The next piece of the puzzle

Sometimes putting together the pieces of one's life is like putting together a puzzle. One piece fits another, then another, and soon you have a little section in the middle or a good corner to work out from. Other times, it's like putting together a puzzle where each piece seems to fit the piece you are trying physically, but you can tell from the visual pattern that it certainly doesn't belong. You try each piece and they "fit" but they aren't right. Fortunately, things have seemed the former rather than the latter for me, lately.

For those who didn't read my previous post on this issue, this one dove-tails with this one (or this one, for you Facebookers).

A group of us Short Bussers were out helping a friend with his house, since he has cancer and is weak from chemo treatments. I was working at clearing moss from his roof with a friend when I began wondering: "How does all this help make him feel, right now?" and "How will he feel once we all leave and go home?" Then, I began to probe myself: "How would I feel if I were him, getting all of this help?" "How would I feel when everyone left?" I answered those questions with disturbing honesty to myself. I would feel great when everyone was there helping me out. However, when everyone went home, I'd feel empty and sad. I probed deeper and found that I was attempting to make up for what I lack in family by expecting it to come from other places. It wasn't coming from them, so anything anyone else does for me is not enough to make up for it. Ergo: I am always moving from a place of dissatisfaction and am never satisfied. I need to move from that place of appreciation for whatever anyone does for me, and that will then fill me. That was pretty significant.

It isn't the whole picture...but it sure is a good start.

Blessings

The Kurt Cobain Guide to Success

Sounds like an oxy-moron, I know, but look at what Nirvana became! It was a major juggernaut in the music business at the time of Cobain's tragic death, and it changed the face of rock in the 90's (a vast understatement). The first four pointers below, I pulled from a website called Lateral Action, which is all about entrepreneurialism and innovation (if you're starting to think about inventing, innovation or starting a business, this is a website you can't afford to ignore). The fifth one was my own.

1. Break the status quo.

2. Mix innovation with fundamentals. It make you (or your product) so distinct from others, yet not alienate the core audience.

3. Bake the product into the marketing. Make something that your customers/target audience has to tell others about, or are incredibly motivated to pass along.

4. Be careful who you marry.

5. Don't do drugs. In the end, it leads you down the road to nowhere and abandons you.

I'm working hard at thinking on these things, and I would hope that my friends would be to. The road to freedom is paved by working for yourself. Relying on others for a paycheck merely provides a very false sense of security. You're always expendable, unless you work for you.

Moving from a new place

I was listening to "Talk of the Nation" on NPR today, and the guest was an author who wrote a book aimed toward those coming out of prison and looking to succeed "on the outside." At one point, he talked about "moving from a different place," the idea being that most people who spend a substantial amount of time in the clink always relate everything back to prison. They talk about it in therapy and support groups. They think about it when reacting to situations they encounter. A story always seems to come up about when they were in the can. They think about that one time this thing happened in the courtyard. You can't do that if you want to succeed. You must find a different frame of mind to "move from" to relate to the world around you.

It brought up something for me. Brace yourself for a "How an episode of Star Trek changed my life" story. Call me a geek, but the themes are significant. As a matter of fact, don't call me a geek. Just listen:

In the inceptional episodes (it was a two-parter) of the series "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (the best series, by the way), the captain, Benjamin Sisko, is traveling through a worm hole to the Delta Quadrant (a worm hole is a passage through the space-time continuum...just Google it) that was just discovered. They make it, and on the return trip, the ship is stopped at some "place" and he gets out and has an encounter with these "entities" which interact with him through his memories. He goes somewhere in his memory and these entities take on the "cloak" of the people there. The memories keep changing and he goes to several different ones. However, they keep ending up at the tragic memory of where he lost his wife in an attack on the ship they were traveling in. After ending up there for the third or fourth time, he angrily asks the entities "Why do you keep bringing me back here?" Their reply is striking and unexpected: We are not taking you anywhere. You are the one moving. Why do you keep bringing us back here?

That question struck me then, and it made me realize that it was I who was choosing to keep going back to the memories of hurts and wrongs. I kept living in the pain by my own decision. But I wasn't sure what it meant I needed to do. Listening to NPR today cued me into that answer. I need to choose to move from that new place. I need to find that place of love and peace, and go out in my life from there.

Now the questions of "Where is that place?" and "How do I learn to move from there?" are what I'm faced with. That's pretty exciting, because I've been sitting on the "What do I need to do?" for about a year.

Answers are long in coming. However, that's just part of the journey. I can live with answers that take a while. Besides, the quick ones are rarely worth having.

Blessings

Pretentious Matilda

One of my favorite songs of all time has got to be Waltzing Matilda.  It's just an out-right blast to sing with a group of friends.  It gets even more fun to sing when a few pints are involved.

So, I'm blowing through Youtube looking for a good, well done rendition of Waltzing Matilda.  I'm having a tough time finding one, though.  Seriously.  It's a bunch of pretentious crap.  Every video is of someone trying to be overly artistic with it, or "soulful".

Note to everyone alive...ever: Waltzing Matilda is meant to be sung after you are a couple pints in (or as if you're a couple pints in), belted out at the top of your lungs.  A good rendition means you have a talented singing voice and this comes through while you're singing it out.  Not like this.  That is just annoying.  Nor like this.  Especially not like this.  Do it something like THIS!  Is it really all that difficult?

Thank you.  We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

Can Jesus and Christian Radio Co-Exist?

This time around, I'm putting up a post by a guy I admire.  I read his blog all the time.  I'll have some new stuff up soon, but this just seemed poigniant and appropriate.  I hope you all are touched by this as I was.

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(I should note, for those unfamiliar:  My current job is as a syndicated morning radio host on a Christian radio network.)

Dan Kimball wrote this book They Like Jesus But Not the Church.  Or something like that.  It's a great book.

I mean, I suspect it is.  I haven't read it.  I don't think I need to. I get it:  People outside the church think Christians are judgmental, simplistic, etc. etc.  Got it.  But Jesus?  He's challenging, revolutionary, fascinating, insightful, mind-blowing, mysterious. 

After working in both mainstream and Christian radio, I think I'm ready to write my own book about the many I encounter:  They Like Church But Not Jesus.

I mean it.  I wrote before:  Based on my observation, Jesus is simply not the most influential guy around.  I've seen it over, and over, and over.  In fact, I'd say it's a theme at my job:  People just aren't that into Jesus.  He ticks people off.

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I've been corrected many times by Christians -- after reading something Jesus actually said.  They don't like it.  I'm serious.  "You know, all the commandments can be summed up with love the Lord your God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.  Jesus said that, and..."

Ringing phones.   "Hello?"

"You forgot one:  Evangelize."

Jesus stands corrected.

Ring.

"Well, it's not quite that simple, you see, because..."

No, no.  It can't be that simple.  Not here. 

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You see, we actually talk about Jesus quite a bit on the show.  In fact -- and I've been around a bit, including doing mornings at the single most-listened-to CCM station in the country -- and I've never, ever heard a show that talks more about Jesus.  We do some bizarre stuff, too (like my award-winning game "Is My Head in a Case?" or playing "Rapper's Delight" in German, etc.)  but we talk about Jesus more than any music show I've ever heard.

(Not bragging here.  I just think we're doing something kind of experimental.  If you're in Christian radio, reading this, and you're doing the same thing -- that's cool.  I just don't get out much.)

So more Jesus...but less Christian?  How can this be?

I'll connect the dots for me:  The things Jesus said, the way of life he gave us, his themes and priorites -- they're simply don't seem very Christian. 

If we were to sprinkle in some more hey-I'm-on-your-team-here insider terms, or talk about how America is under attack by (you name it) or just stick to quoting Paul, even -- problem solved.   Now it's Christian.  Jesus?  Mmm -- not so much.

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I know you think I may be exaggerating.  I'm not.  Not in the least.  Today, I read where Jesus told us that when we're praying, we shouldn't babble on "like the pagans do". 

I got three very Christian emails of protest, citing scripture to rebut Jesus. 

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No big deal, but -- so you know -- it happens again and again.  This is where my "If Jesus Had a Blog" stuff comes from, by the way.  Real conversations with learned Christians, and real objections to stuff Jesus said. 

People do love the Bible.  But not the Gospels.  They quote Biblical stuff to me all the time, but it's not ever stuff Jesus said. 

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I can't tell you how thankful I am for my job.  Ironically -- and all of us here love irony -- I effectively killed my ambition a couple years ago, and since, my platform has grown.  It happened immediately after I stopped caring.

I can't believe how understanding my bosses have been.  Those of you who are understandably down on Christian radio would be heartened by some of what transpires where I work. 

And we get a remarkable number of emails/facebook messages/texts from people who say, "I have never thought about Jesus this way before.  Thank you."  It can bring tears to a guy's eyes.  I wish those people called more on the phone, to be honest, but most people will never call a radio station and talk to an on-air "personality", especially when his head is in a case.

So that's just it.  You've got "How can he say that?" on one side, and "I've never thought about Jesus like this before," on another, and there's quite a bit of both, and hundreds of thousands of listeners, and -- I just think something's going to happen.  Maybe I'm nuts. 

We've had conversations that, I'm quite sure, have never been held on Christian radio before.  Sometimes, several of them a day. 

The scary part is:  I think some people are starting to get it.  How long can that continue?

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I have to pray every day for God to help me love these people, the frustrating ones, the Christians bugged by Jesus-talk.   I've told my wife, and a few friends, that eventually they will come for me.  If I keep talking about Jesus, and keep probing the stuff he said, they're going to come for me.  I'm only half-joking.

I'm not worried about the A.C.L.U.  It'll be religious leaders.  I think there's precedent for that.

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Please pray for me.  I'm not writing this because I'm desperate, or there's anything new here.  I just take my job very seriously.  It matters a LOT to me what people think of Jesus.  At the same time, I always have my own stupid concerns about me. 

I want to do great radio, not great Christian radio. 

And I want to convey how remarkable Jesus is.  How smart he is.  How he understands our nature.  How infuriating he can be to those in power.  I want to subvert a culture that turns the church into an incredibly expensive and remarkably harmless spectator sport.  I want people to understand how revolutionary the love of Jesus is. 

I don't want to preach at them.  I want to be a friend.  Doing this is really,really hard.  I know your job is hard, too.  Thing is, my job has an interesting, seeming, paradox:  If I focus a lot on Jesus, I'm going to upset a lot of Christians. 

I may not have put any of this very well, but please pray for me

So you think you want to be like Jesus?

Here are some tips for those Jesus die-hards who think they really want to be like Him.  Thanks to John Smulo for this list:

1. Get baptized by the craziest guy in town.

2. Say and do things that are guaranteed to make religious people want to kill you. Repeat again, and again, and again, and again, and again and don't stop unless forced.

3. Do amazing things for people and ask them to not tell anyone.

4. Hang out with the most despised, marginalized, looked down upon, and shunned people you can find.

5. When possible, forgive and restore people, even if they betrayed you.

6. Live in a way that provokes gossip.

7. Win the most grace competition.

8. Keep the party going. 

9. Serve people (note: nose plugs may be required).

10. If you're sad, cry.

11. Empower people to do the extraordinary.

12. Act like a rock star in a hotel temple.

13. Radically simplify theology.

14.Break human-made religious laws. Repeat consistently.

15.Prioritize the most important over the important.

16. Let women with questionable backgrounds pay your bills.

Not what you expected?  Isn't that the way that the people in Jesus's day reacted toward Him?  I love this list, and I want to be more like Jesus, for sure.

Jared needs...

I'm supposed to tag people who have to do this too, but I don't do that.  If you want to play along, awesome.  If not, good for you too.  If you're tagged, you tagged me, or I thought you'd find this funny.

Jared needs...

1. Jared needs to go! (the Subway one)

2. Jared needs to lay the smack down on these guys (already do on a daily basis)

3. Jared needs a lot more crotch room than you do (um...I won't dispute it)

4. Jared needs your support (always)

5. Jared needs to DIE! (Tell me what I did this time and let me get my sword)

6. Jared needs to kick it up a notch! (BAM!)

7. Jared needs tools

8. Jared needs a hyperbaric chamber

9. Jared needs to get Gus Frerotte the ball (Jared Allen of the Minnesota Vikings's defense, who is an awesome and fun crazy SOB)

10. Jared needs some playing time (do I ever)

11. Jared needs to be stopped! (NEVER!)

12. Jared needs to stop his useless, lie-gilled smear campaign (but I was having so much fun!)

13. Jared needs his own Supernatural episode to shine in (I'm already playing the part)

14. Jared needs to have his face crammed in (see #5)

15. Jared needs a heart transplant (great merciful crap! I only learned this now?!)

I bonused you five extra...you're welcome.