I had two jobs in the course of my college career. The first was a job that I think most everyone should have at some point. I washed dishes at the school cafeteria. A lot of people would rather work the register or the salad bar, but I wanted to wash dishes in college. It was a kind of rite of passage for me. I didn't even use the fancy sprayer and the big washing machine. That was for the guy who washed cups, plates, and silverware. I was the one working the pots and pans sink by hand. Scrub-a-dub-dub. My favorite part was cleaning out the lettuce slicer. That was always a challenge.
The other job I had during college was working as an A/V technician for the school. Every chapel we had (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) there was tech involved. If there was a campus event, there was tech involved. There were so many things that required not only PA systems, but lighting, and projection that we had to keep a crew of 4-6 students trained to work these events at all times. We didn't all work every event (though there were a few that called for all hands on deck).
I loved the work because it involved planning, putting together fantastic (and at times powerful) systems, and a lot of thinking on your feet. It was hard work with some very late nights, but it was also a lot of fun and generated a wonderful community of techies.
Over the course of my four years as a techie I learned a number of things, but possibly the most profound element was learned during my technology training the year before I became a techie.
It was the spring semester of my freshman year in 2007. I was a worship arts major at the time, and as such I had the privilege of taking a class on technology in worship. Basically it was the purpose of tech and how to set up and operate sound, lighting, and projection systems for a worship setting. That class is where I fell in love with the sound board which I once saw as monstrous and intimidating. It was also there that we learned and practiced the following lesson: "out" goes to "in" from the source of the sound all the way through the system to the presentation of the sound, and we must never, EVER patch things in backwards.
If I hadn't taken the class and lived that life for the next four years I probably wouldn't understand what that last sentence even said. "'Out'? 'In'? What are you talking about?" Let me explain.
Setting up a sound system is just a matter of taking a sound from its source--for instance a voice--and sending it through cables through a series of pieces of equipment that adjust the sound signal and ultimately to either a recording device or a speaker which allows people to hear the altered form of the sound. You speak into a microphone which is attached to a sound board that controls volume (among other things). The sound board is connected to an equalizer which makes sure you get neither a muddy rumble nor a high pitched shreeeeeeeek (you know, the one everyone blames the sound guy for). The EQ is connected to an amplifier that adds power to the sound signal so that when it gets to the speaker it can be loud enough for everyone to hear.
Each of those elements--mic, board, EQ, amp, and speakers--has both an input and an output, and when you connect them you have to make sure that the output from one is connected to the input of another. In doesn't go to In (nothing will happen) and Out can't go to Out (that's how you break stuff).
Even if you do get all the outs and ins lined up right you still have to make sure that each element is set up in order from source to presentation. My friend learned this the hard way during his class final.
For the worship tech final we were given all the elements we needed to setup a sound system, and we simply had to set it up. By this point in the term I was fairly comfortable with the equipment and the order of things (though my instructor docked me a few points for using unbalanced cables...which I'm pretty sure he told us in class were perfectly viable options when patching a system together). My friend, on the other hand either got the order confused or simply wasn't paying attention to which ins were connected to which outs. Instead of connecting the EQ-out to the amplifier-in, he connected the amplifier-out to the EQ-in. Remember, the amp is there to add power to the signal. When you amp up the signal and send it through speakers you get a rockin' concert. When you amp up the signal and send it back through the EQ you get a dead EQ. That's right, my friend blew up the equalizer while taking his final. We never let him live that down.
What was a painful lesson for my friend was a powerful lesson for me, even in my every day life.
My life is like a sound system. I was designed to work one way, and one way only. I am to have one source of life--God, and if I am not patched in to that source I have no life for myself and I have nothing to offer others. Sometimes I can get my ins and outs confused, as though God needs me to provide him with life and plans and stuff. All that happens when I try to send a signal back to God's microphone is... ... ... It's pointless, and I become useless. He is the source of all good things.
There are also times in my life when I get not only my ins and outs confused, but I confuse my source. I can find myself trying to get my life and my purpose from other people and other things which is ultimately like running a signal back through the amplifier into my system. I can burn myself out by trying to find my power and energy and identity in the world around me.
My system was designed to work one way, and one way only. When I live with God as my source, with his voice and his life flowing through me I am able to live out my purpose with all the energy and joy that He provides. More than that, as His voice flows through my life others will be able to hear it through the way I live and the words I say. I get to share his message with the world around me.
It isn't that God needs us. If there was ever someone on the stage of life who didn't need to use the microphone to be heard, it would be God. Yet He chooses to use us, to involve us in His work. We just have to recognize where our source is and make sure we keep our system properly patched in to Him.
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Better Than Cool: Why be alone when you can belong?
I have never been cool. My students would probably not be surprised by this. It's true though. I have never been cool. I have been accepted, loved, esteemed, honored, looked-up-to, and generally appreciated, but I wouldn't say that I have ever been cool. I'm okay with this. In fact, I am rather glad for this because if at any time in my life I had actually become cool I might have lost sight of who I really am.
Of course cool has always been a flexible word. Depending on who is using it various things and people can be cool. Sky diving is cool. Ti-dye is cool. Jocks are cool (never could figure out why). Surfers are cool. Miley Cyrus was cool. Bow-ties are cool. Sticking it to The Man is cool. From decade to decade, generation to generation fads, fashions, and the all-mighty vogue have generated numerous and even contradictory ideas of what is cool. The only way to be cool and stay cool is to fall under the standard of someone else and to constantly shift who you are and how you live so that it always falls under that standard. That is one circus act I could not maintain. It is no wonder so many young people find themselves hating themselves. Either you hate yourself for not fitting the standard, or you hate yourself for forcing yourself to fit the standard. There is no winning in the game of cool.
But I was never cool. Did I want to be accepted? Of course! Did I want to fit in? Sure...to a degree. But I had a few standards that I would not relinquish, and that made me autonomously unique. That kind of life doesn't get you any lasting cool points. You can get a lot of weird points, and for a time some people might think that is cool, but eventually it isn't so weird any more and all interest is lost.
Even when I look back to the one time in my life where I was one of the most popular people in school (yes, this actually happened) it had nothing to do with how cool I was. I was in my early years of high school, but attending a small school with kids of almost all ages (I can't remember if it went down to first grade or not). Some people in that kind of a situation might try to assert some sort of hierarchy and become either a malevolent or benevolent leader. I, however, have very little interest in being in charge, and had much more interest in helping other people feel important. So I included people in lunch time, in conversations, in games. I showed an interest and tried to make them feel special and like they had an important place in the community. It is amazing what happens when you treat people like they have a unique and important role to fill. In my experience, they usually start to take on and own who they are and the purpose they have been given.
You see, a lot of people like to be on the top of the heap by making everyone else feel smaller. We do this for a multitude of reasons: security, safety, power, control, popularity, acceptance. But when you lift yourself up by putting others down all you really end up doing is pushing others away until your just alone...
If, however, your goal is to put others on the top by building up those around you, you will find yourself encompassed by meaningful relationship and wrapped up in a community that will look after your security and safety; a community that accepts and values you. There isn't a lot of control, but there never is--not really. And what greater power is there in the human life than the power to empower others?
When Jesus said, "The greatest among you shall be your servant" (Matthew 23:11) he wasn't just setting a weird standard for his kingdom. He had a purpose in mind. The religion of the day was full of people who weighed others down with spiritual burdens while they pursued praise, attention, and power. Jesus, however, wasn't setting up a religious system. He was building a family.
A family does not thrive when individuals push others down to gain importance and power. A family comes together when the individuals are building each other up and helping each other to find their place and purpose. A family stands together through adversity. There may even be leaders within a family, but they do not lead the family forward from atop a litter as a Sultan born on the backs of his subjects. Rather, family leaders move forward while holding tightly to the hands of the family, and at times holding members up out of the way of danger while he himself is subjected to harm.
When you live like this there may yet be times of loneliness. You may even be ostracized for being weird. But you can't possibly live like this for too long before others start to gather around you. There are always people who long to be noticed, to be valued, to be given a place and a purpose, to be loved. If that is what you offer people around you, you may not be cool, but eventually you'll have a family.
Of course cool has always been a flexible word. Depending on who is using it various things and people can be cool. Sky diving is cool. Ti-dye is cool. Jocks are cool (never could figure out why). Surfers are cool. Miley Cyrus was cool. Bow-ties are cool. Sticking it to The Man is cool. From decade to decade, generation to generation fads, fashions, and the all-mighty vogue have generated numerous and even contradictory ideas of what is cool. The only way to be cool and stay cool is to fall under the standard of someone else and to constantly shift who you are and how you live so that it always falls under that standard. That is one circus act I could not maintain. It is no wonder so many young people find themselves hating themselves. Either you hate yourself for not fitting the standard, or you hate yourself for forcing yourself to fit the standard. There is no winning in the game of cool.
But I was never cool. Did I want to be accepted? Of course! Did I want to fit in? Sure...to a degree. But I had a few standards that I would not relinquish, and that made me autonomously unique. That kind of life doesn't get you any lasting cool points. You can get a lot of weird points, and for a time some people might think that is cool, but eventually it isn't so weird any more and all interest is lost.
Even when I look back to the one time in my life where I was one of the most popular people in school (yes, this actually happened) it had nothing to do with how cool I was. I was in my early years of high school, but attending a small school with kids of almost all ages (I can't remember if it went down to first grade or not). Some people in that kind of a situation might try to assert some sort of hierarchy and become either a malevolent or benevolent leader. I, however, have very little interest in being in charge, and had much more interest in helping other people feel important. So I included people in lunch time, in conversations, in games. I showed an interest and tried to make them feel special and like they had an important place in the community. It is amazing what happens when you treat people like they have a unique and important role to fill. In my experience, they usually start to take on and own who they are and the purpose they have been given.
You see, a lot of people like to be on the top of the heap by making everyone else feel smaller. We do this for a multitude of reasons: security, safety, power, control, popularity, acceptance. But when you lift yourself up by putting others down all you really end up doing is pushing others away until your just alone...
If, however, your goal is to put others on the top by building up those around you, you will find yourself encompassed by meaningful relationship and wrapped up in a community that will look after your security and safety; a community that accepts and values you. There isn't a lot of control, but there never is--not really. And what greater power is there in the human life than the power to empower others?
When Jesus said, "The greatest among you shall be your servant" (Matthew 23:11) he wasn't just setting a weird standard for his kingdom. He had a purpose in mind. The religion of the day was full of people who weighed others down with spiritual burdens while they pursued praise, attention, and power. Jesus, however, wasn't setting up a religious system. He was building a family.
A family does not thrive when individuals push others down to gain importance and power. A family comes together when the individuals are building each other up and helping each other to find their place and purpose. A family stands together through adversity. There may even be leaders within a family, but they do not lead the family forward from atop a litter as a Sultan born on the backs of his subjects. Rather, family leaders move forward while holding tightly to the hands of the family, and at times holding members up out of the way of danger while he himself is subjected to harm.
When you live like this there may yet be times of loneliness. You may even be ostracized for being weird. But you can't possibly live like this for too long before others start to gather around you. There are always people who long to be noticed, to be valued, to be given a place and a purpose, to be loved. If that is what you offer people around you, you may not be cool, but eventually you'll have a family.
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