Random Late Night Thoughts...

...While the DVDs Burn.

I'm sitting here spacing out at the monitors, waiting for the last couple of DVDs to finish burning for tomorrow morning. My church does a fall series every October through November, and this year we are creating our own, instead of relying on a Rick Warren or John Ortberg study. Based on "The Monday Morning Church" by Jerry Cook, I filmed a conversation between my pastor, Dave McCabe, and Jerry, as they discuss what it means to take Christ to the world each day. It was a great discussion, and we were able to create 4 sessions, each with two sections, corresponding with the chapters in the book. We will be filming the rest of the discussion next week, so I am looking forward to that.

It's amazing how long it takes to burn 3.3 GB of data to a DVD-ROM. Let alone to make 30 copies. In the time it took to that, I ate dinner, watched "The Thirteenth Floor", playing Yahtzee, drank half a case of diet root beer, surfed the web, wrote this blog, and thought about looking at the spiffy DVD duplicators on DiscMakers' website.

Oooh, I just put in the last disc now!

Becoming the Vision of the Future

What does it mean to dream up big things for the future if they never get accomplished? Just a quick thought for the day.

Is Compartmentalization Making our Lives Easier?

Have you noticed that people like to form their opinion about something based on a small percentage of what lines up with their held belief?

Take the oft-quoted stance of atheists that all Christians are hypocritical. Compartmentalization says: if a small percentage of Christians are hypocrites, it is safe to assume that all Christians are hypocrites.

How about politics? One of the core differences between democrats and republicans is the right to choose versus the right for life. Compartmentalization says that I am going to label whether a democrat is good or bad based on how I feel about the right to choose versus the right for life. Every issue in politics is at the liberty of compartmentalization. Economics, foreign policy, how much experience is necessary to hold the office of the president, the list can truly go on and on and on.

Here are a few interesting uses of compartmentalization: all heavy metal is satanic because a small percentage of heavy metal bands are actually Satanists; all Muslims are evil because a small percentage are Islamic Fundamentalists; all of Hollywood is morally corrupt because a small percentage of people enjoy making films that can be deemed as immoral.

This seems to be a fine line between actually bringing peace and diplomacy to the world, as opposed to labeling everything so that we know whether it is good or evil, and how we need to act against the said issue. It is a dangerous line, and it is no wonder that people get upset when stereotypes are formed on the sole basis of a small percentage.

What Does it Mean to Worship?

In the previous post about Young@Heart, I mention that the old man sings "Fix You" by Coldplay in such a way that he showed me a picture of remembrance, respect and love. He infused his life story into the song, and brought it alive. Several of the shots that followed were people singing with their eyes closed, probably envisioning their friends that were gone, and I couldn't help but ask the question, what does it mean to worship?

Is worship an industry that cranks out songs for people to sing in church? Is worship remembering what God has done for you? Is worship inspiring passion for people to live for God? Is worship boring? Does the American, Evangelical church have the wrong idea of what worship is? Is it more than just singing? What does it truly mean to worship?

I think worship can be defined as infusing your story into the meaning of what you are doing, singing, creating, thus inspiring remembrance, respect and love for God and others. Nothing can point to God better, than to do what He has created you to do, with all that you have, regardless of what others will say.

Well, I have rambled enough, I'm sure I'll ramble more...

Young @ Heart with Time to Change

When I am old and close to death, I want to die having lived a full life, still active in the things that bring me excitement, passion and inspiration for life.

Last night, I watched a documentary about a chorus of older people in their 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s singing contemporary songs by the likes of the Clash, Coldplay, James Brown, Ramones, and Sonic Youth. Living up their name, Young @ Heart, it made me cry at several moments to watch a group of people learning and singing difficult songs, despite losing friends, fighting illness and plaguing moments of the senior kind.

The passion and zeal for life that those men and women had, put to shame most people that I know, including myself, and it was a wonderful showcase of a beautiful part of the human spirit that perseveres, regardless of pain and hardships.

The most iconic, beautiful and heart-wrenching performance was a man singing “Fix You” by Coldplay. Originally meant to be a duet with his good friend, who passed away before the performance, the man showed me a picture of remembrance, respect and love, by singing the song with every ounce of energy that he could muster up, infusing the song’s meaning with his story. An important detail that added to the performance, was that the man himself was given two years to live, and was four months past the deadline. He had an oxygen tube up his nose, could barely stand, and at several moments in the film, he too was close to death.

Another lady was 92 years old, feisty, and full of life. In a way, she reminded me of my own grandmother, willing to say whatever is on her mind, not ashamed, not worried what people will think. As she sang “I Wanna Be Sedated” by the Ramones and “Schizophrenia” by Sonic Youth, I felt happy and joyful, not because old people were singing punk rock songs, but because she was 92 years old, active, alive and doing things that she probably never thought she would be doing at her age. She passed away after the film was made, but she was truly someone that loved life and wanted it known that others should live life with that same amount of passion.

It is important for me to take time and really reflect about my life and to make sure that I am living a passionate life. Encouraging others by allowing them to witness my actions, words, examples and relationships. That alone paints an important image of what it means to be young at heart.

A Return to Form

As many of you know, I have been doing the Weight Watchers program since May of 2007 and lost 76 pounds. Around February of this year, I went to Gambia, Africa and didn't stick to the diet, as I was grateful to enjoy some delicious African cuisine. Since then, I have had a difficult time returning to program, and gained 20 pounds.

All that to say, I have gotten with the program again, and I am enjoying the fact that I don't feel like a complete slob and loser.

I'll post weekly updates about my progress. Maybe that will keep me focused. Or not, we'll see.

It's Been Too Long

I haven't recorded any music in a long time, several years to be somewhat exact, but tonight I put a new twist on a song called Astral Being that I wrote in 1998 in my dorm room in Seattle. Check it out at: http://www.myspace.com/thesongsofchrismartin, the song is called Astral Being 2008. You can also check out the 1998 version, tuned to C#. Fun and heavy, and the guitar tones are so much better today than 10 years. Of course, 10 years I go I was using a Digitech RP12, as opposed to the Line 6 Pod X3 Live that I use today. It's amazing how far technology as come in terms of guitar processors.

Wicked Cool

Some photos from a brief photo walk today.