How we live is based on what we believe. This can be based on two alternative perceptions of reality: the one offered to us by our surroundings ie what we see, perceive & learn; or the one which is engaged in a reality we haven't yet seen or perceived.
This is about living beyond potential. Becoming more than the world might let us become. Going beyond the videotape played out by life and into a new reality shaped in the realm that is not seen. One which is mystical and fuelled by life-changing miracles. There is more. But when we look only at what there is, we can't see or believe in 'the more'. More does not signify quantity or material abundance, rather fulfilment and destiny. A belief that there is more beyond life-as-we-know it must shape the life we're in. Otherwise there is no point in believing it at all. It becomes a set of rituals and traditions.
So instead we watch the videotape played out around us. Videotape - old, worn out and obselete. It tells us what should be important, exactly what we can achieve. The problem is that it can't record unrealised imagination, dreams, vision, and meaning. It can only document what already exists. We're rattled into each scene, given a script to play out, and then told that we're done.
What about if we wrote our own scripts. Wrote our own stories, fuelled by a spirit engaged in the pursuit of a truth that lies beyond the reality presented to us. A truth that can only enter our reality when we show the courage to introduce it through our actions, our lives. Or we can continue to play our part in the predictable presentation of life offered to us. This surely kills something in us. Living in the videotape is not truth, it distorts our vision of reality and our view of what is possible.
So dream. Talk to God. Allow dreams to take hold and become a part of reality. God will introduce His dreams to the world through us, if we'll pause the tape and look up for a while.
'When Jesus got home, the blind men went in with him. Jesus said to them, "Do you really believe I can do this?" They said "Why yes, Master!" He touches their eyes and said, "Become what you believe." It happened. They saw.' Matt 9 v 27-29
Wednesday 29 July 2009
Friday 24 July 2009
While you slept
While you slept
The world moved on without you;
Whilst you couldn't decide
Others chose to move on.
While you waited for everyone else
They'd already changed beyond recognition;
You woke up
And things weren't the same.
Is this exactly what you wanted?
What you desire to become?
Are you now a product of destiny,
Or a by-product of other people's wrongs?
A mind was filled with revolution theory
But the theory remained inside.
Whilst you sat alone thinking it through,
Others got up and made the change.
It is right to live someone else's life,
If they're sleeping too?
Just wake up and take a look around,
Wake up and take a look around you.
Did you want to spectate or be in the centre?
What is your part in the game?
Are you leading the charge moving forward,
Or still in bed dreaming big dreams?
A day soon passes by, then a year.
A spirit is waiting, how patient He waits,
How long will you stay here, how long?
The world moved on without you;
Whilst you couldn't decide
Others chose to move on.
While you waited for everyone else
They'd already changed beyond recognition;
You woke up
And things weren't the same.
Is this exactly what you wanted?
What you desire to become?
Are you now a product of destiny,
Or a by-product of other people's wrongs?
You're the one who can change
You're the one who can change it all
You're the one who can change it all
But the theory remained inside.
Whilst you sat alone thinking it through,
Others got up and made the change.
It is right to live someone else's life,
If they're sleeping too?
Just wake up and take a look around,
Wake up and take a look around you.
Did you want to spectate or be in the centre?
What is your part in the game?
Are you leading the charge moving forward,
Or still in bed dreaming big dreams?
You're the one who can change
You're the one who can change it all
One more second becomes an hour too quickly,You're the one who can change it all
A day soon passes by, then a year.
A spirit is waiting, how patient He waits,
How long will you stay here, how long?
Thursday 2 July 2009
The Crucified
I've got a lot of respect for these guys, great skatecore and this biog really resonated with me.
Biography
We were there.
When the Crucified started out, no one was talking about money.
No one was talking about record deals. No one was talking about fashion or genre or marketability.
No one was talked about being “pioneers.”
There was no pretense.
There was a guitar. There was a bass. There was a set of drums. There was even a microphone.
(And occasionally, a P.A.!)
We practiced three times a week, because… why wouldn’t we?
Getting a show was terrifying. Getting a tour? Silliness.
Radio? Stop it you’re killing us!
With all that practicing, how we ever had time for the High School we met at or the Bible Study where we became friends is difficult to comprehend. And how did we find the time in all of that other stuff to fall in love with the music of everyone from Minor Threat to Metallica?
Funny what one can accomplish when surrounded by miles of... nothing.
All we were attempting to do was to create something we didn’t already have. That’s what we did. Necessity being the mother of invention and so forth, we needed some music we liked – but we hoped God would like it too.
So… we made it ourselves.
We were tired of sifting through entire albums for one song that would make us go crazy, so we wrote only those kinds of songs. We were tired of music we couldn’t play for our friends
(without cringing)
so we made our own. We were tired of t-shirts that looked like they were handed out after Sunday school, so we made our own. We were tired of going to shows where none of the bands were our kinds of bands, so we booked our own.
We were tired of hearing no good reason why
you can’t sing like that/look like that/wear that/listen to that
so we just… did what we liked and waited for someone to give us a good reason why we couldn’t.
They never did.
We talked a lot about Jesus.
We prayed before we did anything, because… why wouldn’t we?
It was simple and sincere – if a bit naïve – and it was fun.
It was fun before anyone bought “bulk rate postage.” It was fun before “zines” grew up to become magazines. It was fun when “merch” meant a t-shirt and a sticker. It was fun when no one cared what you were wearing as long as it wasn’t something you were told you had to wear. (For some of us, a little more attention to what was being worn might not have been a bad idea.) It was fun when there was Artwork to hold, study, dissect and interpret. It was fun when there were liner notes. It was fun before The Internet, before “Soundscan,” before Blogs and before Downloads. It was fun before there were tours or sponsors or cell phones or book deals.
It was fun when jumping off the stage or into the Pit was not only legal but
Expected. (And almost annoyingly commonplace.)
And it was fun when nobody knew we were doing any of it.
Eventually, some people found out. Then more. Then more and more.
Plans were planned, decisions we decided, but The Will of God is… reality.
Turns out, there’s more to Jesus than just talking about Him. Turns out, God is not mocked.(Who knew?)
Turns out, being Crucified with Christ isn’t just an anthem, but a life.
A life that requires respect for whatever He decides that life will be.
Turns out, He knows better than we.
Biography
We were there.
When the Crucified started out, no one was talking about money.
No one was talking about record deals. No one was talking about fashion or genre or marketability.
No one was talked about being “pioneers.”
There was no pretense.
There was a guitar. There was a bass. There was a set of drums. There was even a microphone.
(And occasionally, a P.A.!)
We practiced three times a week, because… why wouldn’t we?
Getting a show was terrifying. Getting a tour? Silliness.
Radio? Stop it you’re killing us!
With all that practicing, how we ever had time for the High School we met at or the Bible Study where we became friends is difficult to comprehend. And how did we find the time in all of that other stuff to fall in love with the music of everyone from Minor Threat to Metallica?
Funny what one can accomplish when surrounded by miles of... nothing.
All we were attempting to do was to create something we didn’t already have. That’s what we did. Necessity being the mother of invention and so forth, we needed some music we liked – but we hoped God would like it too.
So… we made it ourselves.
We were tired of sifting through entire albums for one song that would make us go crazy, so we wrote only those kinds of songs. We were tired of music we couldn’t play for our friends
(without cringing)
so we made our own. We were tired of t-shirts that looked like they were handed out after Sunday school, so we made our own. We were tired of going to shows where none of the bands were our kinds of bands, so we booked our own.
We were tired of hearing no good reason why
you can’t sing like that/look like that/wear that/listen to that
so we just… did what we liked and waited for someone to give us a good reason why we couldn’t.
They never did.
We talked a lot about Jesus.
We prayed before we did anything, because… why wouldn’t we?
It was simple and sincere – if a bit naïve – and it was fun.
It was fun before anyone bought “bulk rate postage.” It was fun before “zines” grew up to become magazines. It was fun when “merch” meant a t-shirt and a sticker. It was fun when no one cared what you were wearing as long as it wasn’t something you were told you had to wear. (For some of us, a little more attention to what was being worn might not have been a bad idea.) It was fun when there was Artwork to hold, study, dissect and interpret. It was fun when there were liner notes. It was fun before The Internet, before “Soundscan,” before Blogs and before Downloads. It was fun before there were tours or sponsors or cell phones or book deals.
It was fun when jumping off the stage or into the Pit was not only legal but
Expected. (And almost annoyingly commonplace.)
And it was fun when nobody knew we were doing any of it.
Eventually, some people found out. Then more. Then more and more.
Plans were planned, decisions we decided, but The Will of God is… reality.
Turns out, there’s more to Jesus than just talking about Him. Turns out, God is not mocked.(Who knew?)
Turns out, being Crucified with Christ isn’t just an anthem, but a life.
A life that requires respect for whatever He decides that life will be.
Turns out, He knows better than we.
It was something really special...
Jon Hopkins, live last night at Institute of Contemporary Arts...
Wow.
Wow.
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