Fear and Courage.

A few years ago when 300 came out I was like many who went to the theaters who saw it and loved it.  I remember coming out of the theater feeling something different.  I just watched a couple hours of brutal fighting (its a guy movie) but it wasnt the fighting that I liked, it was the attitude of the Spartans.  They represent a time when men were truly men.

We all live lives of quiet desperation and one reason I think that men love movies like 300 and Troy is because it speaks to something deep inside of them.  Its not the violence, its the courage that those men represent.  All men have something deep inside that calls them to be great conquerers.

One of my favorite lines from the movie Troy is from a scene when a small messenger boy alerts Achilles that he is summoned to battle.  The boy expresses his fear because the man Achilles has to fight is massive. The boy says, "I wouldnt want to fight that man" and Achilles says, "Thats why nobody will ever remember your name.

In today's society we tell small children that its ok to run from fear and that there is no shame.  We even get to the point where we tell people there is no shame in having shame.  We as men are sort of castrated in a way.  We are forced to be desensitized by those around us.  What the line from that movie tells me is that in order to be great, we must become great.  All men experience fear, however great men overcome the fear and become men that history remembers.

As Christians, we are required to overcome.  There seems to be a wall that we all have to face and in order to get past that wall we have to overcome so many fears.  We have to give our lives up for Christ in order for this wall to be scaled.  This is also expressed in the book called "The Pilgrims Progress" by John Bunyon.

Now, will men remember your name?  Even if you cared about such a thing, do you bare the required character to face your fear, to face the giant?

Hope pt.2 - Maintaining Consciousness.

The first part of this blog talked with how we are all hoping for something and that we are all somehow searching for God in so many different ways.  Yes hope is a great thing.  Now I want to talk about how hope can be bad.

So many people just try to maintain consciousness.  They want to get by and stay under the radar.  Somehow they did something that caused them to run in fear from the their conscience.  These people dont want to face reality, they dont face their guilty conscience.  In desperation, they look for something, some small thing to give them hope and to give them a reason to just get by till tomorrow.  Tomorrow they can find something else to live off of and hope for.  They hope that their deeds wont come into light, they hope to stay in the darkness.  

Its a miserable existence really, I know because I lived it once upon a time.  I anxiously awaited what would come next and I dove into it so that I could hide from my guilt, but guilt never goes away that easily.  There is only one way to a clean conscience and somehow deep inside we know the way to that path.  

Yet some people dont want to take that path.  They take comfort in knowing that just outside there is bright sunshine.  Some take comfort that salvation is right around the corner.  To them, their comfort and hope comes from knowing there is hope or that there is salvation but its not found in being saved and it doesnt come from actually being free.  Its a prison and its not pretty.

I say take a good look at your life and see what you are doing just to fill in the gaps, trying to avoid the inevitable.  Dont shy away from the light, its there for a reason.

Hope pt1

There is something so innocent about hope that there are few who would dare tamper with it.  Hope and faith are something that actually goes hand in hand.

We as Christians, we hope for the things to come from the God that nobody sees.  Most people desperately search for something to give them hope.  They will even go into a delusional state to believe that their hopes are for something real and that they wouldn't be let down.  I believe that all mankind are in this sort of desperation to hope in something.  But why are we all searching for something to hope in?

I will take the religious corner to answer the question.  In fact, religion is a very obvious way to show that on some level we are all connected.  Its amazing how people who are raised outside of any sort of society even have a religion.  They naturally will seek some sort of God.  

Indeed, I do believe that we are all born with an innate call on our lives to search for a God of some sort.  Yet the soul is not quenched with religion and you are able to see the evidence of this in the way religious people act.  Most dont act at peace, in fact, most seem like they are trying to prove to themselves that the "god" they worship is real.  For to show that what they worship does not exist would be traumatic.

This is why you see a world full of all sorts of different kinds of religions but they all bare the same sort of fruit.  There is nothing to really suggest they have any clue of what they talk about.  This is not to suggest that God does not exist.  In fact, it seems to prove that we are all searching for something without even being told to search.  Yes, God does exist, to me, the proof is found in mankind's search as if searching for a long lost love.  The discontent in our hearts keeps us wandering.

I take this with a sigh of relief to continue my personal journey with God.  Yes, I have found God.  Not just god, but the one we are all searching for.  My journey isnt exactly how my affiliated religion would normally desire nor is my relationship what it should be.  However, it is what it is.  I say let your relationship be what it is.  Stop being afraid to say that you arent alright or that you are in need of help.  Its the only way you will find God.

Latest Shoot.

A friend of mine came up to me after church and asked for some head shots and so we set up a shoot just around the Dream Center.  Honestly, there are few reasons to go anywhere else to have a shoot.  The shoot turned out amazing actually.  We had so much fun and Jennie was energetic and fun.  I had a tough time picking out which photos to use.

Petree Music Video Shoot

Recently, the band "Petree" shot its latest music video for the song "its always been you" I had the privilege of shooting the stills for the video. The video was shot on campus at the Dream Center in the Terrace Cafe.

Volunteers from the Movement helped out behind the scenes as well as being extras in the video. There was a lot of excitement throughout the day, especially the part of the "crazy girlfriend" throwing things off of the balcony, including a guitar.

The day ended on top of the Dream Center with a sunset view of Los Angeles and the Hollywood sign in the background.

Petree is releasing their first full CD on May 18th. Go to
www.petreeofficial.com to get more information.

People are People Too.

You know who they are, they sit on the side of the road with a sign while you are on your way to work, they are just there to annoy you because they dont want to get a job or get over their drug habit.  No matter how many people say no and how hot it is outside, they dont go away!  UGH!  Homeless people, thats what I am talking about.

For some reason the title of homelessness downgrades a person to nearly non-human status.  It allows us to make excuses not to care, maybe its just in our human nature or maybe its because we dont want to know what struggle is.  But they are there and if we opened our eyes a little bit we could see past the dirt and get past the smell to see that these are people who need love.

Certainly love is the answer to our problem with poverty throughout the world.  Poverty is a cycle and a very viscous one at that.  Today a group of people went out to show some love on Mother's Day.  People gave the women make-overs and new clothes.  They received roses and took photographs to show that yes, they are beautiful.

The event was on San Julian St in Skid Row.  Skid Row isnt for the faint of heart, you come hard or you go home.  But so many people came and they came to serve and show love.  There usually isnt a whole lot of smiling or dancing that goes on down there, but today that all changed.  Even people in wheel chairs danced.