Cars and Coffee and... Idolatry?

For the past few months, I have been attending Cars and Coffee, a weekly gathering of car enthusiasts.  It is quite a trek, but I didn't mind at first because the cars that I would see each week would make me forget waking up at 5:30 AM and driving 40 miles.

This past Saturday started just like a typical C&C Saturday.  I woke up at 5:30 AM and headed down to Irvine, CA.  The sun was rising and there was nothing good on the radio, so I started to feel philosophical.  I began to reflect on why I make this journey each week.  I started to think about the amount of fuel I consume in driving 80 miles round-trip.  I came to the conclusion that I am spending a fair amount of my money, time, and energy on a 2 hour meeting in a parking lot filled with pieces of metal and rubber.

As you can probably tell from my previous posts, I love cars.  I have always been fascinated by them and I will continue to be fascinated by them.  It is truly amazing how far cars have come in the last 50 years.  It blows my mind to think about what we will be driving 50 years from now.  However, when did cars become such a status symbol and why are we labeled based on what we drive?  The first cars were built purely as a functional tool.  Henry Ford built the first mass-produced car and made it affordable for everyone.  The Model T only came in one color (black) and was purpose-built to move people across great distances.  Fast forward to the 1950's where cars began to have huge wings and larger engines.  Is this where the car became a status symbol?  I am not sure, but I know that by 1950 people began to idolize cars and a car culture was formed.  People began to customize their Chevrolet Bel-Airs and Porsche released road-legal sports cars and Mercedes-Benz defined luxury and on and on we go. 

This idolizing of cars continues in the present day.  We often are identified based on what we drive.  In high school I drove a "beater."  It was a 1997 Dodge Intrepid.  It was huge, it had several dents, and smelled of gasoline.  But none of that mattered, because I loved that car.  Yes, I complained at the time because it was not an Aston Martin or a Porsche or even a new Dodge, but it got me from Point A to Point B.  It drove me back and forth to High School for two years and it drove me to my first day of college.  It accompanied me to my first gigs and it even managed to handle some long-distance driving.  As a car, it did everything that I asked of it.  It kept me safe in all types of weather and it kept hundreds of passengers safe as well (including my 70 year old grandparents who wanted a ride).  It didn't need to be flashy or expensive or fast for me to enjoy that car.

I thought about all of these things as I was making my way south of Los Angeles, passing through Anaheim.  What was I really going down to admire?  Not just a bunch of cars, but status symbols.  I was driving down so that I could try to talk to a smug looking guy with bleach blond hair standing next to his $300,000 limited edition Lamborghini, just so that he could turn around and say that it was his daily driver and it looks great parked next to his Porsche 911 GT3 and his fully-restored 1965 Ford Mustang GT350.  Please, do not misunderstand, I am not bitter.  There are some car owners who work very hard and put countless hours into fixing up old, beautiful cars.  But this is just my point.  Why spend so much time and invest so much energy into something that will eventually breakdown or rust?  This, my friends, is idolatry.

It is the longing for something that will not satisfy.  And I came to this conclusion as I was pulling into Cars and Coffee.  I have made cars into an idol.  I could not wait to drool over the cars that I would see gathered in that massive parking lot.  I would fill my heart with longing after looking at the hundreds of pristine cars and I would start to fantasize about owning my own beautiful car someday.  But I have forgotten that I own a beautiful car right now!  It is a 2006 Lancer ES and it has driven across the US in order to bring me to LA.  It is a wonderful car and yet, it would not be allowed into a C&C meeting.  Why not?  Because it is plain.  I think that we should celebrate our cars that get us safely from A to B.  After all, that's the sole reason why cars were built in the first place.  To help people, not to go 0-60 in under 4 seconds.

Again, I am not bashing sports cars, I just think that we place a little too much of our hearts into these things.  I still really enjoy reading about cars and I will continue to work on my "car lust."  I still want an Aston Martin... and a Porsche... and a 1973 Dodge Charger Rallye...

I am realizing where I need to keep my hope and trust and consequently, I have decided to only go to C&C once a month.  This will save some money and help focus my heart and mind on what really matters.

In conclusion, let's be thankful for the cars in our lives that make life easier.  Let us remember the car's basic function.  And let us remember these words:

"In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die
Where you invest your love, you invest your life"- "Awake My Soul" by Mumford and Sons

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."- Matthew 6:21

1997 Dodge Intrepid

2003 Oldsmobile Alero

2006 Mitsubishi Lancer ES

2010 in Review

Wow.  I really do think that I need to write in this thing more often.  I don't really do the whole resolutions thing, but it is definitely a goal of mine to keep this thing up to date.

I am going to dedicate my first post of 2011 to looking back into the past and reviewing 2010.  I am going to try and keep this brief, even though it is arguably the most eventful year of my life thus far.  Enjoy.

I started the year 2010 by moving back home.  I began student-teaching in North Richland Hills in January and I thought that a commute from Coppell was better than from Denton.  I also used this semester to try and save as much as I could because I knew that I would be moving in August.  I got the opportunity to work at North Richland Middle School and Richland High School.  In the beginning I was dreading the student-teaching process.  Band directing was not my career objective and the thought of "working" four months as a band director didn't exactly thrill me.  Well, it was tough at first, but I warmed up to the job and the students.  It was the students that made everything worth while.  I got the opportunity to work with some of the best kids that I have ever worked with (especially at the high school).  They were enthusiastic and made my job enjoyable.  It was an eye-opening experience and I will treasure my time there forever.  My student-teaching experience made me realize that band-directing would not be such a bad gig.  Also, I got the opportunity to work with excellent staff.  Bill Watson, Jason Bird, Brian Lowe, Melodianne Mallow and Jessica Maus were exellent mentors to me.  They encouraged me to become a better teacher and musician.  I am indebted to each of them because they made me a better person.

During the Spring semester, I was also traveling to four different schools in order to audition for graduate programs.  It was tricky trying to do this while student-teaching, but my mentors were understanding and allowed me some time off in order to make audition dates.  Each audition went well and I learned a great deal from each of the professors.  Just for grins, here is how I ranked the schools following my audition: UCLA, University of Miami, SDSU, and USC.  I really wanted to go to UCLA and USC was always at the bottom of my list.  However, once the offers came in, I changed my tune.

I graduated from UNT in May with a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education and a minor in Professional Education.  I also passed my certification tests and I am now certified to teach music in the state of Texas.  It was an exciting time in my life because I had a diploma from a prestigious music school and I was looking forward to where I would be going next.  At this point, however, I had no idea where I would be going in August.  My number one choice, UCLA, would not be accepting Master's students for the 2010-2011 year.  This really upset me, but I knew that God was in control.  Miami wanted me, but did not offer any money.  USC offered me a very nice scholarship back in March and I had to ask for two extensions in order to deliberate further my decision.  I was waiting for SDSU to come back with a counter-offer.  At the end of May I got the offer from SDSU.  They offered me a tuition scholarship, a teaching position, and a tuition waiver (which granted me in-state tuition).  I would be paying next to nothing for a Master's Degree!!  On paper, the decision seemed easy.  Go to San Diego State.  However, I felt that God was directing me to LA (read my first blog post for more information on that).  Even though the offer from SDSU seemed incredible, I felt that there would be more opportunity for growth as a musician in LA.  I finally made my decision in early June that I would attend USC (isn't it funny how God works?).  The next step was to get ready for the big move.

Throughout Summer of 2010, I was teaching guitar lessons, working at my Mum's office and rehearsing/gigging with my band RealEyes.  I spent most evenings with Julie, knowing that our days of being in the same state were numbered.  I had a really wonderful summer and I didn't want it to end.  In July, my Mum and I flew out to LA in order to check out apartments.  We spent two full days traveling all over LA!  At the end of two days, I was really conflicted.  The apartments that were in my "price range" were not that safe-seeming and didn't feel like places where I wanted to live.  I finally made my decision and chose to live in a really nice apartment just north of campus.

When August rolled around, the excitement and enthusiasm that I was feeling dissipated.  I was finally realizing that I was leaving home.  During my undergraduate years, I did live in dorms and apartments, but I spent most of my weekends at home.  I never had the chance to "fend for myself" and I was realizing that I would be on my own for this next phase in life.  The month of August was full of goodbyes (actually I prefer "see you soon") and it was tough.  In my final week home, I played my last gig with RealEyes and we also completed some studio sessions.  It was really hard to say goodbye to a band that I had helped to create.  I hope to tour the world with this outstanding group of musicians someday.  On August 11, I spent my last night in Coppell by packing up everything that I needed from my room.  This included most of my clothes, my instruments and my bed.  The place looked empty when I was done.  It was really weird to see my "entire life" fit into one mini-van and a small car.  Julie came over to help me and it was so nice to see her that night.  Our "goodbye" really was a "see you soon" because she was coming out to visit at the end of August!

On August 12, my parents and I began our journey across the country.  We arrived in LA and my parents stayed with me for a few days in order to help me get situated.  It was so great to have them with me in order to ease the transition into living on my own.  They left to go back home and I started school on August 23.

Classes, rehearsals and lessons were excellent!  I also managed to get two teaching jobs and an accompanying position which really filled up my time.  I began recording my own music with a friend from high school, Grayson Palmer.  He has also helped me to get involved with a few other projects which is really exciting.  I began attending Pacific Crossroads Church and I have found a great body of believers there.  I leave each Sunday feeling spiritually refreshed and energized.  I have also managed to get in touch with another really great high school friend.  Clayton and I hang out every now and then and reminisce about old times.  It is great to have a close friend living in the same city.  My Mum came out to visit at the beginning of October.  It was awesome to spend time with my Mum and she also made some truly incredible food (seriously, it was so good).  We went to Malibu and I showed her around my neighborhood.  She also came to church with me.  My dad also came out to visit at the end of October.  He displayed some seriously machine-like abilities by driving all the way to LA from Dallas by himself!  I think that he drove close to 18 hours in one day!  He spent close to a week here and it was awesome to have him here for my birthday.  We had a great time setting up speakers and a mixer in my room.  Now I can practice singing with a microphone.

During the Fall of 2010, I was visited twice by my beautiful girlfriend, Julie (again, you can read earlier blog posts in order to see what we got up to).  In November, I was flown home for a weekend.  Julie paid for my airfare as a Birthday/Christmas gift to me.  It was an unforgettable weekend.  I spent Thanksgiving here in LA with my uncle and two cousins.  It was so nice to spend time with family and I am very thankful that they live nearby.

In December, I wrapped up my finals and headed home for a three week Christmas break.  It was very busy, but I loved every second of it.  I played at Julie's office Christmas party, attended Julie's Tacky Christmas Party, went to see TSO, played a benefit concert with my brother, provided music for many Christmas services, spent time with high school friends, spent time with Julie, and helped my brother move into a new apartment in Waco.

Well, there it is.  My 2010 in review.  Actually it was more of a play-by-play.  I am so sorry for mis-leading you and I hope that you are not thinking that you have wasted your time.  If you have read everything up to this point, I want you to know that you are an important person in my life and a big reason of why I am still here.  It is you, my support system, that keeps me going.  I could not have made it through 2010 without you and I wish to thank you with all of my heart.

Here's to a happy and healthy 2011.  May God bless you.