I'm that kid who Idolizes things

Who will I marry? Where is she? Why haven’t I found that one yet?
When will I find that job that will make me the most money?
Will I ever be famous?
What is on the TV tonight?
Any good movies playing?
Oh there’s a great concert in town this weekend? Should I go?

Things I ask myself a lot. Things I realize; now, that are not that important in the long run. I’m tired of chasing after things and losing my focus on the One who created me. On the One who saved my soul. It’s God who I should be chasing after and not be worried about the details. He’s got this. He created the world, I’m pretty sure he can take charge of my life.

“When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, ‘Come make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ Aaron answered them, ‘Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me,’ So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calk, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt’” - Exodus 32:1-4

What are idols? Or better yet, what are your idols? Fame, money, love, some person on TV that can sing really well? I often ask myself the same question. Do you have idols? More than likely you do; you just don’t want to admit it. Why? Well that’s simple… we don’t want to admit that we put other things before God. Often times we do it without even realizing it.

Stings, doesn’t it. It should. It’s hitting me pretty hard too, so you’re in good company. As I sat in Kairos this week I heard Pete Wilson; pastor of Cross Point Church in Nashville, speak on what he called “empty promises” Not just the title of his new book; but a recurring theme in everyone’s lives. We hate to admit when we put things before God, but it happens so naturally that we don’t even realize it until it is too late.

Fox has a show called “American Idol”. You may have heard of it. It you haven’t you either live under a rock or you just refuse to watch TV. Such great talent has come out of this show. For example Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Chris Daughtry. Why does this show exist? To find the best talent in America so that we can put them on a pedestal and “worship” them. These winners; or in Daughtry’s case 5th place runner up, have what it takes to make it in the music industry they just needed a little push to get them to where they are today. The title just goes to show that we as humans strive to have someone or something that we can put up and say “I want be like that” To have the money, fame, lifestyle. Why? Why do we constantly want this? Why can’t we be happy in our current situations? There’s a simple answer.

There’s this thing called the “American Dream” The Christian group Casting Crowns has a song with this title based off the whole premise of pursing the American dream. (I’m a music guy so I like to reference music/bands often. But I digress.) We are always striving to reach this goal. It becomes the idol in our lives a lot faster than we want to admit. In the song the band talks about how Jack works all day, working his fingers to the bone only to build his house on sand, metaphorically. He is striving for the American dream. It’s causing him to miss out on family functions, his children’s ball games, and even causing his relationship with the Lord to suffer. We should find satisfaction in the Lord and not money. Pete talked about this in his sermon. We can strive for the top rung in the ladder, but eventually someone will be better and younger, harder working and can do a better job than us. Finding satisfaction in our current situation should be sufficient enough on an Earthly stance.

In that song Jack puts his job before his family, but most importantly, he ranked his job and making more money just ahead of God. NOT GOOD! Nothing should be ahead of God. Why? Because God was, is and will always be ahead of EVERYTHING!

This world offers a lot of empty promises. If I can just get that promotion, if I can just make it to American Idol, if I can just discover the cure for cancer, if I can find that perfect wife. Now granted there are people out there who may not claim to feel this way, but they’re out there. Maybe even reading this blog. Who knows.

Having said all this I began to question a lot of things in my life. What do I put ahead of God? Sadly, I put a lot of things in front of God. He should rank number one on my list. ALWAYS. British singer Adele has had a number one album, 21, on the charts for a LONG time. It’s been on the charts for a very long time. Was it her goal to make this album stay in the top ten, heck the #1 spot, for so long? Probably not; maybe. She was writing through her heartbreak. Which in turn gave us some really great music. That girl can sing, no doubt about that. I’m not saying she didn’t hope for the number one spot, but I feel that God wants us to have that goal to keep Him in that number one spot. We should. It’s biblical. In Exodus, one of the ten commandments says “You Shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3) Simple enough. Simply said, simply put. So why is it so hard for us to follow this commandment?

Tuesday I sat at Kairos and begin to think about my life and some of the decisions I’ve made.
Why did I move to Nashville?
- Was it JUST because I really wanted to work in the FUGE office after camp?
- Was it because I was following my dreams of becoming the next big thing in Christian music?
- Was it because there might possibly be the woman of my dreams living here?
- What was my ultimate goal moving here?
- Was my decision God focused or selfish motives?

Honestly I can’t say that all of these questions have answers. Some of them do, some don’t. Did my motivations get in the way of God’s plan? Possibly. Maybe. Maybe not.

During the summer of 2011 I really began to listen to God and find His will for my life. This realization came while teaching the “discovering God’s will” track. When I found out they wanted me to lead this track I was a little upset, a little nervous and felt HIGHLY under qualified to lead this track. I now see why God wanted me to teach it. He wanted to teach me a little something about listening to Him and submitting to His plan.

As a child I wanted to be a teacher. Why? I hated school sometimes. Who knows, but when I got to college I really wanted to get into education. My sister told me I wasn’t smart enough to be a teacher. Hey blow to the confidence. She swears up and down she didn’t say it, but if she had it was a challenge. So I ended up in business administration program. Sure I learned a lot and I find myself daily being reminded of things we talked about whenever I’m at work or I go somewhere. It’s kind of annoying. On my graduation day I said “man I wish I had done education”. And my ever-so-supportive sister said “It’s about time you come around”…. but wait four years ago you said I wasn’t smart enough.. What gives? I finished school in December 2006 and it literally took 4.5 years for me to realize that God was teaching me a lesson in listening to him. While working through the track one week with my students and adults I realized that God had been calling me to work with students, not necessarily in full time ministry, but in the education field. So knowing that; I knew I had to get back into school. It hasn’t happened yet but I know that I need to jump on that train soon. I’m getting closer to 30 every day and I don’t want to procrastinate much longer.

After camp it was my goal to find an education program to plug into. I applied for Teach Across America, which I didn’t get. I started looking at schools that have masters degree programs in English education that I could work into without having to basically restart my undergrad program. There are some opportunities out there. I just have to really work through them all and listen to God on which one I really need to apply for. But I’ve lost focus. I let life happen and let this calling get away from me. How? Simple, I decided I wanted to move to Nashville, get a job, hang out with camp friends, sing/be discovered and really enjoy life. Only there’s a few problems with that. It seems like everything is working against me.

Is this God telling me that I wasn’t listening to Him? Is He teaching me a lesson? That I’ve yet to see. As of this very moment I’m no longer going to play around with my life. I’ve made that statement before, but I seriously mean it this time. I’m tired of constantly running around in circles chasing my tail, so to speak. Pete mentioned how life is like a carousel, and we think that maybe it’ll change the next time around. If we don’t get of the carousel we will never discover or see what life really has to offer. What God has to offer us.

I like to be in charge of things, especially my life. It’s hard to have someone else tell me what to do. I especially don’t like being told what to do by someone who, I feel, has no authority over me. But the thing about it is; God is the authority over my life. It is not my life to make decisions for. Man, that just punches me in the gut to even type it, I’m sure you’re this and thinking; that boy is messed up. Well guess what I’m ok with admitting it and I know that I’m not the only one. None of us have control of the situations that happen in our lives. Sure we make decisions about clothes, jobs, etc but are these God centered decisions or are they purely selfish motives. This is where free will steps in, but that’s not what I’m writing about.

There are a lot of empty promises out there. Money, fame, etc only offer temporary satisfaction. We can’t see the end result of them. We can’t see the outside of the box if we don’t get out of it and look. By that I mean that we should get out of our little self centered lives and focus on the greater purpose God has for our lives. Often times we want to put Him in a box and only pull Him out when we need him. Well guess what, we need Him ALL THE TIME!. So really he should never be in the box; we shouldn’t even have a box to put Him in. He’s not a little dog we tote around for everyone to see and squish and talk about how cute he is. No he’s the only thing in our lives that matter. Yes money, family and friends are important but they can not be our main focus. These things will always let us down, empty promises, but God never fails. He never lets us down. He knows what’s going to happen so why shouldn’t we put our trust in him? Why shouldn’t we put our trust in Him and let Him be the focus of our lives?

Don’t give up on the dreams, goals you have, but please make sure that God is the head of those plans. Even if we think that it’s God centered, is it really or is that an excuse we Christians make to make it ok? Don’t make God an excuse make him the reason. Let the Lord be your focus, let Him lead your path. Let Him be the promise that is never empty.

Former Christian band Audio Adrenaline has a song title “Good Life” In the chorus it says
      “ This is the good life   
         I’ve lost everything   
         I could ever want    
         and ever dream of.   
         This is the good life   
         I’ve found everything   
         I could ever need           
         here in your arms”


Can I truly sing that or say that and mean it? It is my hope that through writing this blog, mostly for myself, that I can re-valuate my life and refocus on what the Lord has for my life. I shouldn’t be scared to let go and let God.

“what good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” - Mark 8:36