I had an awesome gym time today with Amanda McMillan, who is visiting me from way down in sunny San Diego. Though she is on vacation, what was her first thought? "Lets hit the gym!" So hit the gym we did. I love going at 3 in the afternoon because i can do a complete hour of cardio while I watch Ellen. Except today, to my dismay, Ellen's guests were three people I find so tiresome that I had to turn the channel. (More on that in a second).
To my delight, after the show, there were some clips from a concert by Bono from U2. The ever-wise Bono said something quit profound. He said "It is a lot easier to be successful than to be relevant". Wow hello! What a juxtaposition from just watching Katie Holmes and two of the Kardashian sisters (not sure which they were, but their names started with a K) on Ellen talking about how great the new shape-up tennis shoes help form their "abs and buttocks". Relevant? Hell no. Successful? Beyond my wildest dreams.
So that got my thinking....what am I doing to be relevant in my world? Do I help others? Do I engage with others in a meaningful way? Am I creative? Do the choices I make matter? I have several friends who make over 100 grand salary each year. In my eyes, they are quite successful. But are they relevant? Does their success even matter? Thats a question they each need to ask themselves. The same of course goes for everyone else. The point though, is that success does not equal relevancy.
This post also opens up a whole other can of worms. Many of you who are christians will argue that it is not the job of the Church to be relevant. That jesus came to "be in the world but not of it" and to "conform no long to the pattern of this world". I personally think the Gospel of Christ is the single most relevant thing in the world. How we portray that message is up to us, right? But please, to anybody out there who tries to be relevant with their message about Christ, you have to make it real. Please, never become like this guy below. Both the video but also the sad lyrics to "Lean like a cholo--christian style" are an example of why I run from the evangelical christian community. This is not my idea of relevancy. It's fake, copycat, uncreative, non-relevant. And well, just embarrassing.
