After seeing photos and videos from this year’s SXSW and reading about all the musicians and films that were showcased there, those old ambitions of wanting to make it and be recognized start to creep in again.
I read about the camaraderie of musicians backstage and I say, “I wish I could be part of that.” I look at all the new films being screened and I say, “Don’t I have something that is worth being paid attention to?”
I see the kids from OFWGKTA receiving endless praise and recognition at such a young age and think, “Couldn’t that have been me 7 years ago? Oh my God, I am 26. I am running out of time.”
And on and on it goes, me being trapped inside a vacuum of what-if’s and have-not’s and completely neglecting the incredible life I’m living now and even more, the amazing life that God has planned and promised.
And I won’t sit here and compare what I could be achieving in the world and what’s happening now- like how 180 Media Group will be filming with RED cameras soon (the same used for Social Network, 127 Hours, and the new Spider-Man, to name a few), or a prospective third site for Sunday service, or traveling globally, or witnessing first-hand lives being genuinely changed by Christ.
But I will mention this: I’m not waking up today in a hotel in Texas to play to a sold-out outdoor crowd but I AM grateful for the fact that flushing our toilet in the staff house doesn’t produce scalding hot water from the shower, forcing me to wait 10 minutes to start my day.
You might say, That is such a whack comparison. But truthfully, the reward of being proud of who I’m becoming versus being ashamed of who I am is incomparably greater.
