A Tree that STANDS

Hey again!  I wonder if you have been thinkn about the tree?  The one that is burning inside - maybe with passion...

I love that tree - it has made me think so many times.

There was the tree, in the field, by itself - only crops around it in the spring and summer and fall and in the winter only open field.  The tree stood tall.  I would even say it stood proud.  Glad to be a tree - the last tree of what I am guessing was a forest of trees plowed over for houses and crops.  The tree doesn't pretend.  I doesn't hide.  It stands for something.  There is something beautiful about that.

You see, I want to be like the tree.  I want to stand.  I want to be true.  I want to know who I am and what is REALLY important in life and I want to stand for those things.  When I say something is important to me, I want people to look at the details of my life - how I spend my time - how I spend my money - how I invest the passion (fire) in me - all the moments of my life - and I want them to see that what I say is important really shows in all the areas of my life.  I want to be true to who I am and who I want to be.

After all if I say family is important and no one can tell by looking at my time, passion, money, moments, is family REALLY important to me?

If I say that serving the world and loving people is important to me but no one sees me investing time, money, passion, moments, in serving and loving, is serving and loving REALLY important to me?

If I say that honesty is important, if I say that standing for the little guys, the weakest, the defenseless is important, if I say that being a peacemaker is important, if I say that laughter is important....if no one can see it in my life...is it REALLY important?

Reminds me of another Switchfoot song:

"The World You Want"

I'm kickin up the pieces
I'm trying out adhesives
I'm trying to fix a place that feels broken
All my words they fail me
My voices don't avail me
I'm trying to say the hope that's unspoken

Is this the world you want?
Is this the world you want?
You're making it
Every day you're alive
Is this the world you want?
Is this the world you want?
You're making it

The world feels so malicious
With all our hits and misses
Feels like we're in the business of rust
It's when I stop to listen
All the moments I've been missing
I finally hear a voice I can trust

Is this the world you want?
Is this the world you want?
You're making it
Every day you're alive
Is this the world you want?
Is this the world you want?
You're making it
Every day you're alive

You change the world
You change the world
You change the world
Every day you're alive
You change the world
Honey, you change the world
You change my world

You start to look like what you believe
You float through time like a stream
If the waters of time are made up by you and I
If you change the world for you, you change it for me

What you say is your religion
How you say it's your religion
Who you love is your religion
How you love is your religion
All your science, your religion
All your hatred, your religion
All your wars are your religion
Every breath is your religion yea
Is this the world you want?
Is this the world you want?
You're making it
Every day you're alive
Is this the world you want?
Is this the world you want?
You're making it
Every day you're alive

You change the world
You change the world
You change my world
Every day you're alive
You change my world
Honey, you change my world
You change my world

I love this idea.

Problem is that so many times I look up from my day and realize that it would be pretty hard for someone to identify me as I claim to be...

Instead of being true to who I am and what I believe, I am worried about what people think. 
Instead of standing up for good, I cave to finance.
Instead of fighting for the little defenseless ones, I concede to big healthcare.
I preserve myself.
I save myself.
I pretend so i'll look good.
When I go to stand up like the tree, I find that it is sometimes lonely and hard and I would rather feel good and do what is easy, even if i am acting more like a fern than a mighty burning tree.

I see the same thing all around me - our country is chock-full of people who say they believe this or that and you would never know by looking at them - they look more like a cup of pudding than a tree!

I hope that you are not like me on this one - i hope that you are always true to who you are - that your life lives out what you believe and anyone who meets you would know what you believe and who you are by how you act and what you say.

But, if you struggle with being true.  If you find yourself in the tub of jello, no backbone, wallowing in the way of this crazy world we live in.  I hope you would consider joining us at More than more.  By no means have we perfected our trueness to where we stand up tall and strong all the time, like passion-filled trees and say to the world around us, "Bring it!"  But we are all on our way - all of us closer to the tree than we used to be.  We are learning to be true.  We are helping each other along and finding that as we journey through life together it is easier to be true.  Each time we get together we focus on something that shows what really matters in this life - we remind each other of what is true and good and right and real.  We accept each other making fake unnecessary.  It is a great way to live life.

We hang out every other Thursday night at McAllister Recreation Center - just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette - 645-800 pm - activities for all ages are available.  We will return to this usual schedule on the 16th of October.  We hope to see all of you then.

This next Thursday night, October 2nd, will be a different More than more time together - for those who are part of the group already.  It will be a special outreach night serving the families of Murdock Elementary.

Passion - What I would like to have burning on the inside of me.

Have you had a chance to think about the tree?

The burning tree.  So ablaze there in that field, yet not consumed.  Fiery hot in the inside, looking like a tree on the outside.

I hope you have had a chance to think about it. 

When you think about it, what does it make you think?  Any feelings?  Any thoughts?

I start thinking about the tree and i think of someone that looks like a normal person at first glance, or maybe even second glance.  But then when you look deeper, when you listen to their heart, their core,  you notice something burning inside them - no not heartburn from too much of Mike's chili - you begin to hear a passion - something big and wonderful and powerful that oozes from them. 

I think about that tree and it makes me think of some people I know:

I think of Emily when she is with horses.  There is a light in her eyes that burns with passion.

I think of my friend Mitch when he talks about sorghum and plants and research and genetics.  The words from this humble and usually soft-spoken man get faster and louder and more animated  - Passion.

I think of my friend Ryan when he plays his guitar.  Even when he talks about how he got this Indiana guitar.  Passion.

I think of Melissa when someone messes with one of her kids - or her dog...Passion.

I think of my dad, in almost everything he did or was - Passion.

Then I think of our world.  You see we live in a world that talks a fair amount about passion.  Mostly it is on commercials and in novels and on TV shows.  We get it on ESPN and the Speed channel.

But I just don't see that much of it in day to day life.  Most people work their jobs, do their thing, pay their bills, live out their lives - and they do not have much in the way of passion.  They just live.  They don't LIVE.  They feel passionate about whether the Bears or the Colts make the playoffs and whether the Yankees or the Cubs make the world series (hey - don't crush my dreams ok?)  But having passion in their day to day lives is something they just don't have much of.

It makes me think of a song by a group I like - Switchfoot:

Been fighting things that I can't see in
Like voices coming from the inside of me and
Like doing things I find hard to believe in
Am I myself or am I dreaming?

I've been awake for an hour or so
Checking for a pulse but I just don't know
Am I a man when I feel like a ghost?
The stranger in the mirror is wearing my clothes

No I'm not alright
I know that I'm not right
A steering wheel don't mean you can drive
A warm body don't mean I'm alive
No I'm not alright
I know that I'm not right
Feels like I travel but I never arrive
I want to thrive not just survive

I come alive when I hear you singing
But lately I haven't been hearing a thing and
I get the feeling that I'm in between
A machine and a man who only looks like me

I try and hide it and not let it show
But deep down inside me I just don't know
Am I a man when I feel like a hoax?
The stranger in the mirror is wearing my clothes

No I'm not alright
I know that I'm not right
A steering wheel don't mean you can drive
A warm body don't mean I'm alive
No I'm not alright
I know that I'm not right
Feels like I travel but I never arrive
I want to thrive not just survive

I'm always close but I'm never enough
I'm always in line but I'm never in love
I get so down but I won't give up
I get slowed down but I won't give up

Been fighting things that I can't see in
Like voices coming from the inside of me and
Like doing things I find hard to believe in
Am I myself or am I dreaming?

No I'm not alright
I know that I'm not right
A steering wheel don't mean you can drive
A warm body don't mean I'm alive
No I'm not alright
I know that I'm not right
Feel like I travel but I never arrive
I want to thrive not just survive

I want to thrive not just survive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or1aFVBEZBY


Ask 100 people what the most important things in their lives are.  let them have 5 answers.

What would they be?  What would yours be?

You know what?  I hear few people whose passion and energy of life flow into those 5 things and out of those 5 things.

 We Americans spend most of our time on the things that don't matter much too us and it leaves us with not nearly enough passion to burn with for the things that REALLY matter.  Why? 

We are distracted.  Spending our lives chasing after things that everyone tells us we need.  Spending our lives running away because we don't know how to live with passion and not destroy ourselves or those around us.  Spending our lives thinking we are going after what really matters to us, when in fact we are not at all - in fact so many times looking backward on our lives and realizing that not only did we not live with nearly the passion we wanted to, but we invested that passion in the wrong places.

Now I don't know about you but I want to LIVE - I want to live with passion - I want to thrive not just survive.  I want a fire to burn inside me every second of every day and I want it to be all about the 5 things - those that are the most important.  The things that at the end of my life will matter.  I want to look back and see that tree burning in the field - fiery - passionate.  I want people to talk to me and realize that I am not normal...

now don't get me wrong, I know no one can live in hot passion all the time, but I can live with more, and be more true...

At More than more we are people looking to focus our lives on what is most important.  We realize that chasing after the usual American stuff is not what we are passionate about and it is not what we want to look back on our lives at the end and see. 

We realize that this is totally different than much of the people around us think and that after talking to us many people will feel as if they have come in contact with a burning tree...but we also want to make a difference in our world and help many more people see the emptiness and brokenness of our culture.


If you have had it with usual American life and are looking to begin a path to passion (one which takes a long time to develop), we would love to have you join us for the first step in that journey this Thursday night - September 18th - 645-800 PM at McAllister Recreation Center - just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette.  As always there will be free and excellent activity for people of all ages - yes even your kids.

We would love to see you there!

Thursday - tomorrow

I know this is late...

But tomorrow night is More than more - Sept 4th

We will be hanging out at McAllister Recreation Center - just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette from 645-8 - free and excellent activities for all ages - kids too.

It is a fun and restful time - really hope you can make it.

Be looking for more about the burning tree - in the works - just not ready yet...

Hope to see you soon