Resumes and Ladders
Most of you who know me know that I'm not a very deep thinker most of the time, but I was thinking about the movie "Accepted" today. The point the main characters are trying to make is that just because an academic institution isn't "established" doesn't make it valid. Kindof a "Who made the nobles noble, anyway?" thing.
That got me to thinking, so much of what we do is to "establish" ourselves. I mean, all through high school, I padded my resume. Honor bands, jazz bands, orchestra, playing wherever I could, and doing whatever I could so it would increase my chances of getting into the FSU School of Music. But really, what's the difference between FSU and UNF or USF or UM? Is the education all that different? Maybe. But what if it's not? What if I'm learning all of the same stuff here as I would any of those places? What's the difference?
The difference is the name. When I go to get a job as a music educator, people will see FSU on my diploma and think differently than if it said USF. Because I can say I studied trumpet under Brian Goff or Dr. Christopher Moore, or I took conducting from Dr. Patrick Dunnigan, and took my education classes from Dr. Stephen Kelly. I'm not knocking all of those guys, but really, all of that resume padding in high school was simply a building block on which to add another resume padder.
And it seems that so much of life is that way. Musicians start playing dive bars and coffee houses, then move up to bigger clubs, then theaters, then arenas, then stadiums. Football players start in PeeWee, then middle school, then high school, then college, then the pros. Everything we do we have to earn by starting at the bottom and working our way up. We call it "The American Way."
But then God is so different. That's what's so amazing, is that we don't have to earn our way up to salvation. If we had to do that, we'd all be screwed. God made it simple. Give it up to Him. Make Him Lord of your life. Period. Then follow Him, and He will make your paths straight. Period.
But as simple as it is, we make it complicated. We want to do things our way, and then try to make them fit the plans we think God has for us. I'm really bad about that, I'll admit. But it really all comes down to handing our whole lives over to Him. Doing things that may seem to go against our human instinct to build our way up to the top of that ladder. Cause a lot of the times, I think, our top is pretty different from His.
I'm not sure if all of this means anything, I just think it's pretty cool how God does things so differently than we do.
1 Peter 2:9
9 -10But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you-from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted. (The Message)
That got me to thinking, so much of what we do is to "establish" ourselves. I mean, all through high school, I padded my resume. Honor bands, jazz bands, orchestra, playing wherever I could, and doing whatever I could so it would increase my chances of getting into the FSU School of Music. But really, what's the difference between FSU and UNF or USF or UM? Is the education all that different? Maybe. But what if it's not? What if I'm learning all of the same stuff here as I would any of those places? What's the difference?
The difference is the name. When I go to get a job as a music educator, people will see FSU on my diploma and think differently than if it said USF. Because I can say I studied trumpet under Brian Goff or Dr. Christopher Moore, or I took conducting from Dr. Patrick Dunnigan, and took my education classes from Dr. Stephen Kelly. I'm not knocking all of those guys, but really, all of that resume padding in high school was simply a building block on which to add another resume padder.
And it seems that so much of life is that way. Musicians start playing dive bars and coffee houses, then move up to bigger clubs, then theaters, then arenas, then stadiums. Football players start in PeeWee, then middle school, then high school, then college, then the pros. Everything we do we have to earn by starting at the bottom and working our way up. We call it "The American Way."
But then God is so different. That's what's so amazing, is that we don't have to earn our way up to salvation. If we had to do that, we'd all be screwed. God made it simple. Give it up to Him. Make Him Lord of your life. Period. Then follow Him, and He will make your paths straight. Period.
But as simple as it is, we make it complicated. We want to do things our way, and then try to make them fit the plans we think God has for us. I'm really bad about that, I'll admit. But it really all comes down to handing our whole lives over to Him. Doing things that may seem to go against our human instinct to build our way up to the top of that ladder. Cause a lot of the times, I think, our top is pretty different from His.
I'm not sure if all of this means anything, I just think it's pretty cool how God does things so differently than we do.
1 Peter 2:9
9 -10But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you-from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted. (The Message)