The Kid Rock-Cash-Cyrus Approach

One question seems to plague me today.

It's something I've thought about vaguely for a while, and until today it has nested in the back of my mind.  But now I'm wondering, and so I'm asking--not for an opinion, but for a truth.  A Jesus-truth.

Around a year ago I really became fascinated with Johnny Cash.  Today I watched "Walk the Line" again and saw it from a whole new angle.

I have also become a huge Kid Rock fan over the past 24 months, and although I consider myself a devout Christian, I find his "in your face", almost-offensive lyrics refreshing somehow.

I think what draws us to these pop culture masterpieces is their originality.  Kid Rock prides himself on being a master of mixing hip-hop, southern rock, and blues all into one.  And listening to his music, I can tell you it is truly a beautiful collaboration and somehow he makes it work--and he has made it work with his obvious multi-platinum record sales.

If you look up Johnny Cash on Wikipedia it explains that his originality and rebelliousness to the country music genre is what set him apart and put him light years ahead of his competition.  He too was creative in his mix: gospel, blues, and western music.

What further intrigues me about Cash is that he considered himself a very devout Christian, yet he was the "biggest sinner of them all."  To be so complex and contradictory really confused a lot of people, especially his Christian fans.

And in the movie there is a scene where Johnny goes to his record company asking to design a concert tour around the nation's top penitentiary systems.  His record company tells him that this is clearly not going to reach his loyal fans.

"Your fans are church folk, Johnny.  Christians.  They don't wanna hear you sing to a bunch of murderers and rapists, tryin' to cheer 'em up."

Mr Cash's striking reply was,

 "Well, they're not Christians then."

 I guess what gets me is that WE are Christians.  We are to model Jesus.  Jesus loved sinners--murderers and rapists.  But in the church today, you don't hear or see anything remotely close to that.  No one loves them or hangs out with them or buys them lunch--much less sings to them or tries to cheer them up.  

In fact, I would assume it would be easier and much more popular for the Christians to look down at Mr. Cash for doing such a thing.

His lyrics are just so rebellious!

                                     He sings about popping pills, killing people, and getting drunk!

How can such a person consider themselves a Christian??

                                          I heard he started out as a gospel singer--I wonder what happened to him?

Poor guy--he's so strung out on drugs he doesn't know what he wants.

Of course, I wasn't around for Johnny Cash's career and the live gossip that followed.  But we are all here for Kid Rock.  Also to many people's surprise--he too sings several songs on faith, Jesus, and God.  He is a political and social activists and participates in several charities.  But I'm sure most of my fellow Christians (I used too as well) can be caught with this kind of opinion:

Kid Rock?  He's definitely not a good guy.  Have you heard his lyrics?  

                         Didn't he go to jail for drugs and stuff?

I think he is pretty strung out on drugs too..

                        I have no respect for him.

                                           He is disgusting.

But really, would Jesus gossip like this?  Well, Jesus wouldn't gossip.  But he would definitely hold the same opinions as us...right?  

What about Lady Gaga or Miley Cyrus' new stunt??

Yeah and did you hear about Amanda Bynes??  Oh my gosh, she is totally loosing it.  Such a shame too because she was so talented...

So it's okay to make "pity" comments and judgmental thoughts about them because they're famous right?

What about you?  How are things on your end?

I heard she's been hanging out with a rough crowd lately..

                He might be gay, we better keep him at a close distance.

I pray for them, but gees there's just no changing them.  They are total hypocrites!

And I'm the one writing this so you know I'll get slammed!

Who is she to talk?  Why does she always think she has the right to preach to us??

                    Well she obviously can't say anything..she dropped out of school for a year!

I don't trust her beliefs anymore..I heard she works at a bar.

I think we've all wasted too many precious hours lying and covering up our mistakes with cheap Covergirl cosmetics.  You see, I am a very black and white person.  Tell me what to do and I'll do it, but this question I have seems to have no clear answer--and so I'm asking you to think on it with me.  Let's think and pray until the Lord searches our hearts with a solution.

Here's the question:

In my family, (Disclaimer: Obviously I love my family, this is just a thought so don't freak out.)  we were raised to keep our sins on the down-low.  Yes, we acknowledge that everyone sins and Jesus totally forgives those kinds of things--but at the same time, we really don't want the whole world knowing about our weaknesses...it just gets, well, kind of messy.  It's too much to explain.

• Like your father's infidelity for instance.  We won't mention that because it was wrong, he knew it was wrong, and so him and your mother worked out amongst themselves and moved on.

• Or your sister went to jail on a crazy party mishap.  That's great that your parents got her out immediately and had it expunged from her record, but please don't bring it up ever again--especially in a family setting.  We don't need to discuss that.

Part of me agrees with this approach, part of me doesn't.  

The Bible teaches me to expose sins and confess them to my prayer warrior friends so I can be healed and set free (James 5:16, Proverbs 28:13, 1 Timothy 5:20.)  But when I do that, I get more gossip in return and worried looks from parents, family members, and old teachers.  I even got awkward talks from many people who barely knew me or my situation!

On the other hand..if you keep quiet about the whole thing and handle yourself between you and God then everyone avoids the awkward conversation and we all politely disregard the fact that you also are human and you have sin.  Because we disregard this fact we can quite confidently turn around and not only judge each other for listening to Lady Gaga's music, but we can join forces together by calling her a "sinful ugly whore who is desperate for attention."

I guess in a perfect world we would follow the Bible and stop judging each other, but we don't live that way--so we sin.  And we sin more to cover up our sin.  And when people ask us about it we lie about our sin.

It's a lose-lose situation.

I had a wonderful friend once who was THAT honest with himself, his friends, his parents and his church family. 

Now we all hate him.

I just don't get it.  What are we to do?  Save face and be (fake) clean little Christians with good (outward) habits and hobbies, or do we take the Kid Rock-Cash-Cyrus approach and be upfront with everyone about being "troubled but devout Christians."

Chasing Success

If I don't make it to the big leagues,

If I never win a Grammy
I'm gonna be just fine
'Cause I know exactly who I am

--Julie Andrews “Who I am”

My whole life I have been very success-driven. Part of this is probably because I am the oldest child and therefore I have something inside me that pushes me to want to please my parents, but it is also probably a mixture of pride, the American dream, and security. So throughout middle school and high school I wanted to be in everything and I wanted to be the best at everything (not in a competitive nature, but just out of a drive for success.) I then chose to come to the top school in my state, in order to receive the top education so that I could land the best job with the highest salary. In fact, last year one of my friends asked me what my biggest fear is and I replied, “Growing up and not being successful.”

However, after a year at this amazingly successful school, God has changed my heart and shifted the direction of my dreams. Recently he has really showed me that success can’t be my main goal in this life. Success is not guaranteed to anyone, no matter how hard they work. I know people who have worked their butt off for years, taking teams to state play-offs and students to new levels, but still lost everything in the end. No one can promise you a successful and secure life—it simply does not exist.

So as I sat back and pondered all of this I thought, well God if awards, money, and praise is worthless, then what do I pour myself into? “Me, you dear child!” God was probably giving me the “duh” look once again as he had to walk me back through his promises of being eternal. If you are a regular reader your have probably heard me say the three things that are eternal: God, God’s people, and God’s word. Over and over again this becomes more and more important to me. EVERYTHING ELSE IS USELESS—A CHASING AFTER THE WIND!! (Ecclesiastes)

What good will it do to have all the money and awards in the world if you miss watching your children grow up? And what are you going to do with that big house if you have no one to share it with? What’s God gonna say when you get to heaven and he asked you what you did and you say, “Well I have a real nice bank account.” Jesus said in Matthew 19:24, “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

He also said in Luke 16:13, “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

I don’t know if you have seen the wonderful new movie Country Strong featuring Gwyneth Paltrow, but the underlying theme of the movie emphasizes on this. In the movie, Kelly Canter (Paltrow) is a super famous country singer who spends the entire film going in and out of drug abuse and rehab.

(SPOILER ALERT) At the very end of the movie you finally think she’s gotten her life together. The audience's hope rises as you see her perform an astounding show in front of millions of happy fans cheering her name. Her husband tells her he loves her finally, and she makes peace with her younger rival. However, at the peak of her success, she kills herself with substance abuse.

It’s heartbreaking to watch this happen to famous people. I know you can think of tons who have, or supposedly have taken their own life despite their pinnacle of success. (Michael Jackson, Anna Nicole Smith, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley) You would think if anyone could be completely satisfied with this life it would be the rich and the famous. After all, that’s what we’re all aiming for right? But if that’s what it takes to be fulfilled and content with life, why are they all turning to drugs, alcohol, and death for relief?

Please, by all means chase your dreams and do what your heart desires, but don't let these dreams become an idol. Keep God first and foremost and all of your desires will match his. Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. "

Chase after God. He won’t let you down.

Psalm 119:32

“I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.”