(It’s WrestleWeek on POP GOD! In celebration of Wrestlemania XXX this Sunday we’ll be looking at the intersection of faith and wrestling. You don’t have to be a fan to hop in the ring on this journey. Read on and see how this fake sport provides rich lessons for anyone who’s grappling with God.)
I remember when The Golf Channel launched in 1995. Living in Augusta, GA The Golf Channel came standard on our cable package. It was the first specialized network I remember coming on television, a channel devoted entirely to one sport.
As my parents watched The Golf Channel and I sat on the floor playing with my wrestling figures, I wondered if one day there might be a WWF Network.
19 years later my dream came true when the WWE Network launched (ok, my dream was one letter off).
The WWE Network is a 24/7 streaming video channel and on demand library. It’s a pretty revolutionary concept and is changing the landscape of the pro wrestling business.
For just $9.99 a month viewers get access to every major wrestling show of the past 30 years, plus every future pay-per-view event. Then there’s all the classic episodes of Monday Night Raw I grew up watching with the likes of Razor Ramon, Yokozuna, and Bret “The Hitman” Hart.
The catalog of programming is overwhelming in scope. It’s everything I ever wanted it to be and so much more.
(It’s WrestleWeek on POP GOD! In celebration of Wrestlemania XXX this Sunday we’ll be looking at the intersection of faith and wrestling. You don’t have to be a wrestling fan to hop in the ring on this journey. Read on and see how this fake sport provides rich lessons for anyone who’s grappling with God.)
There have been a lot of great talkers in the history of wrestling. It’s hard to pick out the best of all time.
You have to consider “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes:
Hulk Hogan and Randy “Macho Man” Savage must be near the top of the list:
But to be the man, you have to beat the man. And the man nobody could beat at promos was Ric Flair:Continue reading →
Those names will be familiar to any comedy fan who grew up in the 90s.
Who knew “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” would still be inciting laugh riots 25 years after its inception in 1988, returning to the CW this week with a brand new season of improv comedy.
You may think “Whose Line” is just asgoofy comedy show. But I think the two golden rules of improv can radically improve your everyday life.
The first key to improv is simple: Just say yes.
When you take an improve class the most important lesson you learn is when starting a scene, you must say yes to whatever happens. No matter what your partner in the scene says, you must go along with it.
Saying no kills the momentum of comedy. It stops a scene dead in its tracks.
Think about the tried and true “Whose Line” Superheroes sketch. Heres’ a refresher for you:
Each actor comes in one at a time and gives a superhero name to the next actor to enter the scene.
Can you imagine if one of the new superheroes in the scene just said no to the suggestion of his fellow actors? Comedy would die.
Instead the actors just go with it, no matter how crazy their suggested superhero name may be.
You can’t twist what kind of twist the world will throw at you today. The world spits in the face of the script you’ve written.
When your script falls apart, there are two options. You can stay stuck in your ways, arms crossed out of frustration. refusing to adapt to the unexpected
You can live palms up and out, saying yes to whatever God puts before you. You can embrace the chaos. You can improvise.
So after you’ve decided to improvise, playing along with what life brings you, what comes next?
Improv comedy grows from the art of escalation. An improv actor doesn’t stop at just saying yes.
The second rule of improve is you must always say “Yes, and…”.
Not only do you accept what the other actor has to offer. You add to it.
If someone bursts onto the scene and asks, “Have you seen what The Midtown Burglar did?” You answer “Yes, and did you see those snakeskin boots he was wearing? Impeccable fashion taste, don’t you think?”
Once you begin to accept whatever the scenes in life bring you, you can begin adding something to them. You don’t just say “yes” to your circumstances. You try to build upon them.
Even if the scene is dying, you follow through. You keep trying until you get to the conclusion. You trust even the failures are teaching you something.
Life is unscripted. You can try to plan it, but eventually the world will try to wreck your scene.
Instead of refusing to play along, try adding the two rules of improv to your life. Make everyday an improv exercise.
After all, the strangest twists and turns in life can become the most memorable and rewarding scenes.
What do you think would happen if you said, “Yes, and…” to the scenes you’re placed in today?
They let us down. They break our hearts. Most of all, they pretty much just get on our nerves.
I don’t know about you, but I’m the kind of guy that sometimes wants to just crawl in a hole and get away from everyone. Sometimes all I want is a little peace and quiet away from everyone who’s making me mad.
Lately though I’ve found a new trick for how to heal my relationships with people. It’s a simple sentence I read in a book I keep going back to called The Road To Daybreak by Henri Nouwen.
Nouwen says that when people let us down, make us angry, or just frustrate us in general we should remember these four words: Continue reading →
Hearts are racing. Nerves are jangled. The hours spent rehearsing are finally paying off.
The days spent acting for an empty rehearsal space are about to turn into days engaging with hundreds of children in the seats of the Imperial Theatre.
It’s almost show week.
The curtain will rise next week for 13 performances of Storyland Theatre’s Hansel and Gretel. For a couple of months now we’ve been rehearsing three days a week, memorizing lines, finding our characters, and learning how to sing (well, me at least).
There’s nothing quite like show week. A few days before the week begins you start getting antsy.
You know your lines. You know the blocking. Your costume fits.
You’re ready to stop rehearsing and unleash the show into the world.
I think I get so anxious to perform because it is what God made me to do.Continue reading →
You wake up late, still hungover from a weekend of fun, forced to go back into the work and grind. You don’t have time to pick out a great outfit or fix your hair the way you like it. You still feel guilty over the mistakes you’ve made – the same ones you made last weekend.
You may not see something beautiful staring back at you in the mirror. You may not see a beautiful day ahead outside your window. You may not be able to see through the fog of shame you carry with you.
Maybe you could use a little Monday Morning Music.
He used to be able to jump right up into my bed each night, snuggling up to sleep next to me.
For the past few months though he hasn’t been able to make the leap.
Bless his little heart, he tries and tries. He stretches his legs and sticks his head up just barely over the mattress. But his legs aren’t strong enough anymore. It’s about the most pitiful thing ever.
So for Christmas Roc got a brand new set of dog stairs. I thought this would be the perfect gift for him. No longer would Roc have to wait on me to lift him up to where he wanted to be. He could help himself into the bed whenever he wanted.
Except Roc won’t use the stairs.
It’s not that my dog has never used stairs before. He knows what they are. He’s been up and down stairs at all sorts of houses and buildings. He just can’t quite figure these stairs out.
My dog is scared of the steps. He will stand right next to them as he struggles to pull himself into the bed, not realizing the solution he’s been searching for is right next to him.
I shake my head night after night, wondering how he could be so ignorant. But then I wonder – how often does this happen to us?
Welcome to Episode 15 of the POP GOD POPcast – an exploration into the lives of people seeking God in the present tense.
This week’s guests are Ron and Kathleen Jones. Ron and Kathleen are the founders of the Columbia County Ballet. We sit down to chat about their premiere original production “The Roar Of Love”. “The Roar Of Love” is a ballet retelling of C.S. Lewis’ classic tale “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe” and the annual performance is an Augusta tradition. For 29 years the Columbia County Ballet has mounted the show, starting in the Bon Air ballroom and moving up to the Bell Auditorium. Ron and Kathleen share a host of memories, struggles, and triumphs of a career in dance. We talk about traveling the world, going up against the Disney legal team, the importance of dance in today’s world, and so much more. Enjoy this deeper look inside the life of two unique artists truly seeking God in the present tense.
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A picture is worth a thousand words. And when a thousand words aren’t enough, we use Instagram.
People of my generation (myself included) can’t seem to post a picture without putting a fancy filter on it. Whether it’s through Instagram, Facebook or Twitter apps, or even just on the iPhone itself, no picture feels complete without adding a little tint to it.
Why is that? Why don’t we think a normal picture is good enough anymore?
As my parents watched The Golf Channel and I sat on the floor playing with my wrestling figures, I wondered if one day there might be a WWF Network.
POP GOD 