Archive for July, 2009
Learning Something New
Jul 24th
Me and my new baby
I go through stages in life probably just like anyone else does. For a while I’ll be super lazy, I’ll watch lots of TV, I’ll eat crappy food, I’ll neglect or forget any hobbies or interests I have, and I’ll work too much (and I’m starting to suspect the last item in that list causes the previous items). Then, suddenly (and seemingly randomly) I’ll start pulling out of the funk. Usually one small change ends up affecting many others and quickly I’m back on track learning new things, feeling more inspired, working less and living more. This turn around happened recently and it’s meant more than living healthier: It’s inspired me to attempt a whole new set of things that I haven’t done before. I was learning new things and, hopefully, growing in the process.
A month or so ago I sold my car simply because I hardly ever drove anywhere but I owned an SUV. It was dumb. So, I chucked that big beast and cajoled an ancient memory back into my life: My 1993 Jeep Wrangler YJ. It was what I drove in high school and my parents had taken it off my hands and were storing it in Florida. They were hesitant to give it back to me because it needed alot of work (and they didn’t want me to waste my money). But instead, I saw it differently: I wanted to USE my money and this car to learn something new…I wanted to learn the basics of auto maintenance and repair and this was the perfect opportunity.
Since getting my old ride back to Michigan I’ve been learning alot out of necessity about how a car (and in particular this car) works and how to do the things we normally just pay Mr Muffler to do for us. I’ve hurt my self, broke things on the car, and have gotten really really dirty in the process, but I’m learning. And there’s where our little lesson comes in….
Over the years the people close to me have told me I’m good at picking up something totally new, pursuing it, failing constantly until, eventually, I can become proficient enough to seem like I know what I’m doing. I’m more convinced than ever that they key to doing something new is being willing to fail at it….ALOT. I can’t tell you how important I think failing is to learning something new. Those who aren’t willing to fail are those who aren’t willing to learn and change and grow. The odd thing is, I don’t see myself as someone who fails gracefully. I’m an artsy guy with pretty thin skin….I take criticism pretty hard on the inside while looking like I don’t care on the outside. But somehow, when I’m learning something I want to learn, my skin gets tougher. I think it’s because when learning something new it’s important to be up front about your amateur status. When I walk into an auto parts store, I’m not going to pretend I know an alternator from a distributor (although now I kinda do!)…instead I’m going to be open about knowing nothing, asking advice, picking their brains, and soaking it all in. Being willing to learn means humbling yourself and looking ignorant for the sake of gaining knowledge. (I think most guys are especially bad at this, but I’ve found that my artsy side helps here…I’m not concerned with being ‘manly’ and all-knowing like some guys are)
This brings me to the second key to learning something new: I find it essential to read (alot) about what you’re learning before attempting the hands-on stuff. To learn about my Jeep I purchased two big thick user-manuel type books and started reading them cover to cover. I, literally, only understood about 5% of what I read, but it was starting to craft a view of the situations I’d face when underneath the hood, and crafting this perspective is what I was looking for.
Sure, when I actually crawled underneath the body for the first time nothing looked like the book..but with constant reference back to those pages, comparing with what I saw, I started to gain perspective on the hunk of metal in my driveway. I think the key to these books for me was the relative safety I had while learning. I could go at my own pace…I could make mistakes (privately) and I could re-read parts many times until I understood it. Books are crucial to learning….there’s nothing like the info in them online anywhere, so I find that spending the cash (or heading the library) to read up on your new adventure is crucial.
I feel like I’m pretty good at learning new things and I think it’s a skill everyone should learn to master because it’ll open up a whole world of opportunity and interesting people and places. Here’s my tips in bullet point form:
- Find a reason to learn. Don’t decide to learn about cars without a car that will stop running unless you learn. Don’t decide to learn about boats if you’re 100 miles from an ocean. Do something that has immediate impact on your life and even your wallet. Put your money and time into what you want to learn so you have something at stake…otherwise you’ll quit too quickly.
- Be ready to fail…ALOT. You’re going to look stupid and ignorant about the topic for a while. Embrace that. Use this to submit yourself to those who know more. Learn from them. They may look down on you but who cares: You’re learning something new which makes you more interesting than them :)
- Get into books. They help you learn privately and at your own pace. Learning in groups or in classes is OK, but I’ll argue that making it personal and having all the time in the world to learn something (as opposed to before the next test) makes it lifelong knowledge that won’t fall out of your head 2 hours after you’re graded on what you’ve learned. Also, don’t rely on the internet or TV..they just don’t have the detail you need.
- Be so passionate about what you’re learning that it consumes you for short parts of your life. Learning causally or learning too many things at once is asking for failure or distraction. Pick one thing and do it alot…for months. Everything I’ve learned on my own has had a dedicated space in my life. Whether it be web design, ancient history, the life of Silent Film star Buster Keaton, or philosophy, learning takes intense dedication…to the point people will probaly think you’re crazy.
- Finally, and this sounds obvious, but don’t give up. Keep failing, keep looking stupid because in the end, you looked stupid for a short time, but you won’t BE stupid like the people who laugh at you in the short term but never learn anything because they’re too afraid to try.
So, get out there and grab something new. Invest yourself in it. Do something way outside your comfort zone which is totally unrelated to your day job..and have fun! Which reminds me, why am I in here staring at a computer screen when I can see the sun shining and my YJ in the driveway that needs muffler work?
The pics in this post were taken by Erik Rambo who was my companion on the 1,500 mile trip, driving the Jeep from Florida to Michigan…the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me….
On The Road
Me and Erik at our final destination after 24 hours on the road
Systematic Faith
Jul 20th
(this is the 5th and final post in my systematic living series)
Fit into the system or get out!
If you were privy to this URL before my recent 2-year blog shutdown you probably already know everything I’m going to say in the following paragraphs. For years I ranted about the state of Christianity in the western world (particularly the American brand) and how off-track it has seemed. Since then I’ve read many books, attended a few different churches for months at a time, and tried to find out why I was wrong. Afterall, EVERYONE was telling me I was wrong. I sought earnestly after justification of what seemed so wrong to me. I tried to fit into a church and be a “good Christian”. I even thought about joining a small group (if you’re outside the faith, think of these as manufactured friendships that you’re required to have ;)). But ya know what I found on that journey? Ya know what I realized after many years of honestly and earnestly seeking a proper view of church?
I was right all along. The modern church is jacked up and has virtually nothing to do with The Bible or Jesus Christ.
It’s funny because the above statement will evoke two opposite responses depending on who you are. If you’re a Christian who attends church weekly, is part of a small group, gets your paycheck from a congregation, or otherwise accepts the modern church as “the will of God”, you’ll write me off as another angry person who was somehow hurt by the church and now has an agenda against it. If you’re a non-Christian, someone who has been turned off to faith because of the church you’re reaction will be quite different. It’ll be more along the lines of: Yeah. I already knew that.
So, what’s wrong with the church? Why do I have such strong statements about it? As I said, I’ve gone over this a million times and don’t really have the energy to say it again. So, here’s just a few bullet points of the issues as I see them.
- Above all the church, and by extension the brand of Christianity we profess, is systematic. “To be a good Christian you do this, don’t do that…you live like this, you give your money here, you pray like this, you study the Bible this often….blah blah blah”. It’s all crap. Jesus came to destroy the systematic living of the Old Testament and we’ve done nothing but reestablish it.
- The church is no longer a group of believers. It’s a 501c3 non-profit business style entity. It has policies, procedures, paychecks, mortgages, janitors, and boards. It spends more time managing all this worthless junk than it does living the life Jesus calls us to. It’s a waste of time, money, and in the end because of an incorrect focus, it’s giving many people a wrong impression of the faith and what it means to be The Church.
- The church is disconnected radically from everyday life. When you walk into a church you’re supposed to dress differently, act differently, talk differently, pray differently, and sing differently. If you swear outside the church, you better not do it inside. If you have a naturally loud voice, you better not even TALK inside the church…or else. Again, Jesus came to abolish all this disconnection and false piety. It’s the stuff of the Pharisees.
- Churches now fall into 2 categories: Old & dead or Entertainment. Neither has anything to do with Christ. Both bore me or make me angry because they’re leading people astray.
Let me clarify that I’m not talking, here, about little things that need to change about the church. I’m suggesting that our entire concept of “church” is wrong. We would need to tear down our buildings, dismatle the staff and boards, and start anew if we were to get closer to what I believe God intends for us to be. Too many times when I talk about the church being off track the answer I hear is “Well…OUR church isn’t off track”. If your church has a building, a full time staff, ‘ministries’, or a board…then yes it is (according to my defintion). So, a change in worship style, getting younger leaders, or becoming a more ‘organic’ church with new branding doesn’t fix anything I’m talking about…just in case you’re missing my point. Let me also say that I want the church to be healthy and everything God wants. I don’t want to see the church go away…I want it to be the church of the Bible..healthy and pleasing to God. (and if you’re thinking I’m talking about the house-church movement or ‘Acts churches’, again, you’re missing the point)
Once in a while God steps in and gives me a little nudge in a direction I need. He did this yesterday and it was some much needed encouragement to say with boldness everything that you’ve read above. He put a book into my hands called Pagan Christianity which exposes much of what I say above, but on a much more studied and in depth scale. It was the encouragement I needed to move ahead bravely with the belief that the Christian faith as become systematic and disconnecting from this system is ok (or possibly even something God wants). I’m not talking about disbelieving the Bible or ceasing my relationship with Jesus. These have nothing to do with the systematic problem. I’m a believer in Christ and, as long as He continues to help me believe, I always will be. The church, and the mess that it is, will never change that. But there is a point where I no longer am willing to be a part of the system as an active supporter of this mess.
However, here’s the caveat to disconnecting from the church: If you do that, you must continue to meet and study and pray with fellow believers, and this I am doing. I’m not saying it’s ok to make your faith “a personal journey” and still be a follower of Jesus. That flies in the face of everything the Bible teaches. What I’m saying is that you can have real relationship, real study, real Christian life outside of this systematic church. It’s harder, but it’s also the real thing. It’s not a systematic solution, it’s an organic one and it’s the one Christ intends for us.
So, while I’ll probably continue to attend a systematic church (if I’m honest, it’s more for my daughter than for me or my wife) I won’t put much stock in it. I won’t support the system in any way. I won’t be bullied or insulted into being a part of something that Jesus neither envisioned or (in my opinion) entirely approves of. But I will continue to be a person who follows Christ the best I know how. Nothing a systematic Church can say or do will stop this real relationship from growing until the day I go “home”: A place without system and a place of pure relationship.
