Life Lesson #3 – Help!?! and Citizen Gulf
When I was called by a friend to do a Citizen Gulf benefit, hosted by Social Media Club Greensboro, show last week, I couldn’t resist. I never turn down a chance to help. I thought that I would be going, doing something nice, and going home. Little did I realize that I would be the one helped the most.
Chuck Hester (twitter.com/@chuckhester) and Tammy Friedeck (twitter.com/@storyofme) taught me volumes with short talks.
Tammy, a professional social media guru, taught me a few things. Always ask the why, the who and the what next in anything. This has changed my way of looking at my business and how i help people. It made me long for relationship and not interaction. She also said to not leave people liking you or what you do. Her quote was ‘give them goosebumps.’ What a statement. At the end of every show, I am striving to leave you all that way.
Chuck was about one theme. He lives the life of pay it forward. His stories were a call to action not only in the event, but also for a person’s life. He is one of the most connected people i have ever met, and uses his relationships to help others. What a concept. What if we all did something for someone without expectation for ourselves, but for others. I lend Sam 5 bucks and say don’t pay me back. Give it to the next person that needs 5 bucks. He said ‘we do half of this anyway’; talking about the favors we do daily for others.
Lesson Learned: give and then give some more. Give ’till it hurts. I thought I was hot stuff for writing a song. The reality is the event was a divine appointment to show me that I can give more than just a song. I can invest in people and lives with relationships and interaction. Looks like I received the benefit.
Thanks again to @johncass, @robainbinder, and @kennedypittman for giving me the opportunity to be a part. It was great meeting everyone.
Please check out “New Sunrise” in support for the Gulf victims.
photo credit: citizengulf
Singing our national anthem
I was honored to sing our national anthem tonight in Greensboro, NC at the Greensboro Grasshoppers baseball game. (www.gsohoppers.com) AMAZING feeling. The sound was top notch. I felt like John Legend in Yogi Berra’s body. Confident and secure, yet out of sorts and nervous. The echo was almost tear invoking. Also, my daughter’s first ballgame. A night of EPIC proportions.
The Hoppers are a top notch organization, and i wanted to thank them for allowing me to serve in that capacity. I hope to do many more. God bless you all, and have a wonderful Sunday!
Recording
Justin Taylor
So yesterday I recorded the last bit of my new E.P. coming out soon. Yes, it’s been a long time since I went there, and I wanted to be done much sooner. Glad I waited. Justin Taylor and Zach Beane came and recorded on the record. My oh my. Let’s just say that they both provided some UNREAL help to me and this project.
There were some great moments Tuesday and I was fortunate enough to have them on tape. Just amazing stuff.
Zach’s stuff coming soon. You can find Justin Taylor at…
Peace and Love, and off to bed for me.
Life Lesson #2
I recently remembered a story I heard when I was a kid about a man named John Chapman. He lived from 1774-1845, and was a frontier man. He went west during a time of great uncertainty in our nation’s history. He made sure that he shared his faith with everyone that he encountered. Awesome man. This man had the foresight to know that many, many people would be going west like he did. He also knew that these people would need food, shelter and many others things on their journey.
So he began to plant.
Some accounts say that the fields that he worked numbered in the hundreds of thousands of acres. John started at age twenty five, and did not stop until he died. For a nation of rugged individualists, he was an icon. He still is. Many families owe their lives to him. All some of them ate for weeks were apples. The fruits of his labor. People would be thanking God for ‘Johnny Appleseed’ even through the Civil War and beyond.
My point is simply this. You never know who or how many people you will be affecting when you plant seeds. Literally. So plant the seeds that will nourish other people. Be alert and aware of events and surroundings that will allow you to plant seeds. Then, plant without expectation. Life lesson #2, plant the seeds.
Life lesson #1
I have learned many lessons over the years, but the one that sticks out to me is one about self-reliance. Most people spend too many hours, days and even years making excuses for why they ‘can’t’. I am one of those people. It is way easier to do the task than to think of ways to get out of the task. This however involves a balance of can do attitude and humbleness. One can’t go around believing that they can move mountains with less than a mustard seeds sized faith.
Maybe you are one who thinks that others should do for you. I know many people who would rather others do for them, so they won’t have too. I can say that I am not one of these people. For those of you who are, jump into something head first and finish. You’ll be amazed at how you feel.
For those that feel ‘entitled’ to everything because of who you are or what you do, a word of warning. One day you will answer for using your ‘entitlement’ for selfish reasons. There are only a handful of things we are entitled to. My challenge to you is to truly find those things. A helpful hint is to be unselfish in your search. If you seek, you will find.
Lord forgive me for time I’ve wasted. Thank you for another day to ‘do’ rather than ‘complain’.
The Hope of Spring
Today’s high: 74 farenheit. The warmest we’ve been all year. So many people out today from their hibernation. To me, this time of year speaks 2 things: Easter and Baseball. And since opening day this year lands on Easter, I will speak of baseball first, so I can talk about Easter, on Easter.
People who know me well know that I am very passionate about baseball. I believe it to be one of only a handful of things that are uniquely American. It is heartbreaking, joyous, interactive, seductive, and utterly beautiful. Men who fail 7 out of 10 times are heros. Drunkards, cowards and thieves are projected to mythical status in just an instant. Yet the game is so slow-paced, you can have a conversation with the person beside you. Baseball, like America, is the ultimate paradox.
It is the only game in which the defense has the ball. So many times as Americans, we feel we are playing defense just to stay alive. We believe we are fighting and scrapping to just get 3 shots at hitting the ball. It can be played on a corner lot, or a farmer’s field, or in a city alley. Prisons, Military Bases and Elementary schools have fields. And 20 years before we fought to become a nation for all people, Jackie Robinson ran out of the dugout to play 1st base; making this a sport for all people, no matter what the condition.
Baseball sets and follows the seasons. The Hope of Spring. The hotness and angst of late summer. The cold, dying truths of autumn. Baseball is an American struggle, between individual and collective, reform and rebirth, worker and owner. We have played baseball for hundreds of years. We have warred with foreign and domestic enemies, struggled with ourselves and even the meaning of freedom, and still we have played. Because baseball is THE American struggle, it has survived.
Baseball fosters in us hope of renewal, success even in failure, and the chance to touch home just one more time.
Written for my Dad who loved baseball more than I. Words and emotions fail to describe how much I miss you.
We are not promised tomorrow.
As i get older, i realize a lot of things. i realize that as a kid, i worried too much about what people thought of me. Some impressions however, are important, and have lasted a lifetime. For better or worse, they last.
i have also realized that parenting is not for the faint of heart. When i became a father, my whole world-view was altered tremendously. Yet one more mouth to feed. One more life that i am responsible for. Everyday. This little girl will be molded more by my wife and i than anyone, or anything else. Sobering to say the least. Forever is the word that comes to mind.
i lost my dad to cancer just 11 days after i was married. i miss him more than i can describe, and wish he was here to tell me how to be a dad. but he’s not. This is not a pity party. It is to prove a point.
Every man needs his father. i don’t care how old i get, i will forever long for the knowledge, wisdom and comfort that fathers provide. i will always want for the interpersonal relationship that children and fathers have. i have that now on the father end. And, i have that with my father in heaven. So, kids and adults: honor your mother and father this week. Fulfill the longing in your heart to love and to be loved by your parents.
Fathers: man up. Be the example in your child’s life. If you don’t know how, get help from your dad. And, help is in the bible. The ultimate example of fatherhood.
Always remember: We are not promised tomorrow.
Thought as we enter Sunday
Spring forward to lose sleep…sounds exhausting. time is becoming more useless to me everyday. i forget about it, it creeps up on me, and i feel guilty for not paying attention. ’Time is money’, ‘time is wasting’, ‘time is short’. All things we’ve heard before. my thought today: do i care about my time more than i do others? Is mine more valuable?
Then i think of Jesus praying in the garden. While the disciples slept, He prayed. More than likely for them and himself. i bet He didn’t lose track of time. He knew his time was not his own. i wonder when i will learn this concept of dying to myself in order that others will be lifted up. It’s not easy when your ego is as super-human as Sampson’s strength.
How often should we die to ourselves? How many Rob Blackwell’s will i have to destroy before i get it right? Build a wall to tear it down, right? Does my time mean anything if it’s not for others? Too many questions to fully understand in an evening.
Prayer for tonight: Lord, let me never think my time is more important than anyone else’s. Thank you that you died for me knowing that i’d fail you everyday. Your grace and mercy quench me, and sustain me.
The writing and playing continues as Avrile gets old. 8.5 months now. Time flies. Well, off to bed. More death and carnage as i try to die to myself yet again tomorrow. Man, only Jesus is worth this
and that makes you worth it.
Upcoming Content and Change
Change. More than words, more than actions, more than lifestyle. An ever evolving, rotating world of chaos and order. It hurts when real change happens. Makes us realize how big and little we are, and how much we actually ‘fail’ and ‘succeed’. Some weird, wild stuff.
Today was busy. David Horne and I spent it recording new stuff for everyone to share in. It was and is awesome. Learning more everyday about sharing what God has given me. I really hope you all can catch a live show in the near future. There is still a ton of work to do to ensure that I put my best effort forward. Music and content is and will be getting better, which is exciting.
I believe that we should strive to do that in everything. This means that we all need to be better at what we do. This involves knowing the who, what, when, where , why and how of our daily lives. I hope by following me on this journey, you will be inspired to do everything you need to in order to become GREAT. Not just good. Look out world, I’m gonna get you. And I have a bunch of people to encourage to do the same.
Real change we can believe in.
good or great.
Listening to ‘Battle Studies’ by John Mayer. Good record. I like the tunes. I don’t think he could write a bad song if he tried. I just don’t think he tried to write ‘great’ songs on this one. It lacks that ‘wow’ factor that he usually brings out of recordings. Please don’t get me wrong. I’ll probably wear this CD out like I have the rest of them. I’m just not supper impressed.
Maybe that was the wow factor of this record. As an artist, I’ve come to realize that my work does not define me. It comes from me. I define it. I hope people love what I do, but I can’t hold it against someone if they don’t like it. It doesn’t mean they don’t like me. They just don’t like what I’ve done.
Artists tend to put their heart and soul into projects. When critics tear the work apart, it’s like they are tearing the very soul out of the artist. We can’t keep defining ourselves in these products and dealings. I am not what I do: what I do is A PART of me. Not the whole.
Having said that, I try to make what I do GREAT. I believe that good is the mortal enemy of Great. They battle back and forth in our lives for control of our mind and our actions. We by nature will want to settle for good. That shouldn’t happen. We only have a certain number of days. We should be able to look back with no regrets on what we’ve done. Fight the natural tendency and make your life GREAT!
Sure, John Mayer will sell millions of records and concert tickets this year. People will still dig his stuff. I will still question whether or not it’s ‘great’ rather than just ‘good’.
I believe that in the end, he won’t care: because he has stated that this record is a snapshot of his heart. (paraphrase) I am glad to hear an artist do the art, and then offer it with little thought of positive reaction. He’s just doing his thing.
So, hats off John Mayer. Way to wear your heart on your sleeve.
I hope in the end that people love what I do. I pray that in the end, I have loved others more than myself and made sure everything I did had purpose and meaning in some one’s life. This is the ‘greatness’ I want to achieve more than anything.
