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!