You’ve been waiting and it’s finally here…You’re chance to show the world how awesome you are!

The Loft is hosting Vertical Open Mic Nights the first Friday night of every month starting FEBRUARY 4^TH!!

This Open Mic Night is to support and promote up and coming artists in many genres, so we are requiring that all entries be original work. (There’s more about that in the detailed info!)

Pre-Register by sending your name and contact info, plus a copy of any lyrics for approval (No crude, disrespectful, profane, or racist material will be accepted) to shane@verticalcommunity.org .

We’ll have guest judges every month to score and offer constructive criticism and each month, two artists will be chosen to move forward and actually compete in the Finals for a CASH PRIZE!!

Of course, you don’t HAVE to compete. Just let us know and our judges will not score you, but will still offer valuable advice on how to better your artistic expression!

AND if you aren’t an artist, but are more of an ‘art’ lover, The Loft is the place to come soak it in. Barnesville now has it’s very own Indie Music Scene every First Friday Night and needs supporters!  Come support our local artists and help spread the word about Barnesville’s hippest new venue.

I know, I know…FOUR parts?? Well, brace yourself to get past your ADD long enough to get something in you that, if applied, will help you achieve your destiny. Sounds a bit cryptic but, it will.  To recap, we talked about …or to be MORE accurate, I MONOLOGUED about running the race of your life.  I talked about Paul’s advice to us ti run the race in such a way as to achieve the prize, but HOW do we do that??

Step 1 was to PREPARE for the journey. (for greater detail on this step, plz see the blogs below, I’m not much for repeating myself..typing anyway..)

Step 2 was to Recognize moments of opportunity. (same as above)

Now we move on to Step 3: Know Your REALISTIC Options

Ok. I’m all for shooting for the stars, but have you ever watched American Idol? Stupid question, I know..At some point we have all winced at how incredibly horrendous someone will sound and laughed at their cluelessness as to WHY they were booted out of the competition. But we DO that don’t we? We get so caught up in what we THINK we were made for that that we are deaf to the MULTITUDES of people that are telling us the truth…YOU STINK! Haha! I laugh every time, but it really is sad when they get all defensive and be like, “You just want to keep me down..” PLEASE! They don’t want to KEEP you down, they want to TURN you down!

Now, hear me on this…I am in NO WAY telling you not to dream, but I AM telling you to be realistic about your abilities. Some may even say that if they can’t do it, then it’s all God…But let me help you out. God didn’t call HIMSELF to do your destiny…He called YOU to do your destiny, so it’s NOT all God. It’s YOU walking in obedience to what HE has called you to do and has gifted you in.  If you can’t carry a tune, chances are, you were not called to sing on a stage or be a worship leader.  If you have two left feet, you probably should NOT try out for “So You Think You Can Dance”.

God will call you, and has called you, to things that are bigger than you can do alone, but He does NOT call you to things you were not created to do. Maybe you want to preach. That doesn’t necessarily mean you are called to be a pastor. Maybe you write songs…that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are called to be Chris Tomlin. God not only looks at our talents and abilities, but He looks at our character as well…Annnnd I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s just suffice to say that if you are feeling like you know what your destiny is, run it by God first. Run it by a DEPENDABLE spiritual mentor (Don’t have one?? I can hook you up with some amazing ones..) Be honest with them and, most importantly, yourself about what you can and can not do. Research what it takes to achieve it. Know your options.

Next Blog I’ll hit on our character and how we think its a disposable thing.

I really need to stop saying “tomm” because it’s a set up for me to fail at this blogging thing.

Part 2 of reaching your maxium potential goes like this: Recognize moments of opportunity.

I’m extremely visual, so bear with me as I paint yet another picture to illustrate my point…You are completely engrossed in what you are seeing. Nascar has never been so exciting. The guy who was last in the pack has fought his way up to the front and it’s down to the last two laps. It’s likely to be an upset if he can break out. The leaders see him bearing down in their rear-views and seemingly have joined forces to keep this rookie from making a name for himself. One strategically drops into the inner lane while the other keeps a steady speed in the outer lane hereby blocking the path to victory for the unknown. Frustrated, he weaves back and forth trying to find an opening…looking for weakness. In what seems like a miracle, the drive in the outer lane misjudges the rookie’s ability, his drive, and drops back a car length opening a pathway to victory lane…Seeing the small opening, the rookie thrusts his foot into his carburetor and seizes the opportunity to take control of the race. At the last second, he begins to doubt his ability to maneuver the small gap…what if he misjudged the distance, what if he over corrected, what if, what if…In the next seconds, the other driver sees his error and corrects it by closing the young driver back into the box and preventing the rookie from making his break for freedom and the race finishes with the rookie in 2nd place.

Now! I said all of that to say this: opportunities are presented to us everyday…opportunities to shine, opportunities to grow, opportunities to be the earthly hands and feet of our heavenly SuperHero, but what do we do with them?? Do we seize them and haul like a cat with it’s tail on fire (haha, that’s pretty daggum fast…), or do we hesitate…questioning our ability, our judgment, ..”did God really tell me to do this…idk…”. You know what I’m talking about.  It’s like we ask Him to open a door for us, not expecting Him to actually do it. When He does we FREAK out! You know the feeling…Adrenaline pumping because you know it’s your time…You get all geared up to go and then…”WHOA! WHat the HECK am I THINKING?!?! I can’t do THIS!! I’m not qualified for this…I need to pray about this for a while..” First of all, let me just say, don’t get all religious with your disobedience. Prayer is not a scapegoat for fear. Next, a life that requires no faith, is a life that will never experience power like the disciples did. Sorry if that destroys your happy little bubble, but there it is. Moving on.

When a window of opportunity opens, you have to be able to recognize it. We focus so much, sometimes, on our incapabilities OR on the races of others…desiring THEIR results, that we TOTALLY dont even see our own window until it’s closing…or we never see it at all…God, help us! No really. God..give us eyes to see the opportunities you give us and the boldness to beast the MESS out of that opportunity.

Recap: Step 1 – Prepare for your journey. Step 2 – Recognize opportunies and SEIZE them.

More on Step 3…soon.

So…it’s not “tomm”…sorry about that. Life can get a little hectic, here with FIVE kids. SO! picking up where I left off: HOW do I run in such a way as to achieve the prize?? Here goes.

Picture this: There’s pandemonium in the streets! The crowd is freaking OUT as the 400lb runner purposefully strides with confidence around the last corner before thundering, with every fiber of his cellulite-covered body,  down the last 30 yards to throw himself victoriously across the finish line! Forever this day will live in history! He has won the race!…Yeah…about that.  How often do you see a physically unprepared person (obese or not) finish a race in the first place position? Never.  But how often do we approach Christianity and the “race” that God calls us to in that same way? COMPLETELY unprepared. All the time. It’s like we see the destination and we want to get there, but we expect God to put a propeller on the back of our Lazy Boy and send us off in the direction we need to go and we get ticked off when we have to actually get UP and run…and then we fall flat on our faces. We get mad at GOD for our own lack of preparation.

One of the keys to finishing a race and running in such a way as to receive the prize is PREPARATION. There is no way around it. If you are too lazy to prepare for your destiny, then you are like the fictional runner in the first paragraph. bound for failure and discouragement. But it doesn’t have to be that way! Paul says that ever runner who enter the race goes into STRICT training. Let me park here for a sec.

I know a couple “Iron Men” and I have personally witnessed the regime that they adhere to when they are training for that insane race. A strict diet, running increasingly long distances every day, swimming increasingly long distances every day, biking increasingly long distances every day are all imperative to the successful completion of the race they are training to run. Why do we think the “race” of our lives is any different?

For instance, my wife is a musician. Her songs require an amazing amount of breath support and lung capacity and coupled with the fact that she has asthma and her dynamic stage presence, she is thoroughly soaked and exhausted by the end of the show…But you would never guess it during a performance. Why? Because she has trained for it. Every day, she does some type of cardio-vascular work out to strengthen her lungs and increase lung capacity. She works with free weights and does various strength exercises to condition her body for the wear and tear of lifting heavy road equipment and she adheres to a strict, healthy diet to insure peak physical condition. Can you tell I’m proud of her?? Would she be able to sing if she didn’t do all this? Yes. Would she be able to run her race in order to achieve the prize? Not wheezing and weak, she wouldn’t.

Also, since we are talking about preparation, I figured we might as well hit on attire. Let me explain. Ever see a chick try to book-it down the road in a pair of six-inch heels? It’s kinda funny, actually. Anyway, eventually the shoes come off because they weren’t designed to run in. Same thing goes for our “race”. Many times we approach this “race” in what we think others expect us to “wear”, ie., their paradigms (opinions) about who we should be. Quit worrying about what others think and put your sneakers on! For real. And don’t forget to lace them up. You laugh, but SOOOOO many of us get all hyped up about the “race” God is calling us to run and we eagerly prance up to the starting line without ever checking that everything is in place and secure before we take off, trip up, and face-plant on the track…then we get embarrassed and give up rather than get up, tie up, and move on. The whole ordeal can be avoided if  we will just prepare.

Long story short? Once you have determined your race, find out what is entailed in the successful completion of it. If it’s an education? Get one. If it’s something that will require physical exertion? Condition your body. There are a thousand scenarios. Pick yours and run with it. Preparation for the journey to your destination is vital in reaching your maximum potential.

More tomm on Step 2.

Maximum potential. I’ve heard this so many times it actually makes me cringe sometimes when I hear it. I mean, have you ever felt like that? Really. “Tap into your maximum potential” or how about this one, “Live life to the fullest! To your maximum potential!” Yeah, that’s all well and good, but how the heck is Joe Dirt supposed to accomplish that? See the problem today is that so many ppl have bought into the slogan without ever really thinking about how to actually DO what they are proclaiming to be the be all end all of our struggles in life. Well, for those of you out there like me, here’s what I’m thinking: STOP SHOUTING AT ME TO LIVE UP TO MY MAXIMUM POTENTIAL AND SHOW ME HOW!!

SO! I’ve developed a plan…for myself and anyone else who actually wants to know how to do it.

#1 Life is a race. It’s not a leisurely journey that you just tip-toe through the tulips and stop and smell every little weed that happens to distract you from your destination. That sounds kinda harsh, but there it is. Ppl will try to convince you that you have all the time in the world to achieve your destiny…yeah. It’s a lie.

Have you ever watched a race? Did you ever see anyone just suddenly veer off the path and come to a screeching halt to pick flowers? Duh. No. Those jokers are hauling tail to beat the others out and cross the line first. Paul says it like this:

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”

In other words: “Hey, stupid. Get the lead out. There’s only one trophy and it ain’t going to the last in line.”

So HOW do we “run in such a way as to get the prize”??  I tell you tomm.