Today Griffin and I were playing with the two bins of MegaBlocks my mother-in-law picked up from a garage sale. We were kinda just messing around, stacking small columns and building odd-shaped stacks. Sometimes its just fun to have no agenda and no plan.
Then I had a bright idea. I thought it would be fun if we built a tower, 2 blocks deep by four blocks wide. We started to build and Griffin would hand me blocks and I would continue to stack them. Sometimes he would take bits of the tower apart and bring them to another part of the living room and build little odd structures, but I just kept on building. Soon the tower of power out grew Griffin, then it got to the point where I now longer had to lean let alone bend over in order to stack the blocks. The tower grew taller and taller. I was on a mission to use every block in the two bins and get the tower as high as we could, as high as I could.
Griffin lost interest.
As soon as the tower rose too far for Griffin to reach the top, he was done, that is until he found out how much fun it was to tear my labor of love down into pieces. I know my my mother-in-law didn't buy these blocks for me, yet I took what Griffin and I were playing with together and started in on my own agenda. Our tower became my tower.
Right now I feel like Griffin. Life seems to be getting bigger and bigger and its not that I'm losing interest, but I'm getting overwhelmed. I don't want the feeling of being face to face with something so over my head to trigger apathy or worse yet abandonment. Maybe its the weather, maybe its the tasks at hand. Maybe its God moving us in another direction, to another group. Whatever it may be, I'm glad this blog will help trace the steps we're walking through.
For the ears: They Also Mourn Who Do Not Wear Black (For The Homeless In Muskegon) - Sufjan Stevens
For the mind: The Five Points of Calvinism - Edwin Palmer
For the heart: Knowing God - J.I. Packer
1/30/09
1/25/09
Reflections from Habitat, The Pre-Season
Last night we kicked off our first gathering of Habitat Christian Community as we got together at Pioneer Park, Room A. It was a meeting with people, largely friends, who have expressed interest in being a part of this new community of faith. Some are newer to the area and haven't found a church, some have moved here to be a part of it, and others simply haven't found a place to call home yet. Last night, everyone seemed to be on the same page.
Mark and I, my brother-in-law and the best associate I could ask for, shared our hearts on the Gospel and how it transforms the individual. We taught Romans 5:6-11. Perhaps the most useful analogy that we used in wrapping up was this: When we are reconciled into God's family, adopted and given the family name, we cannot just sit around and wait for our inheritance. We're adopted into God's family and then as a love response to God, we take up the family business. We become agents of reconciliation. We become salt and light. We join Christ in the work of reconciliation.
Overall, I was thrilled with how we taught (tag team, verse by verse, concept by concept). I was moved through the worship response...thanks Charlie and Rebecca, and it was great to hang out for dinner after wards with Habitat.
Last night I saw the very beginning of the realization of something that I have been envisioning for the past four years. Honestly it was both extremely fulfilling and left me wanting more.
There have been a few times in life I knew I was made for this moment. Moments that felt surreal and at the same time compelling and confirming. Those that come to my mind are when the doors opened at the back of the church where Erin and I got married and I saw my bride for the first time while standign in front of our family and friends. Another was the first time I held my son and felt his skin against my cheek. Last night, sitting on a stool and sharing my heart with a group of people who were not obligated to come together, it felt right.
I've preached and have spoken to larger crowds. I have the opportunity to converse with people of high influence and more money. Last night, while worshipping my God, Lord and King with these young families and recent graduates, men and women in transition from their 20s to 30s, I could think of no place I'd rather be.
For the ears: Grace - U2
For the mind: A Celebration of Disciplines - Richard Foster
Mark and I, my brother-in-law and the best associate I could ask for, shared our hearts on the Gospel and how it transforms the individual. We taught Romans 5:6-11. Perhaps the most useful analogy that we used in wrapping up was this: When we are reconciled into God's family, adopted and given the family name, we cannot just sit around and wait for our inheritance. We're adopted into God's family and then as a love response to God, we take up the family business. We become agents of reconciliation. We become salt and light. We join Christ in the work of reconciliation.
Overall, I was thrilled with how we taught (tag team, verse by verse, concept by concept). I was moved through the worship response...thanks Charlie and Rebecca, and it was great to hang out for dinner after wards with Habitat.
Last night I saw the very beginning of the realization of something that I have been envisioning for the past four years. Honestly it was both extremely fulfilling and left me wanting more.
There have been a few times in life I knew I was made for this moment. Moments that felt surreal and at the same time compelling and confirming. Those that come to my mind are when the doors opened at the back of the church where Erin and I got married and I saw my bride for the first time while standign in front of our family and friends. Another was the first time I held my son and felt his skin against my cheek. Last night, sitting on a stool and sharing my heart with a group of people who were not obligated to come together, it felt right.
I've preached and have spoken to larger crowds. I have the opportunity to converse with people of high influence and more money. Last night, while worshipping my God, Lord and King with these young families and recent graduates, men and women in transition from their 20s to 30s, I could think of no place I'd rather be.
For the ears: Grace - U2
For the mind: A Celebration of Disciplines - Richard Foster
1/20/09
Be The Change
Taken from a note publish on my Facebook from Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Change. It is a word loaded with meaning and power. It is potential energy. By it self, change is safe, neutral, and benign. It is a noun, sitting there like some Pandora’s box, like an atom, a church, a body. Within it there is power, but on its own, it is simply a stable, solitary word. Link change to another noun and it transforms from potential energy to kinetic energy. This transformation is amazing, it is a switch that is thrown, a button that is pressed, a cord plugged into a power source and the result is action.
Change your mind.
Change your actions.
Change your world.
Change is more than a campaign slogan. It is more than a political platform; it is energy, movement and motion. Change as a verb can either unify or divide. On Election Day we all voted for change, no matter our candidate. We took part in an action greater than mere civic duty. Voices were heard, no matter if a ballot was cast. Action and inaction both resulted in reaction and a change has happened.
As citizens and active participants in this country it is now our duty to get behind our new leader, no matter the party, the ticket or platform and unite for change. Change from the top through legislation, special interest groups and “proper channels” is necessary, yet it can only accomplish so much. We need a grassroots, relational, human effort.
Don’t be defined by a party, don’t take the next four years to complain either about the current administration or the one we’re about to enter into. Be human, be a citizen and be responsible to those who you work with, live with, see everyday.
Change the economy. Do it locally. Do it relationally. Do it incrementally. Support local businesses and defy the urge to buy beyond budget.
Change the energy crisis. Do it residentially. Do it regularly. Do it one light bulb at a time and walk one errand a week.
Of course, some changes are not so easy. Healthcare. Immigration. War.
Yet change is possible.
For those who identify themselves with a political party the challenge to change means adopting an attitude beyond party lines. I had the privilege of growing up in a bipartisan home. Labor unions supported our family at times, and yet we were quite conservative in our views on choice. Big government and small government can work together, at the same time through the catalyst of people. Change can happen.
Change will happen, it happens daily. We wake up everyday and change occurs. Small, incremental changes result in momentum and movement. As Americans, beyond our party or demographic, it is our right and responsibility to take part in this nation. For those of us who call ourselves Christians and try to follow the example of Christ, it is our conviction to trust in the sovereign wisdom of God and live out the faith we have in Him. Simply, there is no room for fear. Christianity is not a political party, not subject to the definitions of party lines or tied to a candidate. We follow a Savior and Lord higher than government, yet it is within our everyday choices that we live out our convictions and show whom we believe Jesus to be. More often than not this looks like obedience rather than rebellion.
So today we can start by being the change. Living lives that affect those around us in a positive and real way. Today we live in a new America, a changed America. Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Americans, we must change our view from the heated party race we’ve been breathing and living within for the last two years and focus on our present reality and the challenges we face. Change will happen, but true change, lasting change is incremental and relational. We must be the change.
Change. It is a word loaded with meaning and power. It is potential energy. By it self, change is safe, neutral, and benign. It is a noun, sitting there like some Pandora’s box, like an atom, a church, a body. Within it there is power, but on its own, it is simply a stable, solitary word. Link change to another noun and it transforms from potential energy to kinetic energy. This transformation is amazing, it is a switch that is thrown, a button that is pressed, a cord plugged into a power source and the result is action.
Change your mind.
Change your actions.
Change your world.
Change is more than a campaign slogan. It is more than a political platform; it is energy, movement and motion. Change as a verb can either unify or divide. On Election Day we all voted for change, no matter our candidate. We took part in an action greater than mere civic duty. Voices were heard, no matter if a ballot was cast. Action and inaction both resulted in reaction and a change has happened.
As citizens and active participants in this country it is now our duty to get behind our new leader, no matter the party, the ticket or platform and unite for change. Change from the top through legislation, special interest groups and “proper channels” is necessary, yet it can only accomplish so much. We need a grassroots, relational, human effort.
Don’t be defined by a party, don’t take the next four years to complain either about the current administration or the one we’re about to enter into. Be human, be a citizen and be responsible to those who you work with, live with, see everyday.
Change the economy. Do it locally. Do it relationally. Do it incrementally. Support local businesses and defy the urge to buy beyond budget.
Change the energy crisis. Do it residentially. Do it regularly. Do it one light bulb at a time and walk one errand a week.
Of course, some changes are not so easy. Healthcare. Immigration. War.
Yet change is possible.
For those who identify themselves with a political party the challenge to change means adopting an attitude beyond party lines. I had the privilege of growing up in a bipartisan home. Labor unions supported our family at times, and yet we were quite conservative in our views on choice. Big government and small government can work together, at the same time through the catalyst of people. Change can happen.
Change will happen, it happens daily. We wake up everyday and change occurs. Small, incremental changes result in momentum and movement. As Americans, beyond our party or demographic, it is our right and responsibility to take part in this nation. For those of us who call ourselves Christians and try to follow the example of Christ, it is our conviction to trust in the sovereign wisdom of God and live out the faith we have in Him. Simply, there is no room for fear. Christianity is not a political party, not subject to the definitions of party lines or tied to a candidate. We follow a Savior and Lord higher than government, yet it is within our everyday choices that we live out our convictions and show whom we believe Jesus to be. More often than not this looks like obedience rather than rebellion.
So today we can start by being the change. Living lives that affect those around us in a positive and real way. Today we live in a new America, a changed America. Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Americans, we must change our view from the heated party race we’ve been breathing and living within for the last two years and focus on our present reality and the challenges we face. Change will happen, but true change, lasting change is incremental and relational. We must be the change.
1/16/09
The Problem of Potential
"I have to say, I'm so impressed with the potential you see in me."-Michael Scott.
Potential can be a whore...can I say that or rather type that? When paired with a fear of failure, potential can cripple and break someone. It's something I've wrestled with for much of my life. I am a person who is wrought with imagination. When someone mentions something to me, a concept, an idea, or some theory, I take it to a place I like to call "the world of potential and possibilities." Not like Mr. Roger's Land of Make Believe, rather I just start thinking about all the things that could be. Sometimes, somewhere I get swept up in the potential that I become certain of the imaginary and can think myself right out of the kinetic.
At times I think we're horrible stewards of potential. A parable of Jesus' that I have made my mission is that of the three servants found in Matthew 25:14-30. As Jesus explains the Kingdom of Heaven, he talks about three servants each entrusted with an investment by their master. Two of them see the potential for success and invest the money and upon their master's return, have doubled their investments. The other sees only the potential for failure and becomes so sure that failure is inevitable that he buries the money in the ground and upon the master's return he gives him his original investment back, without any loss...but without any gain.
This is one of many passages throughout the Bible that the Christian God seems to be saying to or through His people, "I've given you the potential, DO SOMETHING!" However, like the third servant, many of us give into the fear that potential brings. We operate as reactionaries rather than revolutionaries. We forget that God's purpose lies behind and within the potential, even failure at times is His intent. As my son was learning to walk, I knew he had to fall in order to understand the balance necessary to keep himself stable. I can't imagine that he would have ever grasped the practice of walking if I had never let go of his hands, and he had never fallen down.
As I've mentioned before, we're starting a new journey this year of pioneering a church in Arlington Heights, Illinois. In my mind I know what we can become. I see a people who are passionate about the Gospel. I see men and women engaged in the lives of their neighbors, coworkers, families and friends. I see people who are Biblically literate and who use their lives as investments from their Master. I see a church that can change the world, birthing other churches and raising up generations that live in true community with God, others and creation.
There's a lot of potential to both succeed and fail. To a point, I have to choose which will be our reality and invest wisely what has been entrusted to me, because the fear that can often accompany potential leads us to Michael Scott's other gem of wisdom from last night's The Office.
"My philosophy is this...don't ever, for any reason... do anything...to anyone....ever...for any reason, ever, no matter what...no matter where, or who, or who you are with...or where you are going, or where you've been...ever..."
An unhelathy view of potential will undoubtedly lead to failure, due to never turning it into motion.
For the ears: Amazing - Kanye West
For the eyes: The Office: The Duel
For the mind: Systematic Theology - Wayne Grudem
Potential can be a whore...can I say that or rather type that? When paired with a fear of failure, potential can cripple and break someone. It's something I've wrestled with for much of my life. I am a person who is wrought with imagination. When someone mentions something to me, a concept, an idea, or some theory, I take it to a place I like to call "the world of potential and possibilities." Not like Mr. Roger's Land of Make Believe, rather I just start thinking about all the things that could be. Sometimes, somewhere I get swept up in the potential that I become certain of the imaginary and can think myself right out of the kinetic.
At times I think we're horrible stewards of potential. A parable of Jesus' that I have made my mission is that of the three servants found in Matthew 25:14-30. As Jesus explains the Kingdom of Heaven, he talks about three servants each entrusted with an investment by their master. Two of them see the potential for success and invest the money and upon their master's return, have doubled their investments. The other sees only the potential for failure and becomes so sure that failure is inevitable that he buries the money in the ground and upon the master's return he gives him his original investment back, without any loss...but without any gain.
This is one of many passages throughout the Bible that the Christian God seems to be saying to or through His people, "I've given you the potential, DO SOMETHING!" However, like the third servant, many of us give into the fear that potential brings. We operate as reactionaries rather than revolutionaries. We forget that God's purpose lies behind and within the potential, even failure at times is His intent. As my son was learning to walk, I knew he had to fall in order to understand the balance necessary to keep himself stable. I can't imagine that he would have ever grasped the practice of walking if I had never let go of his hands, and he had never fallen down.
As I've mentioned before, we're starting a new journey this year of pioneering a church in Arlington Heights, Illinois. In my mind I know what we can become. I see a people who are passionate about the Gospel. I see men and women engaged in the lives of their neighbors, coworkers, families and friends. I see people who are Biblically literate and who use their lives as investments from their Master. I see a church that can change the world, birthing other churches and raising up generations that live in true community with God, others and creation.
There's a lot of potential to both succeed and fail. To a point, I have to choose which will be our reality and invest wisely what has been entrusted to me, because the fear that can often accompany potential leads us to Michael Scott's other gem of wisdom from last night's The Office.
"My philosophy is this...don't ever, for any reason... do anything...to anyone....ever...for any reason, ever, no matter what...no matter where, or who, or who you are with...or where you are going, or where you've been...ever..."
An unhelathy view of potential will undoubtedly lead to failure, due to never turning it into motion.
For the ears: Amazing - Kanye West
For the eyes: The Office: The Duel
For the mind: Systematic Theology - Wayne Grudem
1/14/09
Consumed
Have you ever been on path to something and it becomes all you can think about? Maybe its been an event like a baby, a wedding or your high school reunion; no matter how hard you try, you try and contain and compartmentalize the thoughts, but it fills very thought at every moment in a day.
Personally, I'm leading a group of people in the birthing or pioneering of a new church. I should probably state that this isn't just a bunch of Christians starting a new club. We're men and women who have been changed by Christ and gripped by the Gospel, and our purpose is two-fold, grow more and more in the image of Christ, and see our worlds (the places where we work, sleep, have fun, and dwell) impacted by and through Jesus as well. We're not hyper-Christian who will leave a Bible tract on a table instead of a tip for the waitress, rather just people who have started down a path of change, and are alive in Christ. Christianity is a life-long journey and we hope to walk together and bring others along.
At any rate, I can't stop thinking about who we will be, how we will operate and the impact we hope to have. Each morning I wake up thinking about the potential that lies within us and each evening I have been falling asleep praying that we would be a Church that exists in the presence of the Trinity. If I didn't know better I would call this obsession, but what I think it truly is is simply a rearranging of priorities. Redefining cool all over again. Its a transformation process, a metamorphosis. Hopefully its less of me and more of God.
For the ears: Olsen Olsen - Sigur Ros (the perfect snowy music)
For the mind: Systematic Theology - Wayne Grudem
For the heart: Romans 9
Personally, I'm leading a group of people in the birthing or pioneering of a new church. I should probably state that this isn't just a bunch of Christians starting a new club. We're men and women who have been changed by Christ and gripped by the Gospel, and our purpose is two-fold, grow more and more in the image of Christ, and see our worlds (the places where we work, sleep, have fun, and dwell) impacted by and through Jesus as well. We're not hyper-Christian who will leave a Bible tract on a table instead of a tip for the waitress, rather just people who have started down a path of change, and are alive in Christ. Christianity is a life-long journey and we hope to walk together and bring others along.
At any rate, I can't stop thinking about who we will be, how we will operate and the impact we hope to have. Each morning I wake up thinking about the potential that lies within us and each evening I have been falling asleep praying that we would be a Church that exists in the presence of the Trinity. If I didn't know better I would call this obsession, but what I think it truly is is simply a rearranging of priorities. Redefining cool all over again. Its a transformation process, a metamorphosis. Hopefully its less of me and more of God.
For the ears: Olsen Olsen - Sigur Ros (the perfect snowy music)
For the mind: Systematic Theology - Wayne Grudem
For the heart: Romans 9
1/8/09
ReDefining Cool
Before being a dad, or even a husband, I thought and felt differently. I was concerned in some way with cool, and how it affected my life. Cool came at the cost of convenience, the cost of peace and the cost of self. There has always been a paradox living inside me. We're not talking Jekyll and Hyde or some sort of split personality disorder, but more like a what I think holds all of us in balance. For some reason though, I gave myself permission to pursue the "cooler," yet the cooler was a facade of sorts.
I should point out that this wasn't a complete fabrication, a mask or persona I would wear. I enjoyed the cool, and yet at times I allowed the perspective opinions of society to drive me to give into the parts that weren't as genuine or true. Don't get me wrong, they were me, but not true, true to the point of essence, the smallest common denominator, a cellular representation of finite existence.
As a husband, father and future shepherd to a new flock of Christ followers, cool has been redefined as my priorities have shifted. No longer do I need to be an elitist, an early adopter or on the inside of all things juice (which is a word some us used to describe things that were cool). I still like my style, my music and certain ways that I choose to live and be, but my cool is new.
I now find my cool in the walks to Starbucks with my wife, in the giggles and hugs of my son, and in the never-ending quest to please my Father. In recent months I have been gripped by the Gospel and my priorities are shifting to be less about me and more about doing the will of Him. This will of God isn't a crusade, a jihad or street corner preaching; it's simply trying to live as salt and light in a world of artificial flavors and darkness. It's being a real friend to my neighbors and a neighbor to strangers. Its daily trying to be a loving and leading husband, and a father who demonstrates Christ to my son.
Being gripped by the Gospel isn't some sort of light switch that one simply turns on; it is an ongoing process of discipline and freedom, sacrifice and reward, constantly falling short and yet being lifted up by the one who never falls.
2009 is about the redefining of cool for me. It's about faith, risk, forgiveness and a whole lot of new. Its a continual transformation of my priorities and a shift of focus, it can be a slow and painful process at times, and that is what this whole thing is, a process. The redefining of cool is more than new style, it is a process concerned with priorities; renamed and renewed.
For the ears: Fleet Foxes (Self-Titled) - Fleet Foxes
For the eyes: 30 Rock
For the mind: A Celebration of Disciplines - Richard Foster
I should point out that this wasn't a complete fabrication, a mask or persona I would wear. I enjoyed the cool, and yet at times I allowed the perspective opinions of society to drive me to give into the parts that weren't as genuine or true. Don't get me wrong, they were me, but not true, true to the point of essence, the smallest common denominator, a cellular representation of finite existence.
As a husband, father and future shepherd to a new flock of Christ followers, cool has been redefined as my priorities have shifted. No longer do I need to be an elitist, an early adopter or on the inside of all things juice (which is a word some us used to describe things that were cool). I still like my style, my music and certain ways that I choose to live and be, but my cool is new.
I now find my cool in the walks to Starbucks with my wife, in the giggles and hugs of my son, and in the never-ending quest to please my Father. In recent months I have been gripped by the Gospel and my priorities are shifting to be less about me and more about doing the will of Him. This will of God isn't a crusade, a jihad or street corner preaching; it's simply trying to live as salt and light in a world of artificial flavors and darkness. It's being a real friend to my neighbors and a neighbor to strangers. Its daily trying to be a loving and leading husband, and a father who demonstrates Christ to my son.
Being gripped by the Gospel isn't some sort of light switch that one simply turns on; it is an ongoing process of discipline and freedom, sacrifice and reward, constantly falling short and yet being lifted up by the one who never falls.
2009 is about the redefining of cool for me. It's about faith, risk, forgiveness and a whole lot of new. Its a continual transformation of my priorities and a shift of focus, it can be a slow and painful process at times, and that is what this whole thing is, a process. The redefining of cool is more than new style, it is a process concerned with priorities; renamed and renewed.
For the ears: Fleet Foxes (Self-Titled) - Fleet Foxes
For the eyes: 30 Rock
For the mind: A Celebration of Disciplines - Richard Foster
1/5/09
Discipline and Joy: 88 Keys, 6 Strings, and a Slide Trombone
We've got a piano in our house. Its a brown upright piano that my wife grew up playing at her parent's house. She and her little sister spent hours sitting on the padded bench practicing Beethoven and Bach. Erin, my wife, still plays. Every so often she'll open the bench, place the sheet music on the piano, she'll sit and place her fingers on the keys, and harmonies will drift through our home. I've often sat on the bench, placed my fingers on the keys and have created what could be considered very avant-garde dissonance.
I've got all sorts of friends who are excellent musicians, a lot of them played in local bands or at churches. Jake, one of my best friends growing up, could pick up his guitar and play almost anything he heard or saw. He also excelled, and still does, at the piano and drums. I always admired his talent and how, just by utilizing six strings, he could completely change the atmosphere of any room.
I should say at this point that for a year and half I was a musician. I remember the day in fourth grade when the band teacher came to our classroom in order for those who were interested to try out the band's instruments. As the instructor played each instrument, those brass and woodwinds seemed so magical as if anyone who was willing could produce beautiful note after note and create songs and melodies.
As I browsed through my choices and knew exactly what I wanted to play, the trumpet. I grew up listening to all sorts of music and the trumpet represent the sound, daring and loud, that I wanted to make. Yet when I got to the instructor, she said my lips were too big and I was sentenced to play the trombone. Nothing personal to trombone players, but I really wanted to play the trumpet, yet had I known ska would have been big in high school, I may have been okay with the trombone. Alas, I stuck with the trombone for about a year and half. And to be honest, I hated practicing. I just wanted to play, not practice for what seemed like an eternity everyday. The monotony of practice felt more like a prison than an object of passion. My band teacher knew it too, it was obvious during each class that I wasn't putting my time in. I wasn't performing my pieces well, and I wasn't keeping up with the other kids who wanted to truly play and practiced in order to do so.
I say all this because I still want to be a musician. I think about being the guy who sits down at the piano at some party and starts playing insanely cool covers of songs that move people to laugh and dance. I want to be the expert, just not the novice. Let's fast-forward through the scales and wrong notes and get to Ray Charles "Shake a Tail Feather", Van Morrison's "Brown Eye Girl", or even a bit of John Legend. But the joy of playing music comes only through the discipline of practicing.
This year I am trying to focus on the Spiritual Disciplines, not in order to abstain from behaviors or merely train myself to be holier, but to be able to practice living a life that will enable me to obtain the joy of truly living. One may ask how do meditation, fasting, solitude and other practices accomplish this, after all such acts seem like they focus denial, sacrifice or exclusion. I think Richard Foster puts it best: " [the Spiritual Disciplines] put us where He can work within us and transform us. By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done. They are God's means of grace."
So what does it all mean? Why go through it? Because I desire to be a man after God's heart, yet there is so much about me that rebels against it. Yet through practicing the Spiritual Disciplines I put myself in a place where change is possible. What starts as discipline becomes joy. The chords and scales become music and song. What may feel like at times like a prison of practice becomes a passionate way to live life. Who knows, I may even start playing a bit more of the 88 keys, but I think sitting down and playing Coldplay might be a bit far off still.
I've got all sorts of friends who are excellent musicians, a lot of them played in local bands or at churches. Jake, one of my best friends growing up, could pick up his guitar and play almost anything he heard or saw. He also excelled, and still does, at the piano and drums. I always admired his talent and how, just by utilizing six strings, he could completely change the atmosphere of any room.
I should say at this point that for a year and half I was a musician. I remember the day in fourth grade when the band teacher came to our classroom in order for those who were interested to try out the band's instruments. As the instructor played each instrument, those brass and woodwinds seemed so magical as if anyone who was willing could produce beautiful note after note and create songs and melodies.
As I browsed through my choices and knew exactly what I wanted to play, the trumpet. I grew up listening to all sorts of music and the trumpet represent the sound, daring and loud, that I wanted to make. Yet when I got to the instructor, she said my lips were too big and I was sentenced to play the trombone. Nothing personal to trombone players, but I really wanted to play the trumpet, yet had I known ska would have been big in high school, I may have been okay with the trombone. Alas, I stuck with the trombone for about a year and half. And to be honest, I hated practicing. I just wanted to play, not practice for what seemed like an eternity everyday. The monotony of practice felt more like a prison than an object of passion. My band teacher knew it too, it was obvious during each class that I wasn't putting my time in. I wasn't performing my pieces well, and I wasn't keeping up with the other kids who wanted to truly play and practiced in order to do so.
I say all this because I still want to be a musician. I think about being the guy who sits down at the piano at some party and starts playing insanely cool covers of songs that move people to laugh and dance. I want to be the expert, just not the novice. Let's fast-forward through the scales and wrong notes and get to Ray Charles "Shake a Tail Feather", Van Morrison's "Brown Eye Girl", or even a bit of John Legend. But the joy of playing music comes only through the discipline of practicing.
This year I am trying to focus on the Spiritual Disciplines, not in order to abstain from behaviors or merely train myself to be holier, but to be able to practice living a life that will enable me to obtain the joy of truly living. One may ask how do meditation, fasting, solitude and other practices accomplish this, after all such acts seem like they focus denial, sacrifice or exclusion. I think Richard Foster puts it best: " [the Spiritual Disciplines] put us where He can work within us and transform us. By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done. They are God's means of grace."
So what does it all mean? Why go through it? Because I desire to be a man after God's heart, yet there is so much about me that rebels against it. Yet through practicing the Spiritual Disciplines I put myself in a place where change is possible. What starts as discipline becomes joy. The chords and scales become music and song. What may feel like at times like a prison of practice becomes a passionate way to live life. Who knows, I may even start playing a bit more of the 88 keys, but I think sitting down and playing Coldplay might be a bit far off still.
1/1/09
About Basik Being...
This is a non comprehensive guide to myself and some of the things that this be held in this space. I guess to define things, I'm a person whose been gripped by the Gospel and who daily strives to become more like the One who he follows (sometimes this is more prevalent than other times). However it is this faith, Christianity, that shapes who I am and my worldview. At times in the past I have seen it as a liability or some sort of sacred disease to be hidden from some and lived out with others. However, when life is truly lived, beliefs and worldviews, let alone life-transforming forces like that of the Christian faith can no longer be compartmentalized. Even today, the first day of a new year, a day that finds me closer to thirty than twenty nine, a day that has begun like any other, my faith is shaping me (and I haven't even had breakfast yet).
So other than a Christian (or Christ-follower for the cool kids), I'm a husband and father. My wife's patience is a testimony to the success of or marriage. She married a dreamer and I know there are days where she just chooses to laugh at some of the things I come up with, which is probably the best thing to do with someone like me (think Ulysses Everett McGill, GOB, and a very small touch of Bono, just not nearly as cool, musical or Irish, but with the mindset to change the world). Needless to say, the marriage thing is fun and enlightening...as is fatherhood.
As a dad, I'm constantly learning about God through my relationship with my son, who inscidently is hilarious and at 20 months, loves to play cars, play the piano, play drums on anything and at times pretend he's asleep until he gets tickled and ends up laughing hysterically.
What else can I say? According to Marcus Buckingham's Strengthsfinder, I'm a futurist, activator, belief, positivity and significance. In relation to the DISC test, I'm a DIC (which my brother-in-law frequently reminds me about). I love entrepenural ventures, I've got my own, and in the fall I'll be with a group of people starting a new church in the Chicago suburbs.
Hopefully this will be the place I can write about a lot of this stuff and other things that affect me and those around me. I promise this won't be a place where I rant and rave, you and I both don't need that sort of thing.
Have a transforming New Year.
So other than a Christian (or Christ-follower for the cool kids), I'm a husband and father. My wife's patience is a testimony to the success of or marriage. She married a dreamer and I know there are days where she just chooses to laugh at some of the things I come up with, which is probably the best thing to do with someone like me (think Ulysses Everett McGill, GOB, and a very small touch of Bono, just not nearly as cool, musical or Irish, but with the mindset to change the world). Needless to say, the marriage thing is fun and enlightening...as is fatherhood.
As a dad, I'm constantly learning about God through my relationship with my son, who inscidently is hilarious and at 20 months, loves to play cars, play the piano, play drums on anything and at times pretend he's asleep until he gets tickled and ends up laughing hysterically.
What else can I say? According to Marcus Buckingham's Strengthsfinder, I'm a futurist, activator, belief, positivity and significance. In relation to the DISC test, I'm a DIC (which my brother-in-law frequently reminds me about). I love entrepenural ventures, I've got my own, and in the fall I'll be with a group of people starting a new church in the Chicago suburbs.
Hopefully this will be the place I can write about a lot of this stuff and other things that affect me and those around me. I promise this won't be a place where I rant and rave, you and I both don't need that sort of thing.
Have a transforming New Year.
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