dashing devo 003: "Ignored Criticism - Part 1"

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Originally uploaded by dashimaging.com

About the picture:

This picture represent a lot of things for me…this is the conference room at Crossover Church in Tampa where I work at. Since I been here I been stretched creatively in so many different ways I can’t begin to explain. Its also a place where I find that many other people, ministries, artist are inspired by that work God is doing here at the church and it gets them excited and pumped when they go back to their place of work or wherever. But in this room is where a lot of the unique and innovative ideas and planning goes down that effect and change the lives of thousands and thousands of people. This room really have something special to it because before it was a conference room it was a prayer room.

“Uniqueness is birthed out of ignored criticism” - Brandon ‘dash’ Brinkley

We all have them. And call them what you want….critics, haters, snakes, etc…what ever they are we all know ‘em as the dream killers (sounds like a crew of evil villains).

And lets face it….we all want to please people..right? Ohhh….I get it, your one of the people that say, “I don’t care what people think about me!” Yea right…..I’m sure there is a piece of us that can admit that we do, in some way, try to please people. It can be by the work that we do, the car that we drive, the clothes that we wear….come to think of it, its not even a mater of trying to please people at this point, its just being presentable. No one goes to work looking a hot mess and use the excuse “I don’t care what people think of me.” So if your thinking that you can kill that noise!

But really, you gotta think about it…who decided to make a portable computer, start up a social network, flat screen monitors, projectors….(and yes I am looking around my house for things at this point..early morning I can’t think right lol). Do decided to put their albums on itunes, use spray paint to make beautiful murals, power windows and locks in cars, toilet paper rolls…..skinny jeans and other 80’s apparel..but the real question is, who decided to bring it back…I mean really. The different types of films that are out, photos, paintings, music……Random thoughts I kinda though out there, but I’m sure you get the picture.

To most of these we can say that it was a very creative and innovative. But what about the guy that came up with the idea? What did he have to go through to get to the point of expectance by others? Or how did he ever overcome the thoughts of “what if” and those who said he couldn’t do it or it would never work?

Back in the summer of 2007, I shot a short independent film for an art show that was held at a National Event in St. Louis, Missouri. I met a ton of artist that range in a number of various styles…I was pretty much in awe of the creative minds I was surrounded by. I had the opportunity to interview all 20+ artist and really get into there minds and they shared with me the type of work they do. I can tell that they were very excited to share their stories and emotions that went into their pieces. It was a 3 day event and I left that event shooting the documentary inspired.

What I really got from that experience was how they created something out of their emotions…what they felt. They weren’t really interested in what others thought. Wow…what was going through there minds…because I look at the work of others (film, photographs, etc) and I’m in awe cause I had never seen anything like that done in my life before! We call things like that “unique”. Unique meaning….different, weird, pretty creative? Whatever the thought is, some of the same “unique people” think or say “I wish I would’ve thought of that myself” when they see other things.

So where do individuals get this drive from? Well, its simple really….God places these emotions inside of us to create something great and extraordinary. The same God that created both heaven and earth created you and I…now how creative is that! So in appreciation to that, we are told to offer our gifts, talents, and bodies by means of giving God glory and honor.

Romans 12:1

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

But we all have a problem….we also have this drive that longs for acceptance and we try to find that in this world that we are in. And if we are in Christ we all know not to follow the trends or the cues of this world.

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

So with that in mind, what do we do or say when our beloved “critics” stop us from doing what God had called us to do? And these critics, or dream killers, are all around us. They can be certain members of your family, friends, and even strangers. But if we aren’t careful the very critic that can hurt us the most can be yourself. We can be our greatest weapon when it comes to doing God’s will, the passion and desires what He has place in our hearts. Our minds and our very thoughts and keep us from these things. We can get the thinking and lead ourselves to the wrong way of thinking….we believe what others say about us or we start comparing ourselves to others and then we shut down and end up burring our passions.

It’s a dangerous road to go down, but what happens when we have a continued thought pattern that become a part of us?

Red Kool-Aid, Conan, Fallon.....

Well....I finally decided to post photos online for a change...ha...some photographer I am....

Don't say I never did anything for you....

neways, njoy the flicks: Gomez Fam, Andre Henry, STLish

Im going to bed, I decided to call it a night when...oh whats his name, Carson Daily came on...

***hit em with that link----- ::Boom::

Thank you and gnight

dash

Day Off....

....nuff said

I going to chill the crap out of today!!!!

good weekend..maybe I blog about later

dash

Busy times!

Well, I guess the good thing to say now is...at least I didn't forget about this! Haha!!

There is so much that has been going on...I can't even begin to explain.....I mean it not like I'm Superman or something. And if I were a superhero I wouldn't compare myself to Superman...more like Batman cause he had gadgets and I too am a gadget freak.....but Superman did have brute strength....hmm

God is def showing me balance more than ever now. I thought I had it together in college--HA yea right! I was no where near a "balanced" life. Now I'm engaged, working in the ministry, freelancing....and still trying to have somewhat of a life! And I'm sure...this is just the beginning! Ekkkkk! Then I think to myself ("what a wonderful world") why now...why now when I'm in the beginning stages of being engaged, why now when I have people calling me to DJ or do a video..take pictures..and do some layouts for something or even try to finish my website (www.dashimaging.com) tehehe ...and why now when I have things that need to get done at Church within the media ministry or just when people just go through life.

So thats my prayer toda---actually its been my prayer for some months! But now its getting the best of me.

::sigh::

Expect a post very soon about this topic of "Balance"

have a great one!

dash

dashing devo002: "Numb"

Ever had those times or moments to where you learn about yourself? Its weird to say that I know absolutely nothing about myself....in fact its silly! Not to say that I never been in touch with my own self, but its things that I am recognizing now that I've always been numb too.  Its like I've trained myself to be numb or just avoid certain things. Pretty soon its like 2nd nature to just causally go about things not knowing what effect it really has on me.

I remember growing up being a very picky eater….come to think of it…I still am. I was so picky (how picky where you?) I automatically, and without hesitation, turn down types of food that I never tried! Yes it is true...but…I may have not tried the food, but I was certain that I probably won’t like it. I have a strategy to this “condition”; here is my tried and true method on how I break things down:

1) Sight and Smell – If its not pleasing to the eye, there is no way in heck I’m getting near it. If its not love at 1^st sight, it’s defiantly not getting a 2^nd look!

2) Name of Food – example: aspargus, squid – sounds like something that I probably wouldn’t like

3) Origin of Food – Where did it come from?

4) “How did it taste to you?” – What did others think about it

5) Inquiring Comparisons - What does it taste like?

Call me weird, but I smell my food before I eat it and smell milk before I drink it (its true); and if It smells like it does on my plate, surely its not meant be an edible food and therefore it has no place in my appetite. True story.

I wish I took the same method when it came to things in my spiritual life. We can look at what turns God off, sin, and how ugly it is. The things we said that we would never do we eventually ended up doing. We’d say things such as, “Oh, I would never do that! I just couldn’t see myself doing it…it wouldn’t even get that far!” I’m sure we all heard or even stated it ourselves from time to time. But lets be real….if I was really serious about this “blatant guard” then what steps or what ways was I doing to affirm such a statement? And we all been there…. we let our guard down and we find ourselves in the very thing we said we would never get ourselves into. And we sit and wonder how we got there and inside we are hurting and longing for something.

I was there not to long ago…my spiritual life took a huge blow and I was weakened to my knees. It was the things in my life that really started to welt up inside of me that at an early age I began to develop a behavior that ignored those things that will affect me later. But why did I not think about that? How did I not know that years later I will feel very disgusted with the very thing that I am opening myself up too? But as the years went on and situations presented itself I later would say that I hated the person that I’ve become. This is not what God had intended for my life. I want to do whatever God wants me to do in my life now at this moment and time in my life but this thing that I’ve made myself numb to is holding me back and I feel as if I imprisoned myself in bondage. I thought I could fight this all on my own but fighting it alone has gotten to me how I feel now.

We all dealt with pride in various ways. And I’m sure you can agree to the fact that when it takes hold of our spiritual life it can get reeeeeeal ugly! And when that does happen, our life seems to have no limits at all. Everything that we were taught and everything that we learned seemed to be thrown out the window. And yet still wonder, how did I get here? Our life starts to evolve around “what makes me happy now”.

In Luke 15, there are a series of parables that Jesus spoke on. There were 3 in that chapter and all talked about something being lost and then later being found. But with the subject I mainly talking mostly about you can probably figure that the parable of the prodigal son is what’s really on my mind (Luke 15:11-32).

In a nutshell, its basically talking about a father who has 2 sons. Father had the family business running right, the younger one wants his share of the estate (…life savings or whatever…basically a large sum of $$). So the younger son zips of to a distant country and blows all his money. Probably spent it on the finest wine, some bling, a nice whip (…a car lol), drinks for everyone in the club, a bangin house, ya know…the works! The highlife!

Then the economy hits; a huge famine hits the entire country. And I sure there was a water shortage like Florida is now! And everyone is freaking out and he looses all his stuff…repoed car and everything! So he is doing a bunch of odd jobs here and there…actually some of the jobs were a bit humiliating according to the lifestyle he was living in before. I mean, this guys was driving around in a nice car with the hottest girls and the blingest watch. But now he’s feeding pigs; what can you say, he was in need. He could no long afford the lavish lifestyle he was living and his main concern at the time was just to get something to eat for the day. And speaking of eating, he wasn’t really getting feed on and off the clock so he started craving the very slope he was feeding to the pigs! Now that’s gross! So he stated thinking…”I could go back to the family business and work there as a servant. There’s always alotta food for the pigs there. Shooot I can dine with them! Or just maybe the guys who work for my dad can spare me some food...” But also in the mist of all that he really did begin to come to his senses…”I want to go back home, I can’t keep living like this. I have no money and I’m starving..I going confront my father and I will say that I have sinned against heaven and against you (my father). I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired men”

Don’t you see, this guy is completely broken; pride hit him hard. Just to even take on a humiliating job and to crave what the pigs eat because that all he had…wow! How far will living a life with no limits take us. And we all now our possessions (our stuff) will soon won’t last, goes out of style, we grow out of it, gets stolen…but yet we still long for it because it make us happy and fulfills us for the moment.

I urge you to take a look at this story and see for yourself how it ends (Luke 15:11-32).

I really look at stories like these and really see the brokenness in people. We our lives in ways to where God is clearly not pleased but in the end we find that the life we lived left us feeling empty and hurt inside. But who are we kidding, we don’t want others to know that we are hurt so we put on a front and fill voids like everything is okay. We numb ourselves.

Just like a doctor when conducting an operation. He can’t just operate with out numbing the part of the body that is being operated on, that would hurt and be just plain crazy! I wish a doctor wouldn’t numb me up before cut me up! Its just like when there is hurt in us we don’t want to confront it because we are worried about our image and what others think. So in our way of covering it up we numb that pain. The doctor is at work on the procedure and you don’t feel a thing, thank God! But when the procedure is over and you go back home, eventually that numbness starts to wear off and you really begin to feel the pain of what was being operated on. All you want to do at this point is just lie down and not be bothered with hoping that this pain will go away.

Or consider a car when a routine job becomes ignored. It begins to affect other components under the hood. Next thing you know a $20-$40 oil change turns into a $1500-$4000 engine swap. They really mean what they say when they say “See you in 3,000 miles” (if you have not gotten your oil changed yet, I believe the Lord is speaking to you right now!).

What problems in your life are being ignored? What issues or sin have you began to really numb yourself too because you wanted what was best for you? We all longed for immediate gratification and worried about our rep, but as children of God we all should long for holiness and cling to the righteousness of God and His glory. When we look to that, our life will be changed!

God wants you…He is calling for you. He is molding you in the man or woman He has called you to be. We need to humble ourselves to really look to Him and what he has for us according to his plan. We must submit and we must be broken before to kill the prideful life we have always been use to. When I look at brokenness I am always brought to the prayer of the plea for mercy, forgiveness, and cleansing that David cried out to God in Psalms 51. This is when the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. He had various ways he tried to cover it up and at the moment he was successful in doing it. But then Nathan comes along and confronts him (2 Samuel 12) crushing David seeing his actions being brought to light. But during this incident, David cried out to God (Psalms 51), giving valuable insight to his character and really showing his true heart for God. Now we see how important it is to not let sin, hurt, or anything go ignored! Check out the rest of that whole situation in 2 Samuel 12 and on to find out how God responded to this situation that began to unravel itself.

We can’t stay here long. You are probably feeling this way to where your thoughts have trapped you in this cycle and you feel as if you can never get out of it. But God is telling you that you can. God is forgiving and he is calling us to be Holy. Ask for forgiveness and totally turn away from those things that caused you to sin….believe me, you don’t want to go back to the old ways..you will just continue this pattern over and over again. And you will feel the same way over and over again…and for what…the same thing! Its getting old! Cut those things out in your life, seek out accountability, keep yourself spiritually feed and you will no longer crave the things that the world has to offer that draws you back into the numbing that numbing cycle.

1 Corinthians 13:11-12

11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

 - Brandon 'dash' Brinkley

greetings stranger

dang....its been a while...consider this an update.

dash

dashing devo001: "I heard God's voice...and did nothing"

“Brandon!” is the voice I heard screaming from the other room. I knew what the voice meant….I mean, I only heard that name or a similar phrase about for the 7th or 8th time so far already. At this time, I’m usually still doing what I’ve been doing with that nagging voice in the background reminding me of something I already know I had to do…but I ignore it--well…not completely, I may respond with a, “Yea I know” or a “Ok Mom I will”. I remember growing up in a house where my family was notorious for yelling across the house if we needed something. My dad hated it….that’s probably why we invested in intercom system feature on our cordless phone. But no intercom system would express the anger and frustration of this voice that made picture frames shake and glasses and cup rattle of the table like an earthquake! I knew there was trouble when I heard the voice get closer and closer. Sometimes I would get the sneak attack from behind with no voice for a warning. Its usually just faint crescendoing footsteps. But with such volume and anger in this voice, I heard booming footsteps….sort of like in the movie Jurassic Park when the T-Rex was chasing the Jeep.

 
But why does it take a threatening situation such as this for us to respond so quickly. I was always an obedient child ::halo:: but there have been numerous times to where I didn’t react so quickly to a command from my parents. It’s also in those moments to where they probably didn’t say it audibly, but I knew what had to be done. I believe I failed in many areas in my childhood where I did react to things until I was told to do them. I believe the phrase such a behavior is called “delayed disobedience”. I believe I failed many times in my life in general to where I didn’t react so quickly to God’s voice

The greatest example that I could think of that heard “the voice” and quickly reacted to it was David. An amazing life he lived and an even great situation to really learn what it means to be lead to action by God’s voice. David was a wee little Shepard boy and at that time the Israelites where at battle with the Philistines. So David approaches the battle lines to find that the “use-to-be” mighty army of Israel we cowering under the treat of a single, but rather large Philistine by the name of Goliath. David looks back at the army only to find the same pitiful look of defeat on their faces day in and day out. So he was pretty much angry at this sight and wanted to do something about it. But this is the same puny kid that God used to kill a bear and a lion who was harming his sheep. I’m sure you all heard this same story before and know how it ends, but the part I want to bring up is that fact that all the Israelites, probably even the Philistines, couldn’t understand that a little Shepard boy could kill the giant Goliath with a couple stones. It was like a small baby vs Chuck Norris…and the baby wins. Wait wait…I know what your thinking….no one could beat Chuck Norris (which is true)….but for example sake lets say that this little baby beats him. I seem to can’t phantom the idea of that happening but something like that did happen! David lays the smack down on Goliath! How??

I believe the key to David strategy was that he was moved to action by the revelation of God’s ability over the weakness of man held in bondage to an earthly perspective. Maybe its times to where God is calling us to do something great or even something out of our comfort zone. Its times like this to when we become paralyzed by our circumstances. We can sometime defect our own thoughts or goals with fear. But what about when it comes to some immediate things like when God tells us to give a little more, spend more time with me, help your neighbor out, or talk to this person…they need to be heard out? These little things can sometimes be a burden to us all cause we feel like it doesn’t have much of importance as my larger goals do…so why should I do this little thing. Its because God is shaping, molding, and preparing us for what is to come with the time is right. We can call a process like this “developed discipline”.

“Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won’t be faithful in large ones.” 

Luke 16:10a NLT

I have always contemplated on working out again. Lucky for me my metabolism is great….for now at least…(23 years old). Growing up playing a lot of sports and really staying active, I was always working out and running regularly. In high school I played soccer and basketball and I can say that those sports developed a load of discipline in my life. I spent my weeks running at least 4 miles 2x a week. I might’ve had a couple of off weeks but at least I did it other weeks! If I didn’t do anything it would show in my performance on the field and on the court. I go to college thinking this same work ethic would carry over now that I retired from both sports…..no sir! Homework, friends, girls, sleep, and most of all….laziness got to me. I had no reason to workout anymore (except for the ladies at that time of my life). I had no results to show for that, and plus who cared anyways. Well, that same attitude and lack of discipline showed its face in my personal life, my studies, and most importantly….my spiritual life. I lost that excitement I had when I played sports to where I had to show and prove to my coach, teammates, and fans that I could play and be the best player for my team. I had reason for my motivation. And when it comes to my spiritual life….I should too.

This week, well I’ll say Monday night to begin with, me and my roommate were talking about running. And I was like cool, I’m an early riser so I’ll do it in the morning. Never set my alarm and before you know it….it was time for us to go to work. Monday night was the same story but this time I’m thinking that I should just go solo just incase he doesn’t wake up. BUT….I would only do it if God woke me up early enough to do it. Tuesday morning, no alarm clock….I arise at 5:30am. God was waking me up. I did nothing but went back to bed. I was convicted the whole rest of the day. I felt like I should just sit in the corner for the rest of the day for my disobedience….actually, make that 2 more days cause Wednesday and Thursday were all the same stories! Talk about conviction. And it didn’t help to add to the guilt the fact that my lunch and dinner consisted of McDonalds, Sonics, Wendys, and 2 straight nights of Chinese food. So after of whole week of dealing with my sin of disobedience and gluttony, I prayed to God to ask for forgiveness and he gave me one more chance to act on His command. His woke me up at 6:30am with no alarm clock and I quickly jumped to my feet to change into my shorts, t-shirt, hoodie (its cold in Florida?), and my Nike Air Max Trainers. I ran a mile but it felt like 4 miles…and I won’t quote my time cause it was horrible! My parents where track coaches back in the day and if they heard for my lap time they would sock me in the face!

I felt myself getting closer to God this morning…to know that after 3 or 4 failed attempts before I actually responded to God’s voice, He still loves me. Its moments like this to where I know I have a hard head and my discipline is shot and not what it use to be when I was around mommy and daddy. But I’m at the point now to where I hope to some day marry and start a family with the love of my life Ileana and I have to be ready for that. But one thing that I have to realize is that all that discipline and everything else has to start with me. That’s one of the things that I’m praying for now in my life, more discipline…or even re-teach me those things that I have become unfamiliar with or have faded away. I don’t want to wait until those cresendoing footsteps get closer and a hand clocks me upside my head before I do something. But the minute I hear something from God now I will drop whatever it is that I am doing and do it cause I know God has said it for a reason. I may not understand it now but it will show later on when the time comes around. Even if it doesn’t come around I will have had a developed attitude that it will come and I will be ready for it. We may not see or understand things with our simple earthly minds, but when we start to see thing from God’s perspective our spirit and our hearts will be moved to action.

- Brandon 'dash' Brinkley