The Gates…(immediate thoughts I’m pondering)
So today I’m doing something I’ve never done before. I’m blogging less than an hour after hearing E3′s Lead Pastor, Mark McNees, give a talk about the gates of hell.
Seriously…
It was in relation to the passage in Matthew concerning Jesus asking His followers “Who do you say that I am?” in chapter 16. The interesting part is Simon Peter responds by saying that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. This is the first recorded declaration that Peter makes concerning just who Jesus is.
Jesus responds by saying that on this Rock I will build my church.
It’s a statement that I’ve read many times but missed the point of until this morning. Mark explained that the area where they were conversing was a place where there was a pagan church for the god of fertility. Furthermore, the pagan church was built into a cliff where there was a crack and it was believed in that area that it was the gates of hell. That all the demons, misfortune, etc. came from this place.
Jesus is referring to two things by saying that on this Rock I will build my church.
1. The Greek translations says petros (which means small stone) and it infers that Peter, the disciples, etc. will be the foundation of the Church.
2. (These are my thoughts here) I also think Jesus is communicating that on that very spot where men worshiped a false god of fertility and it was believed the gates of hell opened, he would build His Church.
The more I think about it this morning, the symbolism is building in my mind and heart. In the very heart of darkness, the most undesirable of places, Christ was establishing His church.
So where does that leave us?
Are we taking the light of Jesus and establishing the foundation of His church where the hearts of darkness have temporarily overcome? Are we going into areas where the undesirables live?
Are we too safe?
As a very new project is coming on the horizon in the coming weeks, I will keep asking these questions.
The big question I have now is…..are we becoming the foundation?
How writing a football column saved my creativity….(or art revisited)
I’ve always been very critical of music. Maybe it’s because my whole life I’ve been so invested in it. For whatever reason criticism is the knee jerk reaction to any music you listen to. Is it good? Is it bad? What will my friends say if I like it and they don’t?
Go on any message board, Facebook page, Twitter feed, you’ll see people being critics towards everything. They have their opinion and by golly their opinion is the gospel truth.
I used to think this way as well but over the past year something happened. I started creating more intently and a lot of what I created was rejected or dismissed. It wasn’t so much that people didn’t like it, but that people rejected it without thinking about it. So I gave up on writing and essentially started existing. Then a funny thing happened.
I started writing a football column.
It took me writing a football column to get my creative mojo back because I had truly lost my creative functionality and I became a very miserable person. The feedback I received from some people regarding the football column got me excited about creating again. Writing the football blogs and them being appreciated got me thinking that maybe just maybe it was time to get creative again.
I then realized that wasn’t the point. The point is that I was trying to live up to the expectations of critics.
The real idea behind art is for an artist to express what he or she is feeling and to share that feeling with others. That’s hard to do. For an artist to put his work out there to be consumed by the masses is a risk. The risk is that his art will be rejected. Therein lies the problem.
I realized the criticism isn’t just ingrained; it’s a defense mechanism. All people are creative in some way but the problem is most people do not take the risk of sharing their creativity. They themselves are too afraid their art will be criticized so the defense mechanism is to point blame at others and say what’s wrong with their art.
So what’s the solution?
For me, it was to let go of the fear of criticism. I resolved within myself that God created me to be who I am. The creative parts, the bad parts, and the confused hurt parts. I now feel lucky that I rest comfortably in my creativity. Do other people think it’s good? Some do. Others, not so much and that’s ok. I truly do not care anymore if people don’t like what I create. If I like it and it becomes an expression of how I’m feeling, then it is considered good.
I have finally reached a point in my life where I can truly say, the criticism of my “art” by others no longer effects my self worth and for me that’s freedom.
How did it happen? Writing a football column. It saved my creativity and the mojo is back and it’s a beautiful thing.
I am a Rugged Maniac
Becoming a Rugged Maniac
Recently I made the rather stupid decision to sign up and run a 5k obstacle course designed by Navy Seals. No joke. I’ve been out of shape for a year and I needed motivation to get myself exercising and living healthy again. I dislike running in gene
ral and my preferred method of exercise is playing sports. For the past couple of years I’ve been working 70 hour weeks and time has not opened to where I can do that. This presented a problem as I have two jobs where I sit….a lot. So in the past year I’ve gained 30 pounds. Over the fall I started looking at myself in the mirror and not liking what’s happening to my pudgy gut. The problem is when you haven’t exercised regularly in a while, it’s hard to get motivated. Enter Rugged Maniac.
I needed a goal to motivate me to get in shape. The chance to run this course and do it with some friends of mine was a double win. So, I signed up and I started training. It took a while to get in a groove but once I did I went close to three weeks running every n
ight. I finally hit the 5k mark the week of the race and thought I was ready. I wasn’t….
There were several miscalculations the biggest of which was me wearing military BDU pants. Had I worn shorts, I would have finished much faster than I did. Running in sand is difficult in shorts. In COMPLETELY SOAKED pants, it’s near impossible.
Regardless, I finished without stopping. I didn’t lay on the ground during the race, I didn’t vomit; I finished.
I was fortunate enough that in my final moments Dan Meyer was cheering me on and running the last few yards and I tiredly ran my way over the finish line. It gave me the motivation to finish.
So where does that live me now? I’m still 25 pounds over my ideal weight I feel comfortable with. To deal with this, I decided to join a gym. How to find the time to workout 5 days a week was the challenge. Enter YouFit. A gym opened up right next to E3 and it is only going to cost me $10/month. Bonus….they are open to midnight most of the nights I’m over the direction. I can now work out somewhere near where I’m already going a good portion of my week.
So, thank you Rugged Maniac for motivating me to get in shape, and thank you for not letting me quit now that it is over. Very soon, I will be a REAL Rugged Maniac.
