God still shows up in our culture

I just finished watching The Matrix Reloaded and see so many illustrations of eternal truths. I wonder if those who made these films realized this. Indeed, God does show up in our stories, films, music, art, and even science. And why not? God can show up anywhere and anytime.

An eternal truth that really sticks out to me is choice. Humans have the ability and freedom to choose. There are those who will say that choice may be an illusion. They may say we are slaves to a system of causality. For every action there is a reaction. This is true for everything in this universe, however what sets humans apart from all other life is the question of "why". Why do we choose this over that? Why does this happen? Most of the time I do not know why. Why does it rain on the day we are going to travel, but be sunny and clear on the day we stay home? I have no idea, but I do believe everything happens for a reason. In the film, there is a scene where Neo is talking with the Oracle and she asks him if he knows why he made the choice. So many times we already know what we are going to do. We have already made the choice. The important question is...why?

a prison for my soul: part deux

In my previous post, I mentioned that the work I do Monday through Friday for eight hours a day is not what I believe God created me for. This got me thinking more and more about the jobs people do versus what people love to do. In some cases, people get to work a job they truly have a passion for. I other cases, people work a job that is just that...a job. Let's face it, we all have bills to pay and groceries to buy. This requires us to work. So do we work out of true passionate desire, or out of necessity? I believe in my case I work the job I have out of necessity. It's necessary for me to work so I can be a blessing to my wife, pay the bills, all that stuff. The job I work is not what I dreamed of having. I understand that work is part of His design. I also understand that God shapes us for different jobs. So what happens when the world shoves us into a job that God did not mean for us to have?

I'm curious, is there anyone reading these posts have the job they truly desire or simply out of necessity? Please feel free to comment.

Faith: What is it?

According to Webster's Dictionary, faith is the firm belief in something for which there is no proof. I believe in God only by faith. God doesn't need to prove Himself to me. I believe in Him completely. When I see this earth, this creation, it's really the only proof I need. Others try to explain everything with science that tries to prove there is no God. I'm sorry, there is just way to much design in everything for it all to be just some random occurrence or accident. Plus, even an Atheist whom do not believe there is a God is quoted in Rick Warren's book The Purpose-Driven Life saying without God life has no purpose.

My question is, do we trust God all the way? Another part of the definition of faith is belief and trust in and loyalty to God...complete trust. This makes me ask, do I trust God completely? Do I trust Him with everything? Not just bits and pieces, but the "whole three-taco plate!" ($5 to Dave Ramsey). The whole enchilada baby! Trusting God completely, I believe, is a product of loving Him completely. I have heard preachers talk about following God with a reckless abandon. Yeah, that indeed takes 100% faith.

So what say we all pray for each other some more and ask God to help us take that next step and become all that more faithful?

I love and am praying for you all.

more random thoughts from this wild and crazy brain

This weekend, my wife and I served with our team at our church. We serve God as ushers/greeters with the church as part of a ministry called Guest Services, formally and more affectionately called First Impressions. I was reminded that we are just that, the first impressions of the church. What I really got to thinking about this weekend was how disconnected I feel. I serve with these people, but do not really know them. I sent an email to my team leaders with the idea that we DO get to know each other. I hope that this happens.

The message of this weekend at church dealt with money. Yeah I know, money is such a hot-button issues among people. It even can get my biscuits burnin'. Here's what I've concluded about money:

• IT'S NOT MY MONEY! I'm not the owner, God is the owner. I'm simply a manager of His stuff.
• Money is just that, stuff or tokens that we can use to get other stuff.
• Buying and selling is not part of God's system. God tells us to give to one another, generously and abundantly and outrageously. Giving is His system.
• From the film Hello Dolly, I love this line: "Money is, if you'll pardon the expression, like manure. It does no good unless you spread it around encouraging the young to grow."

Now here is something scary, I was reminded that everything I do and say has an influence on others. I never know when, or who, or even how, but someone else is influenced. This is so cosmically profound and staggering. I don't even know if or when anyone reads from this blog. To all who may read from here, I'm truly and completely humbled. What say we all pray for each other, eh? I know I need all the help from my Heavenly Father that I can get.

Know Thyself

Know thyself. This is a line from the film The Matrix. When Neo is meeting with the Oracle, she point him to a sign above a doorway that says "Know Thyself" in Latin. She goes on to say that it's like being in love, you either know it or you don't. There is a lot of eternal truth to this. When I began courting my wife, Rebecka, I knew she is the one I'd be spending the rest of my life with. I can remember after only seeing a few times sitting on the beach of Lake Michigan and wanting to ask her to marry me right then. I waited a little longer, of course, because I wanted to do this right.

This is all about our identity also. This is something you either know or don't. As I continue to grow on my journey with Christ, I know more and more each step of the way my true identity...the very purpose God created me. I can say right now that I know I am not meant for this job that I have currently. I was not made to be a records clerk with a corporation. No...I was made for music. Music makes me come alive inside with a fire...a fervor...and passion that transcends all space and time. Where does something like this come from? It can only come from my Creator God!

Also in the Matrix, when Neo and Agent Smith are fighting near the end, Smith keeps calling him Mr. Anderson. Then Neo speaks up, "My name...is Neo!" In the same way I feel this world and its "agents" pinning me down and calling me Mr. Hoyt, and all I want to do I respond with a yell..."My name is Rhythmn!" Indeed...my name is Rhythmn.

a prison for my soul

Well, I've never really written this out before. This is my life story...or at least part of it, but a big part of it. I've written out the part when I began my journey with Christ, but never a part before that. This is part of my life that really stung my soul. It left a deep stinging wound that is still today being healed by my Lord and Saviour.

Here goes.

I love music. Growing up I've never been excited about anything except music. I always loved band and when I got into drum corps I was really stoked. Playing the drums was the only thing I felt completely confident in doing. The only other thing I felt some confidence in doing was working with computers. After graduating from high school, I went to college and was a music major. I was stoked. The time was coming when I would be transferring to a university. The catch was that I had to audition for acceptance into the School of Music. Well, I auditioned and got a response I didn't expect. I was not accepted. Not just once though. I auditioned a total of 3 times at the same place and each time I was not accepted! I auditioned a fourth time at another place and STILL did not get accepted. This was just it. I was wounded. At this point I didn't know what I was going to do. I ended up becoming a Psychology major and got a BS degree from Central Michigan University. Then I got a job at the same place my dad works.

Now, here's where I get real. After I began my journey with Christ I have been slowly discovering my true identity. I've learned who God is and in doing so I'm learning who I am. I've learned that music is truly at the core of my identity. I have a divine passion for music that transcends space and time. This passion could only come from my Creator. So, why do I not have a career in music?

I currently play the baritone saxophone with the Southshore Concert Band, a community concert band of amateur musicians from all walks of life. I work with a records department within an engineering group of Robert Bosch, LLC. My job is not truly me. In other words, the work I do Monday through Friday for eight hours a day is not what I believe God created me for. Sure I do the best I can at it, and this is because it is the right thing to do. Still, I do not get to be who I truly am. I feel as though I have to put on a mask...the mask of professionalism. I simply pretend to be what I suppose the company expects me to be. The only time I feel real and genuine is when I'm playing with the Southshore Concert Band. Whether I'm playing the bari sax or the drums, I get to be what God created me to be.

While God created me for music, I feel this world simply won't allow me to be all of that. At least not as a paying career. I wish I could drop everything and go back to school and pursue that career, this time with God leading the way. Or even play with Blue Man Group. Alas, I just can't do that. I'm in a stage of life where I have higher priorities. I have a wife now. I have her to think about. My wife and I want to have at least one child. So yeah, higher priorities. Unless God puts the right people in my life to help move me towards that kind of occupation, it just won't happen. Plus, since God doesn't thwart our free-will those who are in positions who decide which people get hired or not can freely decide to say 'no' to me.

The way I figure it, unless God shows up and says otherwise, I will never be all that God created me to be in this world. I will after He comes back or calls me home, but not now. I'll keep playing with the Southshore Band for as long as I can, so that will count for something. I just wish I can be that all the time. Oh well. I suppose I can simply play my sax at home (practice) more. God only knows for sure what will happen next.

God's will v. free-will of humanity

This is just staggering! God made us, humans, with the ability and complete freedom to make up our own minds! We can freely choose which way to go, what to accept or reject, and yes...even to reject God. WHOA! Why???

I've come to learn that God wanted us, humans, to be lovers. True love can only be an act of free-will. God did not want us to be these lifeless mechanisms. He didn't want a bunch of mindless drones. He wanted lovers.

When bad things happen to us, I hear people say that it must be the will of God...or something to this affect. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? I've learned that God does NOT cause bad things to happen to us. Many of the bad things that happen are the result of our own doing...not His. We make bad decisions and WHAM! We get hit with bad consequences. God may allow so much to happen, but He is not the cause. It is His will that we have free-will, so He doesn't thwart that. Because He doesn't thwart our free-will, when bad things happen it is mostly because we made a bad choice. Sometimes we can only learn the hard way. Sometimes we're the victim of some degree of injustice. Only God knows.

I believe that saying "It's God's will" for every bad thing that happens is just an easy out. We say it because it's easy, but I think it hides the reality that this world is full of people who make bad decisions. I've made some bad decisions in my life and the consequences weren't/aren't the best. The only thing I can get out of it all is a lesson learned.

injustice

This morning I got to hear my pastor Rob Wegner.  The message dealt with the desire we have for justice.  The question was asked about what really yanks my chain.  What is the thing, the injustice, in this world that makes me want to stand up and fight?  After much meditation, the system in this world that abuses power to keep people from enjoying all that God meant for us to enjoy is money.  Yes, the financial systems really burns my buns!  The real injustice is that there are those who have an outrageous abundance of this stuff and those who have just enough to survive and those who don't have enough and those who don't have any.  Because this world demands payment for every thing and service, those who don't have enough or don't have any lost out.

...simply wicked.

just more stuff

I was standing in the checkout line at the local grocery store and saw a book titled The Complete Idiot's Guide to Prayer. My first thought was, "You've got to be kidding me." Then I thought, maybe this is just the thing that can help the "outsider" have some kind of access into a much larger perspective...or as Obi-wan Kenobi would say, "you've taken step into a much larger world." I used to be an "outsider". I didn't come to know Jesus until I became an adult. As an outsider looking in, I believed these church people thought they were better than me and they certainly engaged in this religious stuff without question that was all alien to me. Now that I've been "in" for as long as I have I learned that I was wrong. It's easy to believe that something like prayer is certainly something sacred and has to be done with a special language and ritual. I was wrong about this too. Prayer is simply the word we humans use to identify communication with God. It's talking to God in the most personal and intimate way, at the same time He does the same with us. Yep, that's pretty much it. It's that simple.