On the Train again....

Less than a month ago I took a train ride from Dallas Texas to Anaheim California. After 48 hours of choo chooing along I vowed, never again. This morning I went to my follow up Dr appointment from my recent head trauma and was informed that I should not be flying anytime soon. This typically wouldn’t be bad news except for the fact that it was 10:30 a.m. and I had a 5 o'clock plane to catch out of San Diego. My friend Jake French had inquired if I would help him shoot and produce a promotional video for his website a week prior and I purchased a ticket on faith that I would be “good to go.”

As it turns out my head injuries are a little more severe than I had thought. The Dr said no flying so I my backup plan, thanks solely to Michelle Moore, was a train. I had already completed a plan of attack in the event that this would be the case and informed my shuttle service (thanks Ellie) we would be going to San Bernardino instead of San Diego. Problem is the train, or I should say the bus to the train station, left 3 ½ hours earlier than my flight so we had to make haste.

I pity whatever woman that I'm someday able to dupe into marrying me. She’s in for a ride! I raced from the Dr’s office to finish packing and make final preparations to leave for a week. I arrived with time to spare, sat on my suitcase and sipped an Arizona peach tea, thanking God for his many blessings, and all the while wondering why I do this craziness that I do. About 2/3 of the way through my tea, the buss pulled up so I pounded the rest of the tea and ran for the bus stop. 5 hours later I’m sitting on a train and 20 hours from now I’ll be in Portland. Not quite the evening I had planned but then again, I never thought I’d be leaving “home” in southern California to go visit Oregon. Funny how things work!

New Video!

If you told me a year ago that I'd get to do half the things I've done in the last 9 months I would have laughed at you. I wouldn't even be upset because your remark would have been so outrageously out there that I couldn't help but laugh. God has a sense of humor too because He just keeps pouring it out. I continue to stand amazed at the opportunities I'm blessed with and God continues to shape and change my situation in new ways all the time.

Most recently I've been working on a video project with a guy named Ronnie Faisst. Ron's been in the industry since day one and is one of the biggest names in the sport. It's funny to me because I remember being 12 years old and watching dirt bike videos with my friend Jake and seeing Ronnie and his outrageous antics on screen. Two days ago I went to his house to shoot him ride his own private facility as we are producing a video about his experience at this years X Games.
I finished the video last night and I'm SO excited with how it turned out. I'm still learning how to shoot and edit video and with the help of my friend J Ray, I'm starting to get things dialed. The video is only about 3 minutes so I'd love for you to check it out and if you'd like to see the complete story and interview you can follow the links below or find it on my website.

X Games video-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNLxaVseO2s

Link to my website-http://www.localheroesnw.com/ronnie-faisst

Oh what fun it is to....Date?

Some of my most cherished memories from my college years took place in Young house sitting around the kitchen table with friends. Between our “man time” conversations to debates with the opposite sex about dating and relationships, it would seem we covered nearly every topic under the sun. In one particular conversation, and one I reference often when talking with people about dating, a not so subtle, to the point friend of mine leaned over the table and very pointedly ask, “When are guys going to grow a pair and start asking girls out?”

Always willing to lend my two cents, I leaned forward and offered, “I’ll ask a girl out when I find one that doesn’t start planning a wedding after one cup of coffee.”

Some of you are laughing, a few of you are angry and many of you agree with me. When I tell that story I frequently get all of those responses. Now that I’ve spent some time outside of the college dating scene as well as tried dating within the “church,” I’ve discovered there really is no difference and I would argue that both my friend and I are correct to some extent. I’ll begin with the guys.

There is truth in my friend’s statement. No doubt, many young men today, particularly in the church, are less than forward when it comes to communicating with women. We have broken homes, Hollywood and in my opinion the lure of video games to thank for that. Many young men just don’t know how to communicate with women. In our defense ladies, even to a clinically diagnosed “good communicator” (Communication was in my Strengths Quest top five ☺ shout out to my GC peeps), there is nothing more intimidating to me than a beautiful woman. I will stair and stutter and rack my brain for the most eloquent of pick up lines and it never comes. Somewhere around the age of 17 I had the “Fargher charm” as one friend called it, which unfortunately disappeared by the time I left high school.

Yes fellas, we need to work on boldness. We are after all, called to be the leaders Eph. 5:25. The secular world won’t hesitate to ask a girl to jump into bed; the least we could do is openly communicate with women about how we feel. Rather than keeping silent and letting the girl pry it out of us, tell her where you’re at. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to have all the answers. That’s the whole purpose of dating, it helps you find those answers you’re looking for. Unfortunately, the ladies are so often forced to take the forward approach because we men just aren’t stepping up to the plate.

Now before you ladies start declaring “amen” and passing out high-fives, I have some thoughts for you as well. Without a doubt I agree that the world is lacking real men. Most men, even within the church, are easily swayed by the lures of the world and, all to often, are drawn away from God. The world looks like too much fun and in all honesty, it’s teaching us guys that we can get what we want without giving much in return. I believe that it’s wrong and is sadly causing women to abandon their God given role as lovers and nurturers.

Let me first share ladies that I understand your frustration but, if you hope to find the right kind of man in today’s world, you are not going to get it by applying pressure. I spent four years in the Christian college scene and now two years in the post college “Christian” dating world and there is no difference. I do not fault you for having an exceedingly strong desire to marry. In fact I applaud it, for it is God given. Gen 3:16 “You will long for your husband…”

In truth, I like that idea. I want a girl that’s crazy about me. Nothing will strengthen a man’s ego or enable him to scale buildings in a single bound like the love of a woman. I caught my brother in an unusually good mood once before he was married and inquired about his giddiness. He responded with, “because I’m in love with a woman that is crazy about me!” I want that.

At the same time, I don’t want someone that’s so eager to get married that she’s taking on my role as a leader. “Well I want to be pursued,” you say. Understood. You have every right to. But perhaps the guy is trying to decide in his own mind if he wants to pursue you. THIS is where the trouble begins.

I’ve found that many young ladies, consciously or subconsciously, are working on a timetable. Casual dating as our parents new it is out of the question. Taking a different girl out to a movie every weekend until you find one you want to settle down with is a no no as you’ll be crucified a “player.” I never dated in college. I asked a few girls out for coffee and on one occasion, at the urging of a friend, had a young lady over and we chatted for a couple hours. A week after that conversation I had five people come up to me within a ten minutes span and make comments ranging from “Seth and ______ sitting in a tree….” to “if you hurt her I will kill you.” Really? Are we adults or in middle school?

This brings me to my next point. Ladies, be careful what and with whom you share. I find all too often that people, both men and women, stick their nose where it does not belong. Rightly so, we care about others opinions. We want to know what our friends think. The problem becomes that our friends offer too much information and begin painting a picture that does not exist or is at least merely in the very beginning stages. “Oh he’s totally into you!” “Really? Well I guess he did say….” And chaos ensues.

The one thing I will say Hollywood got right was the movie He’s Just Not That Into You. It is a perfect example of the games, miscommunication and lack of overall honesty that our society lacks, both in and outside of the church.

Dating as our parents new it is pretty much out of the question. The term I would associate with getting to know someone in our generation to decide if we want to take things to the next level would be “hanging out.” It means nothing more than spending time together, whatever the setting, and GETTING TO KNOW THE PERSON. We have no other context to intentionally get to know someone than that.

My experience, and countless guys I know, has been if I express an interest in hanging out in order to get to know someone and after a while decide that I’m really not interested in dating the person, I’m labeled a jerk, a player and my favorite, I lead her on. Ladies please hear me on this; most of the men in this world would rather sleep with you and move on. They have no intention of settling down and sadly, really don’t care about your feelings. I’ve had girls, or friends of girls, tell me that I crushed them. That I lead them to believe I was interested in a relationship only to dash their hopes and leave them aching. Let me share with you this; I not so much as held a hand, tried to kiss nor offered commitment to any one of those girls. Ladies if you have any hope of finding a meaningful, lasting relationship with a true God fearing man, you must learn to let go. Let us fulfill our God given role as the leader.

You argue, “Well some guys just need a little jump start.” Ok, let me refute that by asking you this; do you want to be married to a man that you constantly have to jumpstart to get him to love you and lead in your relationship?

I will leave you with this. Ladies, in my opinion you are God’s most incredible and precious creation. Any imperfections you have are far surpassed by your ability to love, nurture and care. I believe whole heartedly that those who grasp God’s original design for us as men and women and how He designed relationship between us to work, will be the select few who experience true joy and satisfaction in marriage.

It Just Keeps Coming

I continue to be amazed at the opportunities that are before me. I'm so thankful for where I'm and what I (typically) spend my days doing. As I sought to move out from where I had previously been living, God opened up a door through a bible study I was attending and it's been the most radical living situation I could have asked for. My roommates are awesome Christian guys, two of which attended the local Bible college so they're sharpening me as I continue to ask questions and seek to deepen my own faith.

This past weekend I got to attend the X Games in Los Angeles and what an experience that was! I've only ever seen it on TV and I usually miss most of it because living in good old Dufur, basic cable doesn't include ESPN!!! I attended the freestyle event and watched as Travis Pastrana took a "fun run" after already securing the Gold medal. That guy is an outstanding human being for many reasons, one of which because he pulled a double backflip, solely for the delight of the crowd. He'd already wrapped up the medal before he took to the dirt. On the podium after when they were asking how he felt about another Gold medal, he wished his mom happy 50th birthday twice, praised Robbie Madison for his exceptional freestyle run as well as Ashley Fiolek for winning the women's supercross race and gave mad props to Cameron Sinclair for coming back to X Games to attempt the same trick that almost took his life a year before. He didn't really say anything about himself or his run.

I was able to secure an industry guest pass for the weekend so the following day I was pretty excited to cruise right into the athlete section at the Staples Center and find a seat 5 rows up from the dirt. An added bonus was my friend, bandmate and X Games competitor Ronnie Faisst was sitting a few seats to my left. (It took me I while to figure out who was shouting my name because I still can't really hear out my left ear haha) To those that are unfamiliar with the industry, Ronnie is without a doubt one of the pioneers of the sport of freestyle motocross and is recognized worldwide for his skill on a dirtbike. Whats more, several years ago he came to know the Lord and is now on fire for Christ.

So here I sit, nearly ground level at X Games, next to a guy that up until recently I'd only ever seen on television and in magazine's. The event was awesome and I came away with a few ideas for articles so be on the lookout for those.

Another funny story, Ronnie called me a few days after I'd returned home and I congratulated him on winning a Bronze medal in his speed and style event. He asked if I knew the whole story on how he was even able to compete and I said I had no clue. He told me the story and I was completely in awe as it was a God thing from the word go. I'm working with him and film maker Joseph Ray on putting together a video of the whole story. It's a crazy story about God moving in Ronnie, taking an obedient step of faith and God rewarding him in an awesome way. When we finish it up I'll post the video on here.

If you're reading this I hope you can hear the excitement in my voice. I was excited about all this before I had this traumatic injury, now I'm just beside myself as I continue to get opportunity after opportunity to do things I never dreamed I would. Again I can't thank you enough for all the prayers, calls, texts, emails, facebook messages and well wishes. It's so humbling to see that so many people care. Side note, one of my buddies shared with me that he got a voice mail from some dude ranting and raving and not making a great deal of sense and at the end of the message I identified myself and told him I'd see him soon. SO if you happened to get a response from me via text, phone call or facebook any time during that ten day stint and it didn't make sense, please forgive me....I wasn't firing on all cylinders :)