Start by Digging

In his Smithsonian Talk last month, Eddie Van Halen mentioned the early days of the band.  (Now, THERE’s a fun juxtaposition: Van Halen at the Smithsonian!  But it’s true; check it out on youtube.)

To get gigs in the early days of the band, they needed to play Top 40 hits of the day as close to the original recordings as possible.

“I tired so hard, but no matter what I played it sounded like me,” said Eddie.

Somewhere recently I came upon this line: “Stop being a swab of paint in someone else’s dream and start painting your own.” 

Christ Jesus talked about not being afraid of using what you have.  In fact, he sure seems to say that punishment awaits those who don’t.  Sounds harsh and wrong?  Check out Matthew 25:14-30.

And then let’s start sounding like ourselves and painting our own dreams.

We might have to start with digging up what we’ve squandered by burying.