When you fly somewhere there are a few questions they ask you at the airport.
If you hope to really fly and soar in life, there are a few questions to answer.
Where are you headed?
Do you have baggage to check?
How much does your baggage weigh?
Are you carrying anything for anyone else?
There is a social psychological concept called the looking-glass self that essentially breaks down to theorizing we become more and more what the most important person in our life thinks we are.
You have seen the popular memes online reflecting what different people think we actually do for a living!
In life, there are many people who have different perceptions of who we really are. Exes are going to have a different perception of you than your momma. Co-workers are going to have different perceptions of you than your spouse.
The looking-glass self theorizes that we will often so strongly believe that we actually become the person the most important person in our life perceives us to be.
This brings up a couple vital questions:
1. Who IS the most important person my life? (and why is it not God?)
Before you answer, realize we give certain people importance in our lives. Moreover, the most important person in our lives is not always the most ‘positive-impact’ person in our life. For many people the most important person in their life might be the abusive parent, and that impacts how that person really perceives himself. We may give too much importance to the person we are dating who perceives you as the one make him feel better, and she begins to believe she is only exactly that.
If you are a believer, this first question necessarily proposes a second question. Why is God not the most important person in your life?
Of course we say He is, but theory is different than practice. Can you honestly say (not on this page, but in your heart of hearts) that your relationship with Jesus is THE most important relationship you have and maintain? Can you say that God’s perception of you is who you really are, or are you really becoming who some other person perceives you to be; someone to whom you have GIVEN more importance than God?
2. Who does God perceive me to be?
If God is the most important person in our life and our relationship with Jesus IS the most important relationship we have, then the second question to answer is “WHO does God perceive me to be?”
Let me give you a couple verses to think of this.
1 John 3:1 is my favorite verse in all of scripture. “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are.” Do you believe and KNOW YOURSELF as a child of the perfect Father who loves perfectly?
In John 13:23, the disciple calles himself “the one Jesus loves.” What would change in your life if you actually believed enough to BECOME ‘the one Jesus loves’? What needs to change for you to peer through the looking-glass and see what God sees?
A couple weeks ago, I released my 4 track spoken word EP at my bandcamp page. Even though $4 does not seem like much to pay, I would like to give away a couple free downloads of my EP. Here are the rules to be entered for a chance to win one of those downloads.
1. Go to my bandcamp page and listen to each track.
2. Write a blog post about the EP. Talk about what you like or dislike about it. Talk about your favorite track from the EP and why it is your favorite. Encourage your readers to check it out. (be sure to include a link to ragamuffinpc.bandcamp.com)
3. Tweet me, Email Me, or post to my facebook wall a link to your post.
And thats it! I will randomly choose 2 winners Thursday (3/22) and contact the winners with their free download instructions.
If you are a dreamer, come in
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer…
If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin
Come in!
Come in!
-Shel Silverstein
Yeah, enough prodding from friends has moved me to make a 4 track spoken word EP. At this point, it is only an EP, which means I am writing and working on a full length. It also means this one does not have original music for the tracks. I am working with some other musicians to create some music tracks to back each of the tracks on the full length.
For now, I would be honored if you would like to grab the EP. You can sample it below, and you can grab it at
Life has changed dramatically again! We went from being Tonya, PC, and Bryleigh to being “The Walkers”. Instead of being attended by Bryleigh, I entered into the stage of life of being flanked by “the girls”. On Friday, February 24, 2012 we welcomed into the world and our life, Haddisen Peace Walker.
I believe that you speak life into your children’s name. You speak meaning into their name and life.
“Addison” means ‘son of Adam’ or earth. We added the H because we love the nickname “Haddie” but do not like the names traditionally paired with it (Harriet or Henrietta). We also love that Haddisen is a unique name we have not seen elsewhere.
As a whole, Haddisen Peace is very redemptive as a name. The meaning of Haddisen draws you back to God’s original and peaceful plan for His world and His people. There was perfection and true ‘shalom’, but of course, with generations of choice, humanity has terribly broken the orignal state God put in place.
Followers of Jesus and believers look to scripture without getting stuck in the cynicism and skepticism typical of our world’s outlook. They actually believe and take God at His Word that he is making all things new (Rev. 21:5). They believe God will restore and repair what is broken. Not only WILL but IS! They believe peace (shalom) is possible.
My hope for Haddisen Peace is that she will live her life with a restoration lens through which she sees herself, God, and God’s world. I hope she learns to see life not as it is, but as it ought to be.
he nearly threw away his life
the book about the pacific war
a gift from grandma
but more than a book
the note attached to the back beckoned
not to throw it out
as you read this book
you will see your grandfather throughout
this is not garbage
it is a barrage of you and your story
this poem is this reality
do not throw it out
pay attention to the things around you
your story is being written
this is all your story
you can learn a bit
about yourself
I hope this short video will pour some refreshment of God’s ridiculous love of you today.
Every once in a while you come across a website that just steals your attention right from under you. You may not even know why, but you find yourself just mindlessly clicking through because you just have to see one…more…post.
These will be things I find to share with you; things before you thank me for showing, I’ll just say, “You’re welcome!”
——-
A friend of mine shared a short film with me entitled O Night Divine! I followed the link and immediately found myself in the world of Eliot Rausch. This director and editor has several stunning projects he has posted for people to enjoy online. I have attached a spotlight shown on Late Night with Carson Daily. Within the spotlight there is reference to one of his short films entitled Last Minutes with Oden. This thing will rip your heart out in a redemptive way.
I could not stop watching Eliot’s films on his website. Take some time to watch as much as you can. My recommendations, in order, are: Last Minutes with Oden, Eds Story, O Night Divine
Eliot Rausch on “Last Call” with Carson Daly from Eliot Rausch + Phos Pictures on Vimeo.
