Stories and such

Check out this article about movies and how important they can be to understanding the postmodern generation. As a teaser, Denis Haack, the writer, says: "Missionaries have long insisted that if we want to understand another people group we must listen to their stories. Every generation, every culture has stories which bring to life their fears, values, beliefs, and yearnings...We will fail to understand the postmodern generation if we fail to comprehend that the stories of our culture are found in the movies."

I'm serious.

OK, I can't get the editor's hypertext link to recognize some important little characters, so just go to this website - www.byfaithonline.com - and search for "movies generation haack." That'll work. Sorry for the hassle, but it's worth it.

Forget Yourself

I ran across an article on ESPN.com today that was interesting. Whether or not you like basketball or even sports in general, this article made some prodding comments about how you play "the game." The Americans have been finding out in recent international basketball contests that they play a different style of basketball than the rest of the world...and I don't necessarily mean that in a good way!

Mickael Pietrus, a European (French I think) who plays for Golden State in the NBA, said that "when you play for your country you can't put yourself first...you need to make sure you forget yourself and start thinking as a group."

Just so I'm not messing too much with copyright stuff, check out the link for the full article. If you don't want to read the whole article, check out the ten paragraphs that come directly before the "Elsewhere:" heading which is towards the end of the article.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2170086

What's the point? Just read the ten paragraphs and I think it should be pretty obvious. If that doesn't do it, do a case study of teams like the Detroit Pistons and New England Patriots and figure out the common link they have which contributes so majorly to their success.

Impressions

Check out these quotes I read from a mailing for radio people...

"It only takes seven seconds to make a first impression. If your first impression is not your best, it may take a lifetime to wear down the negative impression you did make."

—Beverly Washington
Founder/President, Image Factor

"Unfamiliarity is almost always a negative. To hold listeners, a station must be consistent in numerous areas, including the formatic structure of its clocks, the targeting of its music selection, and the reinforcement of the station's positioning and slogans."

—Brad Burkhart
President, Brad Burkhart Christian Media and Publisher, The PDAdvisor

Seven seconds? Dude. I won't deny that bad first impressions are hard to overcome, but can't we take more than seven seconds to judge things? Isn't that kind of shallow to think you can know someone or something that quickly? I remember the first time I heard Eric Carmen's "Make Me Lose Control." (It's from the 80s...) I thought, "Man, that piano beginning is the stupidest thing I have ever heard." After a few more listens, that piano line introduced one of my favorite songs. I'm glad I didn't write off that song as quickly as I had wanted to.

Unfamiliarity being negative? How selfish are we? Again, I'm not going to deny that there is comfort in familiarity, but get out there! People-wise? Of course. Musically? Most definitely. I look at radio and see mostly stagnant programming. In other words...repetitive! And I don't mean that in a good way. I can't stand most radio these days...so many stations repeat their top songs every two or three hours. That drives me nuts! I find that a slap in the face of the listeners. It's like radio programmers don't feel their listeners are capable of handling more than a small handful of songs.

Someday, kids. Someday we can break these accepted theories...

Don't Have To Live Like A Refugee

Man, in the pregame show for the Jackson Academy football game Friday night they interviewed the newest Raider...a kid from the coast of Mississippi. It struck me as I had forgotten the effect on all these kids...this kid talked about how good their "old" team was and how all his teammates are now scattered throughout high schools in the South...from Atlanta to here in Jackson. It's cool that all these displaced students can be absorbed (and accepted, hopefully) into other schools, but wow, think about if RTS (or whatever school you are or have attended) got destroyed and suddenly everyone got scattered to other schools.

On a similar note, a new guy just started at our radio station. His home is currently in water (and oil) down in the New Orleans area. But he has always wanted to get into sports talk radio and just couldn't crack the big market in New Orleans. And lo-and-behold, he finds himself working at SuperSport 930 the week after Hurricane Katrina chases him out. You know, the more you dig and the more you see how MANY lives are affected and how MUCH they are affected, it's amazing to know there is a God and He is working things out to accomplish His plans. How truly awesome.

Katrina Cleanup

Sooner or later I’ll dig into some music stuff on this here blog, but things keep coming up…like hurricanes and such. (Speaking of which, go Noles!)

After getting out of town for a chunk of last week, I drove back into Mississippi Monday evening. It was sad. While I still marvel at the different directions trees have fallen and how road signs can just be snapped right off, I could also sense an air of sadness in the South. The worst part is, I was still a few hours north of the coast where the real destruction is. But it was still sad to see the brokenness and hurt.

What was truly amazing to me, however, was how God spoke to me through the mess I saw. We had a CD playing in the car, and one of the songs was called, "It’s All About You." Lyrically it was simple, but sometimes "simplicity" speaks the deepest.

It’s all about you Jesus
And all this is for you
For your glory and your fame
It’s not about me
As if you should do things my way
You alone are God
And I surrender to your ways.

What a great re-frame (or paradigm shift) for how I was looking at things. Hurricane Katrina was not about how much hurt people had, how much they lost, or even God "punishing the wicked." Hurricane Katrina was and still is about the Glory of God. Everything we see with our human eyes should funnel into that mindset.