.

Head Aubie & Head Drum Major
November 26, 2010

Their dad and I divorced in 1994 and from that time on I told my children that if they wanted to go to Auburn they would have to get scholarships. I was an Auburn fan myself but I worked for the University of Alabama System. A benefit of working for them meant that my children could attend UA, UAB or UAH at half-price tuition. Logan got the scholarships. Jordan did not. And he could not bear the idea of going to Alabama, having grown up an Auburn fan, so he elected to start out at UAB. However, by Christmas of that year he’d begun dating a pretty little girl he’d known in high school and she was on the Crimson Color Guard at Alabama. He finished that spring semester at UAB but otherwise lived in Tuscaloosa. And during that time he was converted.

Jordan cheering on his Alabama Crimson Tide
from the MDB trumpet section (2008)

Jordan transferred to Alabama in the fall of 2008 and immediately joined the Million Dollar Band trumpet section. In April, 2009 he tried out and was chosen to be one of the four MDB Drum Major’s.

Logan painted up, ready
to cheer on his Auburn Tigers (2008)

Logan, on the other hand, started Auburn in the fall of 2007. He spent the first two football seasons painting up and hanging over the fence at the goal line, cheering Auburn on. During that time he watched and decided Aubie was King, so he tried out and became one of the three Friends of Aubie in 2009.

Jordan & Logan Matthews
November 25, 2010

In 2009 the Alabama Crimson Tide were 12-0 and went on to beat the Florida Gators to become the SEC Champions, which sent them to the 2010 BCS Bowl.  Jordan got to go to Pasadena, CA to help lead the Tide to their 13th National Championship victory, beating the Texas Longhorns in the Rose Bowl. In 2010 and 2011, Jordan was the Head Drum Major for the Million Dollar Band.

In 2010 the Auburn Tigers were 12-0 and went on to beat the South Carolina Gamecocks to become the SEC Champions, which sent them to the 2011 BCS Bowl.  Logan got to go to Glendale, AZ to help lead the Tigers to their 2nd National Championship victory, beating the Oregon Ducks in the Tostitos Bowl.  In 2010, Logan was the Head Friend of Aubie.

In 2011 the Alabama Crimson Tide were 11-1.  They lost in overtime to LSU on November 5 by a score of 9-6.  In the end, #2 Alabama played #1 LSU in a rematch in the New Orleans, LA Sugar Bowl in the 2012 BCS Championship and shut them out, 21-0. Jordan helped lead the Tide to their 14th National Championship victory, keeping the National Championship in the State of Alabama for an unprecedented third year in a row.

Jordan and Logan Matthews
2011 Iron Bowl - Jordan-Hare Stadium - November 26, 2011

*SIDE NOTE: 

Alabama's Mark Ingram was the 2009 Heisman Trophy Winner. 
Auburn's Cameron Newton was the 2010 Heisman Trophy Winner.


UPDATED 09/14/12:
Here is a clip of my son Logan as Aubie dancing with the AU Rhythm at a 2009 pep rally.  Aubie hits the stage at the 1:37 mark.

Here is the Million Dollar Band Pregame Show for the 2012 home games.  My son Jordan is featured 12 times.  (The Drum Majors are dressed in gray.)

I Am Forgiven

(Internet Photo)

Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.

My Lord knows this. We have discussed my sins, my issues, over and over and over and over... I assume we’re discussing it. I have what amounts to my end of a conversation running through my mind. I believe that God hears my thoughts and that the conviction I sometimes feel, those tugs at my heart and my conscious, is when He is in disagreement. Does anyone else out there have a different mode of communication with our Lord? If you do, please clue me in.

I grew up in a Christian home. My mother and father formed and sang in a Southern Gospel quartet from as young as I can remember until I reached the age of about 12. My earliest memories include riding in the quartet van all over northern Alabama and listening to them perform, sometimes performing myself along with my older brother. I also remember begging and pleading to please get to stay with one or the other grandparents instead. Sometimes I won that plea; other times I did not. But the bulk of my childhood weekends were spent going to gospel concerts - “singings” as we called them back then - and to church. We were in church, in “a” church, somewhere, every Sunday morning. Most Sunday nights, as well. Sometimes there were Saturday night singings and our family went through phases attending Wednesday night services in our home church as all Christians seem to do.

I grew up with a good understanding of “right” and “wrong.” For the vast majority of my life I have had a strong spirituality, a strong trust and faith in God. I believe that God sent his son Jesus Christ to live among humanity knowing that He would have to die and be crucified in order to save us all from our sins so that we could enter into Heaven and live with Him throughout eternity. Then came religion, which just confuses everything.

You have those that believe drinking anything alcoholic is sinful, while you have others that feel wine is fine anytime of any day. You have those that feel you should have an infinitely formal Sunday morning church service, and you have others that feel infinitely casual is much more user friendly for the unchurched that we are all striving to reach. There are all sorts of beliefs out there stemming from one or the other interpretations of various scripture in the Bible, but in the end I believe that so long as you profess your faith in God it doesn’t really matter how you personally choose to worship Him.

Having said all this, you would think that I would have less sin in my past than I do. No one is or ever was or ever can be without sin, but I have never used that knowledge as “permission” to do the things I knew were wrong. Many seem to live by the creed, “It’s easier to get forgiveness than permission” but the very idea of that makes me cringe. I know the Commandments. I would like to say I have always lived by them, but there are too many past sins in my life to be able to make that claim. I have stumbled from time to time and have knowingly done things that I knew were wrong, but I also knew from the beginning that God was disappointed in me. I have experienced serious conviction until I relented and repented. And then I experienced serious peace.

Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. - Job 5:17.

People who cover over their sins will not prosper. But if they confess and forsake them, they will receive mercy. - Proverbs 28:13.

And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. - Mark 1:4-5.

For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. - Romans 10:9-10