Who I Am

I've been making some decent progress on my bucket list lately. The book I've been working on for the past year and half, Nerdvotional, is finally published, so I'm officially an Author... always wanted to say that. I kind of imagined there'd be more cardigan wearing and prolonged moments of contemplation with a steaming coffee in my hand, but it still feels AMAZING.

Side note: we're doing a Nerdvotional release party, and you're invited!

Turns out, there's a few steps involved in publishing a book. I think I read the thing over a dozen times, cover to cover. The good news is, I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. And I'm even more excited to see where it goes from here. I wrote it out of a mix of inspiration and pain from the loss of my good friend so it's always a little vulnerable to just put something out there that you poured your heart into for the general public to scrutinize. My hope and prayer is that it goes places other books couldn't, meets people right where they're at, and then gives them a big awkward bear hug.

Another bucket list item I made progress on recently is Glory Labs. This one is a little less tangible than a book but it's something I've been dreaming about for a long time. I've always wanted a means to share and collaborate on all of the creative ideas that churn around in my noggin, and I think there are other creatives out there in the world with the same predicament. It bugs me that there are artists stuck in business casual with no easy outlet for their passions and the things that give them energy so that's where Glory Labs came from. And it wasn't just me thinking of it. Glory Labs is the co-brainchild of myself and my amazing wife, Ellen, and we've been so blessed to have our close friends, Zack and Christina Smith, join us to launch it off this year. Each of our team members are creative engines, capable of world-shaping ideas in and of themselves.

One of the things we've started doing at Glory Labs is monthly Challenges, where we present a theme to the community and see what creative works people can come up with by the end of the month. This month's theme is "Who I Am", and this blog is actually my submission for the challenge. This is one of the ways I share "Who I Am" with the world.

There's something about the creative process that I find addicting. Whether I'm inventing new sounds for a Dr4gon Dr0p track, coming up with new analogies to convey my points, or even messing around in PowerPoint to tell a story with slides, I just love it. Few other activities connect me to my Maker stronger than that process. I think that's just how He wired me.

These projects and creative outlets are representations of who I am. I'm not sure where they'll take me next, but that's half the fun.

The Power of Words

You have a superpower. In case you didn't know. It's probably one of the most powerful forces known to man. And it's hiding in your mouth.

Have you ever heard of Daniel Kish? He's been on a whole slew of shows and documentaries for his remarkable ability. Here's a video of Daniel talking about it on the TED stage.

Remarkable right? A blind human that can effectively echolocate like a bat.

But what stands out to me about his story is not necessarily his ability but how he acquired it. Daniel had remarkable parents. They never limited him in what they allowed him to do and how they spoke about him. If he wanted to climb a tree, they let him climb a tree, and fall out of it like every other child does. He wasn't told being blind was a limitation and therefore he never behaved like it was, thus unlocking new abilities and possibilities that other blind people never discover.

"They [Daniel's parents] understood that ignorance and fear were but matters of the mind and the mind is adaptable. They believed that I should grow up to enjoy the same freedoms and responsibilities as everyone else... They put my freedom first before all else because that is what love does.” - Daniel Kish

They helped a blind man see by the power of encouragement.

"It's impressions about blindness that are far more threatening to blind people than the blindness itself." - Daniel Kish

You have that same power. You can speak things into existence.

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit." Proverbs 18:21

Take a look at how powerful God's words are:

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day." -Genesis 1:1-5 (NKJV)

Did you catch that? How did God create light? By speaking the words "Let there be light". If you're familiar with the rest of Genesis, he goes on to create the land, sea, stars, and all the creatures that same way. God's words formed our reality. What we know to be physical existence came from words spoken in the spiritual. Deep.

When God speaks, life happens. And it is good. 

Let's fast forward a little bit in that same chapter...

"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." - Genesis 1:27 (NKJV)

If God made us just like him, then our words can do the same thing. That means we can speak realities into existence. Whoa.

"But God was speaking from a spiritual realm." you retort. Very astute of you. You've been listening well.

"For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus." -Ephesians 2:6 (NLT)

There you have it. We too speak from a spiritual place because we are raised from dead along with Jesus and seated in heavenly realms. Your words come from heavenly realms. Pretty sweet if you ask me.

It may sound crazy, but think about it. Have you ever met someone who has been verbally abused? You can physically see the tole that words have taken on their body. Their whole demeanor reflects the damage. They may be slumped over, have bags under their eyes, arms crossed, and in a defeated posture. Or on the flip side perhaps you've seen someone who's been consistently encouraged. They walk confidently with their chin up, have a glowing smile on their face, and a certain brightness to their eyes.

Just like Daniel Kish's parents, we have the power to change the trajectory of peoples' lives just with how we speak about them.

There's power infused in the words that you use. 

Let's ask Science what it thinks about all this, shall we?

A German Philosopher from the mid-nineteenth century named Lazarus Geiger studied a culturally isolated tribe. He showed them colors side-by-side, and found that they had not yet made words for green or blue. It was only when Geiger showed them the colors green and blue together and gave them a word for blue that they were finally able to distinguish them. It was as if the couldn't see these colors until they had a word for them.

This is a concept called "linguistic relativity". Basically, words and language have an effect on how we think about and see the world around us. You probably think in English, right? The act of naming and describing things brings definition where previously there was none.

For example, when I see someone's hair I think "they have brown hair". When my wife, a trained hair stylist, sees someone's hair she thinks "They must color their hair with level 5 brown, have damaged roots, and could use a reconditioner to bring back their highlights." Totally made that up. She and every other hairstylist are probably laughing their butts off right now.

My point is, until you have language to describe something, you don't see it the way others might. Until you tell someone what you see in them, they might not ever realize the possibility exists for their future.

Are you convinced yet that you have a superpower?

You may have heard this saying growing up: "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me." We used this phrase to show how tough we were when the name calling started but it's a big fat lie. Words can hurt, and on a deeper level than a flesh wound.

This whole topic of "The Power of Words" is actually from a message I gave a Freedom Church last Sunday. During service I asked our Usher to pass out some stones that I had collected from the magical land of my front yard. Then, in a daring move with everyone holding rocks, I described how "stoning" is a form of capital punishment still practiced in some areas of the world today whereby a group throws stones at a person until they die. The reason this form of punishment was chosen was because no one individual among the group could be identified as the one who kills the subject.

This is the danger of an errant tongue. It's easy to throw out an insult when among the safety of a group but we never know how much damage it is causing. Some people go through life taking blow after blow from words being slung at them but it just takes one to speak life and encouragement to start reversing the effects (see Jesus speaking to the woman caught in adultery in John 8).

"Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them." -Ephesians 4:29 (NLT)

In service, I told everyone to consider the weight of the stone - how it could be used to inflict harm or used to build up - and how that relates to their words.

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can save or kill me.

My parents always told me "If you don't have something nice to say then don't say anything." Words of wisdom for sure. I believe the inverse is equally as important.

If you have something nice to say, SAY IT!  

For the love of donuts don't hold it in. There's not enough compliments in this world. You never know what that word of encouragement could turn into. It's like a seed planted and invested in someone else's life.

I'll conclude with this. Words are the result of what's going on inside.

"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." -Luke 6:45 NKJV

We must first win the battles taking place inside our minds, take captive the lies placed there by the enemy, and only let the good ones formulate into words. 

"...casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" -2 Corinthians 10:5 (NKJV)

Our ultimate goal should be that our thoughts match those of Jesus and that we view people and the world using the same words, the same definitions, the same heart he does.

"…But we have the mind of Christ." -1 Corinthians 2:16

My challenges to you:

• How do you talk about your circumstances? Are you hopeful?
• How do you talk about the people around you? Are you encouraging?
• How do you talk about yourself? Are you valuable in your own narrative?

Aliens & Origins

I listened to a This American Life podcast episode recently titled Fermi's Paradox. The theme of the episode was "Are we alone?" and the Fermi paradox section was specifically tackling that question from an intergalactic scale. 

Taking directly from the SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) website, Fermi's paradox goes like this:

Fermi realized that any civilization with a modest amount of rocket technology and an immodest amount of imperial incentive could rapidly colonize the entire Galaxy. Within ten million years, every star system could be brought under the wing of empire. Ten million years may sound long, but in fact it's quite short compared with the age of the Galaxy, which is roughly ten thousand million years. Colonization of the Milky Way should be a quick exercise. 

So what Fermi immediately realized was that the aliens have had more than enough time to pepper the Galaxy with their presence. But looking around, he didn't see any clear indication that they're out and about. This prompted Fermi to ask what was (to him) an obvious question: "where is everybody?"

Fermi wasn't asking where in the galaxy are these aliens, he was implying that maybe they aren't out there to begin with because we would have seen them by now. Essentially, maybe we're it. As he looked at it from a mathematical point of view, it's statistically probable that they should have shown up by now.

In the This American Life episode, one of the Producers of the podcast, David Kestenbaum, was wrestling with this idea and finding it quite saddening to think that we humans might be the only intelligent lifeforms in the galaxy. Much of the podcast was devoted to David's soul-searching and trying to find someone who he could share this grief with.

What bothers me about the whole topic is that these are highly intelligent people, spending a lot of time grappling with this paradox and yet they give no consideration to the explanation of the origins of life that I believe in, and that is that God created us. If they would direct even a small amount of their brain power and honest scientific exploration towards this explanation I am convinced it would all make sense. But they simply toss that theory out the window as if it's laughable.

Case in point. Here's the only mention of God from the whole podcast:

Melissa Franklin And then you would say, OK, if that's the case, I have to believe in God. So that's what you're saying. 

David Kestenbaum How many physicists do you know who believe in God? 

Melissa Franklin Six.

The specific and small number was intended to be a punchline. After that interaction they immediately move on to talk about a New Yorker cartoon. Back to matters of greater importance, I suppose.

Let's think about Fermi's paradox here. I get the sense that this is no longer considered a rational thought but what if our planet is not billions of years old but can be measured in thousands? What if it didn't just "happen" but was the intentional act of an intelligent designer? When it comes to talks of paradoxes and the origins of life, I am perplexed that we write this option off as not even plausible anymore.

If the earth isn't billions of years old, then the whole formula behind Fermi's paradox changes. And if the stars were created by God, then there is hope. Isn't an explanation that ends well even worth exploring? It's like we're trying to find someone's contact info in our phone and yet that person is standing right next to us and we're saying "Not now. I'm busy looking for something."

In my opinion, a core flaw in this science-focused mindset is that we look at ourselves as a higher form of intelligence scrutinizing lower forms of intelligence. Science posits that we should be able to explain everything. Sure, if you create something, you have a right to scrutinize it and understand it in and out. After all, you know exactly where it came from and why. But so far I haven't seen any humans make any habitable and self-sustaining planets. So we are the students here, not the teachers. The most we can only ever hope to know is just as much as the teacher.

"A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher." - Luke 6:40

I am not proposing, by any means, that I have the answer to Fermi's paradox, or any other paradox for that matter. I am simply bothered by the close-minded nature of our approach in exploring the answers.

If science can be defined as "systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation" (Dictionary.com) then, for me, there is a blurry line between that and religion because what I've observed and experienced is that God is real. Just like the wind, I can sense his coming and going, anticipate his direction, and see the effects him moving all around me. Is wind also a religious belief? Can God be explained by science? Why do we put our faith in meteorologists but not pastors? Because meteorologists get stuff wrong all the time. Just sayin'...

Safety

One of my best friends went home to be with Jesus last week. Joe Riley, age 34.

Nothing can prepare you for this. Nor should you want to be prepared for it. For some crazy reason I keep thinking I should have been better prepared. But this is nothing like the other challenges I’ve faced in life. There is no “moving on” or “getting over it”. There is just a hole there. There was me before December 7th 2016 and now there’s me after December 7th 2016, with a hole.

I took a strength’s test once and it said my top talent theme, by a long shot, was “Relator”. The description of someone with this theme is:

“…you do derive a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around your close friends. You are comfortable with intimacy. Once the initial connection has been made, you deliberately encourage a deepening of the relationship. You want to understand their feelings, their goals, their fears, and their dreams; and you want them to understand yours. You know that this kind of closeness implies a certain amount of risk -- you might be taken advantage of -- but you are willing to accept that risk. For you a relationship has value only if it is genuine. And the only way to know that is to entrust yourself to the other person. The more you share with each other, the more you risk together. The more you risk together, the more each of you proves your caring is genuine. These are your steps toward real friendship, and you take them willingly.”
http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/703/relator.aspx

This fits. I thrive on the relationships with those closest to me. Joe was one of my people. It’s hard to beat 15+ years of experiencing life together. From high school, to being in a rock band for 7 years, to being housemates, to being roommates, to being in each others’ weddings and all the milestones in-between. Not many people got me like Joe, and not many people got Joe like me. No matter how much time passed between our calls it was always like we’d just chatted yesterday. I keep having the impulse to call him to talk about all of this.

It’s difficult to summarize why Joe was so special to those who haven’t known him for years. He was the treasure you might walk by every day and not notice was there all along. He was the unexpected heartfelt comment, but only if you had the time to listen. He was the obscure idea that reminded you that being childlike is a good thing. He was the healthy conviction that came from seeing someone so self-aware and humble enough to admit where he needed to improve. He was the guy who put flowers in your car while you were proposing to your wife. He was so many things, in so many small ways that will each forever remind me of him.

The day after he passed, I found myself in a Walmart in front of a rack of themed men’s underwear, bawling. I was there because Joe and I used to do late night Walmart runs for new boxers. I can’t imagine what the other shoppers thought. Maybe “It’s not that hard of a decision”. I picked some Star Wars boxers that had a TIE Fighter chasing an X-Wing and an explosion right on the crotch, because Joe would have thought it was funny.

I once heard a friend who had also experienced loss say “It’s not helpful to ask ‘Why?’. It’s more helpful to ask ‘What’s next?’”. I think he was right. One of the only things that has eased the hurt has been to think about what’s next. There’s no changing what’s happened but I can change me. I can learn from Joe’s life and I can be more like him.

Things I’ve learned through this and through knowing Joe:

We need people.
All I wanted to do was to crawl under the covers and sort this out but you can’t sort things like this out alone. Being with people I was close to and Joe was close to helped. And it’s more than just getting through something. It’s all the time. We truly need people in our lives more than we know. You realize this when one of your closest friends isn’t around anymore.

Be intentional about your close friendships.
It’s easy to take for granted those people who have been with you for the longest amounts of time. Don’t take them for granted. To be honest, I didn’t realize how strong my friendship was with Joe until one day he asked me to be his best man. You don’t know how much you mean to people and they don’t know how much they mean to you. Joe always made sure to stay in touch with me even when he moved across the country. I need to be more like that.

Be weird.
Joe was super weird. He said weird things, wore weird things, and built weird things. He didn’t conform. I was talking to Mike, the lead guitarist from our band, and he said “Joe always had an amazing beard but as soon as he found out it was popular to have a beard he immediately shaved it off.” If I can do anything in my life to honor Joe it would be to embrace what makes me, me and make no apologies for it. I’ve already taken an inventory of a number of areas in my life where my motives were more about getting approval from society or attaining “success” than being true to myself.

Never stop improving.
In my opinion the greatest part about Joe’s story is the immense personal growth. Through many tears and laughs I was privileged enough to be witness to the process. He was always so aware of the areas that needed improvement and was working on doing something about it. And the progress showed. He ended strong. His love for God and people fueled an epic journey from a shy and removed guy to a spiritual powerhouse who knew full well the influence and authority he carried as a follower of Jesus.

The one thing my heart always longed for with Joe was that he would find love, and he most certainly did. Jeanie, you were absolutely perfect for him. I never saw him happier than when he was with you.

In the band, we nicknamed him Safety Joe, because of a french tank helmet he ended up wearing to every show. It was kind of his thing. It was kind of our thing. It started as a joke and ended up being a persona. Now, after all these years as his friend, it takes on new meaning for me. He was always there for me. He was consistent, reliable, and genuinely cared. He was my Safety. And now he is experiencing the ultimate Safety.

Enjoy paradise my friend. I miss you madly but I’m sure God had a crazy idea for a guitar that he needed your help with or something.