I Laugh In The Face of Danger

If this year was over, what would you say about it? 2012 was the year of establishment. This past year I nearly died looking for my calling. Walk with me and understand the severity of this. I nearly died trying to find the reason why I was alive. And though it seems drastic or extreme, everyone is supposed to. Why? Because everything you want in life is determined by who you really are., what you really want.

January 1, 2013. (Morning)

“I’m a Christian and I did a horrible thing. I made a mistake. I sinned. I slipped into some mess I had no business doing. I’m a sinner.”

January 1, 2013 (Evening)

“My mistake, which is bad, actually worked out quite well. I got to experience how to turn something that was bad into something…good.

January 1, 2013. (Morning)

I’m a musician and I made a mistake. On the last measure of my perfectly composed piece of music, my finger slipped and I played the wrong note. My dreams of perfection were shattered.

January 1, 2013. (Evening) I had no idea how a mistake would work for my good, but it did, because that finger slipping turned out to be what would be the end for some, a new dimension and extension of the music I was creating, and it was beautiful.
That mistake, could have caused me to quit playing. But, my mind grabbed something that it saw as pleasing, delightful, desirable.

Get it. Get what I’m saying. Your bar of music, your song, your life is determined by what you do with your mistakes. Do you understand that you can keep going and make a good life using that very mistake you made? Do you understand that the decisions you make are no doubt in your life, but are designed to make you unique? Your story, your purpose, your achievements, your accolades. It’s all by you COMPLETING that piece of music you may call “a mistake.”

It turns out, life is full of these little incidents, these notes and tones. Like life, music doesn’t stop because I played a so called “wrong note,” else we’d NEVER enjoy R&B, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Funk, Classical or even Pop music. You’d never embrace things like  slang, basketball, dance, culture, literature, relationships, or comedy. You’ wouldn’t know to enjoy the roots of Reggae and how it’s related to Ska, or the evolution of Ballet into Modern dance. You’d never know of the light bulb and you definitely would not appreciate the many different recipes on the menu when you go out to eat.

Outlook: Your life is worth living. Your mistakes make good music.

Don’t be afraid of the song you write.

Make mistakes. Make new music. Make a song. Make your life. And make it good!

Hope Wanted: Now Hiring

“You’re young, you got plenty of time.”

I had a job interview with the city of San Bernardino to become a substitute teacher. Success! I got the job but one thing I love doing is interviewing. Yes, interviewing. If I could get paid to go on interviews all day, I’d probably do it as a side hustle. What’s so interesting about it? You get to talk to people! And its funny because some automatically have a filter: who you are, what you are going to do or say, etc.

As for the interview, my strategy is simple: go in there and connect. The guy who was seeing me probably had enough people who came in to his office trying to put on a front and say what they think he wanted to her, not have a real conversation with him. But of course, in the real world that does not mean saying everything that comes to your mind. #wisdom You better get this job.
During the interview he asked me about my goals. What do I have planned for my future? And I told him, “I want to teach. Eventually, I’ll get my master’s and follow my passion for music…” and I further continued explaining how I even came to music. I did Communications for my undergrad; I only took Music Appreciation as an elective. Yet, I fell in love and learned to play without a teacher physically present.

Then, the statement that opened the can of worms. “At first I wanted a Master’s in English, but now I want to do music.” Being “undecided” happens, but I was graced to have only one major in college. To my options, the interviewer replied with the famous line “You’re young. you have plenty of time.” I thought about it and I realized that i did not want to be one who wasted time in life bouncing around from major to major. I wanted to have a goal. Badly. For too long, I’ve been waking up without a vision, without a goal, going nowhere in life. This book I’m reading, Chazown, by Craig Groeschel, is amazing in helping you to discern what’s in you, where your life is going, where you were destined to go and what you were made to do (which, by the way, brings fulfillment). In it, he said “people just stumble halfheartedly through life hoping tomorrow will be better than today. No plan. No dream. Mostly just existing,” (pg. 5). He reiterated the truth in Proverbs 29:18 by stating “Where there is no Chazown—no dream, no revelation, no vision, no sense of our created purpose—we perish,” (pg. 9).

Rather than bounce around in indecision, quick fixes and temporary pleasures, make a decision to live.

Go somewhere. Do something, but have a plan. Have a goal. Have a direction. I know what it’s like not to and it does happen to the best of us. Stop comparing yourself to others. You have a plan and a vision for your life too, and no matter what you think of yourself, the most important opinion, God Himself, the Creator & Judge, says it’s great. You have a destiny that is necessary for this Earth and I wake you up everyday for you to realize it, figure it out, and live it. There is joy in being who you are, in what I’ve created you to be.”

Lastly, I strongly encourage you: if you wake up without a plan or a goal, make it your goal to seek God. Pray, read your bible, start being confident, but whatever you do, don’t believe the lie that the day will lead to nothing. Why?

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'” – Jeremiah 29:11