Making Choices

It was an average Sunday afternoon.  I was sitting at Cracker Barrel enjoying a lunch with a few friends from church and the waitress comes up to the table.  She then asks me the question I wish she didn’t. “What would you like to eat?” she would say.  I fumble my menu in my hands and make a few grunt-like noises.  I shift my eyes from left to right until they finally settle on my friend across the table.  Guess what happens next?  “You go first” is what I say.
I sometimes have a hard time making decisions.  I have learned that I can sometimes worry more about what to eat for lunch than the big decisions in life. With that in mind I bring us back to what I said.  It is often joked about that women cannot make decisions. This often makes me wonder why I have such a hard time making decisions.  You see, I know I’m male, but I can worry to death about decisions (I also love chocolate which further complicates the issue.)
But isn’t it amazing that God created life to be a ride where I get on and it does not stop until I get off?  Our life is decided by the choices we make everyday.    Although we can sit there and worry about these decisions, in some ways it is a good thing that we cannot change our minds.
I’m sure you have seen “Back to the Future”.  Marty’s experience with time travel shows how going back to fix one thing can completely change history, for better or worse.  If we were able to change all the things about our lives that we did not like we may not like the result of that future either.
I say all of that to say this: Live your life in spite of your past choices.  Don’t look back.  You can’t change the past, but your past can destroy your future.
So don’t worry so much about what you’re going to eat.  I’m sure it won’t be that big of a deal when it’s in your stomach.

In the beginning… (Or my opinion on creation)

Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  This is the statement you have probably heard a million times over.  I believe that this statement is literal in its interpretation and that it is 100% true in its validity.  I also believe that the world as we know it today is only 6000-8000 years old.
At least that is what I have been told all my life.  I personally am not sure how old the earth is.  On the one hand we have scholars of the Bible that say the earth is 6000-8000 years old to their best calculations.  On the other hand we have fossils that are millions of years old according to our best attempt at carbon dating.  Neither side wants to admit any wrong on their part.  I do believe that both sides of this argument have done the best that they can with the abilities and technology that they have been given to come to their conclusions as well.
But this is about what I think.  I personally tend to sway towards the Biblical theory more than the scientific.  Mainly because the foundations of my religious beliefs and what I have committed my life to also dwell in the Bible.  Having chosen a career as a minister of music I look to the Bible for my answers and use science to support those answers.  When the two contradict I will choose to follow the Bible for my answer.
Fortunately I am not a scientist (Music minister actually) and because of that I will not have to deal with this question from other scientists in my life.  I will however have to justify my beliefs to people I am witnessing too and in that I think both careers face the same issue.
So could the world be billions of years old?  Yes.  I am not questioning that at all.  Could the world be only 8000 years old? I also see validity to that statement.  My next question is the reason for the whole debate.  Why does it matter? Will the foundations of my faith crumble if I find that without question the earth is billions of years old?  To many Christians it might but my faith runs deeper than that one question.  Frankly though, I think science would have a much harder time answering the opposite of that question than Christianity would.
To sum things up, I believe that the earth was created in seven days (with God’s union labor time off on the seventh!)  But I am fully willing to accept and actually research into why science believes that the earth is billions of years old.  Frankly, I think a lot of us will be wrong about a lot of things when we get to Heaven.  The ironic thing is that when we get there all these questions will seem meaningless once we stand in front of the Savior.  Sure we might get answers to the question, but who will care?

Forgetting the past

I went on vacation to Missouri a couple of weeks ago.  One day we went to my father’s Alma Mater.  There is a monument there from when Winston Churchill came and spoke at the school.  Obviously, this made the school very famous.  The speech came right after WWII in a very positive time in our nation.  Winston Churchill came to America and spoke of what had surpassed and what was to come.  He spoke of an Iron Curtain developing in the European nations.  A curtain that would divide free thought and Communism/Socialism.

Of course, at the time it was not completely understood the meaning of his words. After World War II, the spoils of war had to be divided between the Allies.  Germany was one of the countries that was wanted by both sides.  The Allies wanted to set up a democracy while the Russians wanted to add it to their ever-expanding empire.  Not to many years later, the world was facing exactly what Churchill said.   A curtain was indeed created though it was not made of iron, but of concrete.  In Berlin a wall was created that literally divided the city in two: a side of democracy, and a side of communism. That wall divided families, friends and all of German society for 30 plus years.

Imagine living in a city, only to find out that on August 16, 1961, you cannot go across a border to see your parents. They were on the communist side of the wall and the Russian controlled side had decided to close off from all outsiders.  On that day you would find out that you would probably never see your family again.  Even letters were not an option.  They were shut off from radios, mail, television, practically any form of communication that would connect them to the outside world.  Anyone attempting to defect from the Communist side would be shot on sight.  Barbed wire fences and mine fields were just a few of the things that kept them in.

The wall would finally come down in 1989.  With the fall of communism, families could finally be re-united after 28 years of separation.  This was a huge moment in the history of the world.  It perfectly captured the power of democracy.  Freedom will always win over control.
Once that wall fell in 1989, a few pieces of the wall were purchased from Berlin and brought to my father’s College.  This piece of the wall at his College still stands today as a reminder of what we once faced as a human race.

You may say, “What’s the big deal, it’s a piece of concrete”?  I would agree to a point.  When I first approached it, there was nothing spectacular about it.  It is a standard concrete pylon wall.  It is probably 10 feet tall and each section was about 4 feet wide.  It is not what makes up the wall that makes it imposing; it is the emotion it brings that goes beyond itself.

The first side I saw was a blank concrete wall.  I then walked to the other side and saw something that startled me.  It was covered with German graffiti.  Graffiti saying everything from statements opposing the communist government too shouts of freedom.  I read a sign placed next to the wall that explained why this is.  The people on the free side of the wall could walk right up to it and do whatever they wanted to. The people on the other side however, they could not get anywhere near the wall without getting shot.  Many people did try of course, and the many of them failed.

Although the communist side was blank, it carried the blood and pain of many people.  It was almost as if the blank concrete was shouting out what they could not say.  Their cries for freedom are even heard today.  This simple concrete wall, this divider of worlds, this very thing is what explains the differences between freedom and oppression.

But there is a truth to the statement: if you forget the past, you are doomed to repeat it.  We must never forget the tragedy of WWII and the almost 50 years that followed it.  We must move on as a race of beings that let people make their own decisions.

I don’t want to take my grandchildren to memorials of things I lived through.

Ambition and Change

I watched “Memoirs of a Geisha” this evening.  Oddly enough, it is one of my favorite movies.  If you know me well then you would know that being a big scifi fan, this is in a genre that is leaps and bounds away from what I normally watch.

In case you haven’t seen it, Memoirs is about a little Japanese girl in the 1930’s and 1940’s named Chiyo who is from a poor fishing family.  At the age of 9 Chiyo is sold to a Kyoto Geisha house.  A Geisha was considered to be a living piece of art in Japan at that time.  Geisha excelled in the arts and social graces.  They were invited to parties to entertain the guests with music, art, and social commentary.  In a way it was a style of celebrity in Japanese culture.  At the Kyoto Geisha House Chiyo endures a harsh life as a slave until one lucky opportunity enables her to become the most renowned Geisha in all of Japan.  Unfortunately it is a short-lived fame because WWII comes along and well, you know how Japan turned out from that.   A couple years after the war, she comes back and finds that the whole world of the Geisha has changed.  After the war a Geisha is no longer a cultural icon but a simple whore who entertains American soldiers.  At this point she realizes that things will never be the way she remembered them.  At her saddest moment, she has the opportunity of a lifetime yet again.  The man who she has always loved and helped her to become a Geisha in the first place finally takes her hand in marriage.

There are many themes that this movie speaks to but there are a few that really stick out to me:

1.    Chiyo worked very hard in spite of her circumstances
Chiyo was put into a situation that she did not choose.  In spite of her situation, she took hold of an opportunity.  Once Chiyo was finally given the opportunity to become a Geisha, she was behind the other children.  She worked very hard to become the top Geisha in the country.  Oftentimes I feel like I have all these great ideas of things I want to do with my life, but I do so many other things that when I get home and have the opportunity to work on those things, I have no energy to do them.  Between being a college senior, working at my church, and working at the radio station, I am oftentimes too tired to even exercise.  The other things take a back seat even further and I am often left feeling like opportunities are slipping through my fingers.

2.    Chiyo did not create something new, she became the best at what already existed.
I often feel like I want to do a podcast or more work on this blog, but I question the worth because, as it is often said in the media world. I feel like I am just adding noise to the current signal instead of creating a new one.  What is the point of doing something that has already been done?  If Chiyo believed that she would have never become what she did.  She worked very hard on what she did and became the  new thing because she was unique and talented in what she did.

3.    Other people do not always have it better.
If people saw how Chiyo lived once she became a Geisha, they might have thought that she had a perfect life with everything handed to her on a silver platter.  Having watched the movie I know that this is not true.  Chiyo lived in poverty until she was nine only to be sold as a slave.  Until she was a teenager she was a servant and was often blamed for things that were not her fault (and subsequently whipped for them).
I know that I tend to look at other people and think that they must have it all together (Everyone does in reality).  But the truth is that we all have things in our lives that we are not proud off.  Even the person who appears to have it all has those private moments where they are sad, lonely, or more.  So do not focus on what you cannot do.  Instead, focus on what you can and become the best at it that you can.

4.    Things will change; you can stay in the past, or move on.
When Chiyo comes back she sees a world completely different from the one she left.  At first she has a hard time accepting this new world and in reality, we as the viewer do also.  She eventually comes to the realization that although things change, they are not always for the worse, just different.
We as the viewer experience things in the same way.  I know so many people who live their life everyday wishing that things were like the “old days”.  We often obsess over our mistakes and regrets from the past so much that we do not enjoy the present.  As Pumba in “The Lion King” says, “You’ve got to put your behind in the past.”  He had it backwards but I’m sure you get the point.  Move forward and learn from your mistakes, but do not let them take away any more of your life than they already have.

So I know that movies are Hollywood’s take on real life and from what I hear, this movie is nothing like the book.  In spite of that, I think that there are some real life lessons to be gleaned from this movie.  The viewer experiences Chiyo’s climb to success and her fall from a perfect life and feel the emotions that come along with it. There are only a few movies that inspire me to be more than who I am.  This is one of them.

The “Me” Generation

There are many times at my church when an older person will go out of their way to make sure that I am okay.  They tend to think about me and make sure that everything is going great in my life.  Many times I am humbled by the amount of care other people will take in my well being when I have not thought of them in the same way

A friend and I were talking about the upcoming election and started talking about how so many people care about what the next President will do for them. What is it about this current generation that is so obsessed with itself?  I must admit that I have caught myself every once in a while looking at what can benefit me and me alone.  We have to admit that we live our lives from one perspective.  We can never truly see what it is like to “live in someone else shoes” so to speak.  Because of that this selfish attitude is sort of understood.

But regardless of that, this generation seems to be far more focused on itself than previous generations have been.  What could cause that?  I think personally it is because our parents taught us since we were little that we were going to be the most amazing thing since sliced bread (100% whole wheat nonetheless). And except for a lucky few we find out that all of us did not end up being the astronaut we dreamed of in first grade, but in spite of that we hold onto this selfish attitude that we deserved something anyways.  We feel like we are something special when you could compare any random person to another and besides little unique things about that person, we are very similar in many ways.

I say all of that to say this: I need to wake up every day and focus on how I can help others.  Maybe by doing that I can in turn help myself.  I guess that is sort of selfish now that I think about it.

Ever wanted slow food? (The Microwave conundrum)

Would you go to a restaurant if it were called slow-food?  “Your food is cooked to quality and delivered without sacrificing any aspect of your dining experience” would be the slogan.  After about two days I have the feeling that restaurant would be closed because of lack of business.  One day for people to realize the service is slow, and one day to tell all their friends.

Why are we such an impatient society?  I have worked at two fast food restaurants in my life.  At both of these jobs I worked the drive through quite a bit.  These jobs both required the cashiers to keep a certain time on every order that came through the drive-thru.    If we did not keep this time down below a certain average we were reprimanded.  The one thing that I never understood is why people would get such an attitude if their food is not handed to them the moment they come to the window.  Oftentimes we were apologizing to the customer if their food took longer than five minutes and offered them free food. FIVE MINUTES!  We have become so impatient and selfish that it has trickled down into every facet of our lives.  Even the fast food drive-thru.

We live in a society so adept at speed that we as human beings cannot keep up.  I call it the microwave conundrum.  We have gotten so impatient as people that we cannot wait to cook something in the microwave because it takes too long.  We have to have our food, internet, phone conversations, bills, entertainment, etc. instantly.

Long gone are the nights spent at home with family.  The mother cooking an oven cooked meal and having the whole family together at the kitchen table.  Each child telling his mother and father what events happened at school during the day and every enjoying a thing called “family time”.

To be honest I have become subject to this as well. (We all have to some degree if we are honest.)  I have a kitchen table in my apartment that I have eaten at a total of three times.  Two of those were when company was over.  I far prefer to eat my meals either in front of the T.V. or in front of the computer where I can gather new information or entertainment while I enjoy my meal.  I cannot just sit at a table and enjoy a dinner.

But what has this done to society?  We have become so impatient and selfish about “Our” time that we forget to spend it with others or for others.  Take some time this week to sit down with your family and enjoy their company.  Because remember that people are only in your life for so long.  When they are gone the e-mails/ cell phone/work will still be sitting right where you left it to come back to.  And I promise that although you might miss your computer, it could care less about you.  When was the last time your computer called and said it missed you?

On Sushi…

Isn’t it amazing how talented Japanese people are?  They can convince people to do the strangest things.  How many people have you convinced to take a raw piece of meat, covered in random adornments to make it look pretty, and shove it in their mouth?

Sushi literally means “food art” in Japanese and is actually a fine art of the culture that many people study for years.  My taste buds were not to convinced of this “artistry” as it were though.  Sushi to me was not “food art” but more of a stretching of my boundaries.

On my 21st birthday my parents and I went to a sushi bar to enjoy my “birthday meal” having never even known that such a restaurant existed.  Surprisingly, what I ordered was quite a unique experience and it made me think of how rarely I try new things.

As human beings we tend to fall into a routine because it is comfortable.  I can’t count how many times I have eaten at the same restaurants, driving by the ones I would love to try but do not want to take the risk of not enjoying what I get.  I can narrow it down even more to the items I tend to buy off of restaurant menus.  If it’s Mexican food, it’s Chicken Fajitas.  If it’s Wendy’s, it’s a “Crispy Chicken Deluxe combo”.  Even when I’m making a sandwich it always ends up being a ham and cheese sandwich with spicy mustard.

Our comfort zone keeps us safe.  We often miss out on so many opportunities in life because we do not want to step out of our comfort zone.  If I had never stretched out of my comfort zone I would have never known the joy of eating sushi.  Although it was not my favorite food, the experience was wonderful and I would be fully willing to do it again.  I almost missed out on that.

I think this “comfort zone” bleeds into many parts of each person’s life.  Your sushi may be your job, it may be your creative style, it may even be where you live or a vacation you always wanted to take.

So be brave, try some sushi tomorrow.

Passionate people

I did an interview at the radio station yesterday involving a young man working on an exciting project in the area.  He was so passionate about what he was saying that I would have to stop him during the interview at points because we were running out of time.  He was beaming from ear to ear just to be talking about the program he was involved in.  The man only intended to move here for 3 months and has been doing this job now for over 4 years!

It is a wonderful blessing to truly find what it is that you are passionate about.  I know for a fact that this man wakes up everyday and feels a fulfilment in his life that very few people will ever experience. Each one of us should strive to find our passions.  I understand that finding and enjoying your passions generally does take sacrifice.  But with only one life to live, do you really want to say, “I wish I had done ________” when it is all said and done?  I for one would rather come to the end my life knowing that I had explored all the possibilities of who I could be.

Why is music different?

Working in Christian radio I often hear people make comments about Christian artists like, “Why did they sing a secular song?” or “they must have sold out to secularism because they were signed by Sony records”.  These kinds of statements have always baffled me. 

If someone entered a career as a vacuum salesman, would someone comment that he was “selling out” God’s plan for his life because he was not selling Christian vacuums? (work with me)  What he sells does define him to a point (more on that later) but it does not effect his belief system.  Those vacuums do not change his beliefs in any way.  He will live his life the way he wants to regardless of whether he is a good salesman or a bad salesman. 

Now when it comes to Christians singing secular music the same things applies.  If someone is truly a Christian then the music they sing will fit with their worldview.  They would not sing something that would compromise their beliefs. 

I know quite a few artists that looked into working in the Christian music versus secular and after weighing the pros and cons decided to be a secular artist with uplifting lyrics.  Why you ask?  Because this allows them to sing quality moral music at venues that would never have a “Christian” artist.  After their concert they then have the opportunity to speak with people about Christ that would never be in a situation to hear about Him otherwise.

I believe that we should be bringing up quality Christains who sing music instead of people who sing “Christian music”. That mentality is the fight that churches have fought for many years.  It is the mindset that people come to church and then go live their lives during the week.  This “dualism” is hurting Christianity faster than anything else. 

The secular world sees people who live a life completely different from beliefs that they say they agree with.  This shows non-Christians a hypocritical lifestyle that turns them off to Christianity.  This applies to music for some reason as well.  Music might be looked at differently than other mediums because it seems to be more closely connected to the human soul than many other things in life.

So, be a Christian who happens to sing, not a Christian singer.