Thursday, February 28, 2008

Give It Away


Greetings from my corner of the world to yours. I’m happy to report that I’m feeling much better and have been able to beat back the crud that was assailing me the last couple weeks. I’m hoping you haven’t had to struggle with sickness, it’s just no fun.

So I’m writing today to encourage you to give your passion away. That’s right, just give away that fire inside that gets you out of bed in the morning, pass along that idea or vision that motivates you to go the extra mile…just give it away. You may be hesitating at the thought, thinking that if you give away your passion you’ll be left empty, but I want to tell you different. I will share my own experience and perhaps you can do the same by leaving a comment or two.

If you’ve read this blog at all, you know that I’m an advocate of people finding out what inspires themselves (their passion) and pursuing it with all they’ve got. I also believe that life is too short and precious to arrive at the end of it with regrets, so if there’s something that you’ve always wanted to do, why aren’t you doing it? Anyway, I have discovered my passion to be music. Through my relationship with Christ, I use that passion for music to lead worship. But that’s not where it ends. Sure I could be content to just lead worship, after all, it affords me the opportunity to play and practice music on a regular basis, almost daily; but I’ve learned something over the years. I’ve learned that by sharing my love of music, it not only inspires and moves others but it increases my love for it. So here’s what that looks like for me:

In addition to leading worship through music, I instruct and lead other musicians and vocalists in assisting me do that. I teach guitar lessons as well. I look for opportunities outside my career of being a worship pastor to share music. Don’t tell anyone, but I actually play in nightclubs and bars on occasion! Just kidding about not telling….in fact tell everyone and check your local listings to see where I’m at and come on out! I also share by providing music and leadership at youth events, adult retreats and gatherings. I’ll come and play your private party, birthday or bar mitzvah too! All because I love music and each time I share that love with folks in any setting, it fans the flame inside of me, satisfies me to no end, and makes me want to do it even more.

And that is why God has given us each a passion for something - for us AND for others. It’s music for me, but it may be caring for orphan children for you, or working on cars, or mowing grass…it could be anything! But by pursuing it and sharing it, a couple things will happen. First off, you may hit your pillow at night completely exhausted from the pursuit of your passion, but you’ll be extremely content. Secondly, others will be blessed by your passion and will either benefit in some way from you sharing it with them or will be inspired to pursue their own. Maybe both!

I’d love to hear how your pursuit and sharing is going. I’m heading out tomorrow night to share with a group of youth at an overnight event. Two sets of music, one at 10:30pm another at 4am! Doesn’t that sound like fun!!! Being tired is a small trade off and one I’m willing to make. What about you?


Peace……

1 Comments:

At 6:09 PM, Blogger Jennifer Coomer said...

I miss you all.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home