You Can Learn A Lot About Faith From Inside A Mosh Pit

If you've ever been to a hard rock concert you know that there are customary things that you'll be forced to endure. First, you're going to see an onslaught of angry, confused looking teens that strive to look different than their classmates, but look just like their best friends, or you'll see twenty somethings still dressing like a teen doing all the same stuff and most likely works at a coffee shop as a barista. Next, you'll feel you walked into a Converse shoes convention with every pair of Chuck Taylors ever made being modeled and that's a guarantee. Lastly, you'll leave amped up, sweaty, partially deaf and of course, there will always be a mosh pit that breaks out...and no mater where you're standing you'll be tossed in.

While I was hiking and (responsibly) drinking my way through Denver we went to see the band Trapt play a show. For those of you who don't know who Trapt is, or you're having a flashback to high school and the late 90s,they were a hard rock band that had three big hits when I was about 15. The show was only 10 bucks and a unique way to enjoy the final night in the city that captured my heart. Song after song the pit grew larger and a bit more vibrant. As the rambunctious group of rockers continued to flail about and push each other around one brave soul walked around the center of the madness and scoffed at what was happening around him. This big dude just stood tall amidst the festivities of the pit, stayed his course and did his own thing. The best part...no one dared to bump into him as he walked among the madness.

I respected the crap out of him for doing that. If that were me, I would have been knocked down the moment I stepped in. But he went about his business and did his own thing. What I saw stuck with me. Here's a guy surrounded by chaos and disorder, but it didn't phase him. The fear of being knocked down or humiliated didn't stop him. On the drive after the show I admired the Denver skyline as much as I did this cat as I reflected of what I saw.

Every day of our lives we struggle with the stessers we face and we falter to our fears, all the while making it so damn hard to stay the course. It's like we're stuck smack dab in the middle of a mosh pit, being pushed around, taking elbows to our pride and frequently getting knocked to our knees. Some times it's a chore to find the motivation to just pick yourself up. It's at those times I wish I could be more like the Hulk-asourous that braved the pit and all the painful abuse that surrounded him. It becomes such a spiritual struggle when you are constantly being pushed around and faced with constant gut checks. It's those times we have to remind ourselves that we have the strength to take on everything that is thrown our way because we are empowered through Him (Phil 4:11). That when we struggle to walk tall among the ruthless 'moshiness' that is all around us we must rely on the Big Guy and His mightiness as we seek Him through it all(1 Chronicles 16:11).

Watching that guy during that set inspired me. I know, I know, it was just some dude at a rock concert. For all I know he could have been driven by beer muscles or be a bully looking to fight or just straight up dumb, but he manned up and stayed strong with everything around him. Most likely not afraid to be bumped around or knocked to his knees. If you're like me, that's my fear. Being knocked to my knees and taking the initial hit and then the hit to the pride, but it's not so bad. I can think of someone else who had fallen to his knees, not once, not twice, but thrice. He was able to pick himself up and keep going. Just like I should and how you should.

May we always be strong in our faith and steadfast in our ways. No matter the amount of craziness surrounding you in your life, may you walk tall. And let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up (Galatians 6:9) no matter how hard we are knocked down or how often we take the hits.



Until next time...

The Garden of Weedin'

This spring I took on a new endeavor of getting a plot in a local community garden. After cooking all winter with 'fresh' veggies and herbs from the store I would have a trash can full of wrappers and a recycling bin piled high with cans. Then it hit me that it would be so cool to take on a garden...until I stood at the edge of the garden for the first time and had to weed the damn thing.

When I visited the plot after some time away an entire forest of greenery had grown around my plants. I knelt on the hard, cracked dirt to pull weeds around my 'harvest.' As I fought off the discomfort of kneeling for a couple hours on a thin piece of foam it dawned on me how unbelievably frustrating this whole thing seems. In the grand scheme of things a 20x20 plot is truly nothing, but doing it alone - and without a clue of what I'm doing - seems damn near impossible.

The ground was tough to break through and the dense weeds appeared to stand taller, as if sticking its chest out in the air to boast that it had beaten me. The moment that I thought I was making progress I looked beyond the three foot radius of my initial assault on the annoying agriculture only to see that I had another 391 square feet to go. It was discouraging, demoralizing and worst of all, painful. I felt alone on a tiny dirt island of doubt thinking that maybe I had taken on too much as I was surrounded by a sea of green leafy weeds.

Near the end of my late afternoon’s work, I arrived at my final plant. A hot pepper plant, standing nearly one foot tall. On it, hidden underneath a flawlessly shaped leaf, was the tiniest little thing that almost resembled a miniature pepper. A pepper that two weeks ago did not exist and around that plant was the intoxicating aroma of the spicy cilantro from nearly three feet away.

When I had finished weeding I watered the little guy and the other sprouting veggies, herbs and melon surrounding it. Then it hit me that maybe, just maybe, all the sweat, pain and sun could be worth it. That even through the pulling of the weeds (that will grow back in a few days) and muscling through the man eating garden spiders and laughing off the old retired men at the plots around me laughing at my attempts to garden, just maybe this will be blossom into a bountiful harvest. An end of summer reward for all the long hours, hot days and frustrating fun in the sun.

Our faith is a lot like my garden endeavor if you think about it. In order to have a great harvest you can't just sprinkle a little water on your plot every once in a while and expect a great outcome; much like you can't pray every once and again to expect miracles or a relationship with God to blossom in your life. In attempting to grow spiritually you will feel weak and intimidated, lost and alone, doubtful and distraught, just as any true warrior of the top soil may feel taking on the forest of constantly growing weeds. Our weaknesses towards certain temptations creep up as quick as those weeds; that no matter how many times you pull them, and no matter what you do to treat them, they always seem to creep their way back.

In Matt we read that the harvest is “abundant but the laborers are few (Matt 9:37).” There is so much goodness for us to receive in our own lives as long as we are following the righteous path and living a life full of love, but so few willing to take on the task. The harvest can be daunting, overwhelming and lonely, much as it was when I first stepped foot in the plot overwhelmed by what stood before me. I went into the task of gardening knowing that I’d pull some weeds, water some plants and boom…I’d have food. But it’s not that easy nor that simple, just like our faith. In our own lives we know exactly what it is we need to do (on paper) to be happy, to love and to get into Heaven, but we still become overwhelmed by the realization that we actually don’t know how to do it properly. The Bible, just like a Gardening for Idiots book, explains to us what to do along the way and how to overcome many different challenges, it’s just a matter of us properly following what has been shared and then applying it daily.

Even the best of gardeners and farmers have a lousy harvest from time to time and even the most disciplined of theologians struggle spiritually. It’s just a matter of us trying to keep those pesky weeds and weaknesses at bay by getting to them at their roots. And to do more than just sprinkle a little water from time to time or pray when we only want something. We must overcome the weeds in our lives and love daily, even through the hate, the disgust and the pain. It is then, and only then, that along our path we may see the fruits of our labors and see how truly abundant the harvest truly is. It just takes overcoming one weed at a time.



But we must always remember that no matter how many weeds surround our harvest and no matter how much we must endure to see the fruits of our labor