Gospel According To...
Author:
December 01, 2018
My
awesome wife, Elisa, got me a copy of "The Beastie Boys Book" for
Christmas. I have thoroughly enjoyed taking a deep dive into the beginnings of
one of my favorite bands while simultaneously reliving some of those formative
intersections of their music and my life. I won't wax too nostalgic here, but
I've been replaying two scenes in particular: First, playing basketball with my
friend Blaine in our driveway while listening to "Fight for Your
Right" and then stopping to rewind (yes, on cassette) to the beginning of
the song. We did this for hours on end. Next, driving from St Crispin's with
Scott and Becky to OKC in order to pick up a copy of "Hello Nasty"
the weekend it was released back in the summer of 1998.
These
moments play just a small part in my life, all things considered, but when I
was reading the introduction to the book I was struck deeply by something that
Ad-Rock wrote. Reflecting on why he and Mike D decided to write the book now,
he muses about the missed opportunity to write the book while MCA (the late
Adam Yauch) was still alive. He notes that this book is an incomplete effort
because it is missing MCA's perspective. I guess the point I'm hoping to make
here is, coming from someone who trends more toward the procrastinating side of
things, what are we missing when we don't share our stories? What opportunity
for evangelism is lost when we keep our story to ourselves? Anyone reading this
blog has a faith story, the question is, when was the last time you told
someone about it?
This is
definitely something I need to work on. I was quick to tell you about formative
moments in my life the music of the Beastie Boys intersected with. You'd
probably have to pry a bit for me to tell you the corresponding moments where
the love of Jesus transformed my life. So make me a promise will you? When you
see me this year, ask me about my story, and be prepared to share some of
yours. And if you throw in a Beastie Boys quote? All the better. I'll look
forward to sharing stories with you soon.
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