Here we go again, another daily standard that seemingly sprung up from the doldrums of people looking out for number one and not wanting to inconvenience themselves to any extent. Let me break it down: you’re on on the road getting ready to make a left-hand turn in the lane designated with one arrow pointing to the left (sounds simple enough). Suddenly, you find yourself grill-to-grill with another driver waiting to merge into the lanes that you’re trying to cross. That coveted center lane is now assumed to serve whatever purpose you want!

Let’s put the shoe on the other foot. Now you’re turning left out of the school parking lot and, heaven forbid, you wait for traffic to cease in both directions before you shoot out into the street. Instead you play Frogger, jumping past each lane as it opens forcing yourself and others into the game because you just couldn’t wait to stop your car in the middle of the road. And did you know it’s actually illegal to sit in that lane and wait to merge. Is a cop going to pull you over? Not likely, but that doesn’t make it cool.

It is called the left-hand turn lane, right? Or is it now the waiting-to-go-straight lane? I can’t tell anymore! Sure, the white arrows between the solid yellow lines clearly display the function, but it’s now totally fine to ignore the road commission’s direction for us. Better yet, I love when someone rides it out for like two and a half miles before they finally reach that cross-street they’ve been waiting to turn at. Who says you have to enter into the yellow just before you turn? If that’s not convenient for me, I’ll put the rest of the driving population at risk and expect them to follow the rules while I do what I want. We are all at the center of our own universes, after all.

What if I decide I want to enter the highway through the off ramp? I know how it’s labeled. I know it’s intent. But I’m already right here at the opposite end of the opposite direction I want to head which I can access to make a U-ey and get where I need to be. It’s understandable that traffic has worsened in the area and trees and the color green are soon to be a thing of the past in metro-Detroit, but I swear with a little patience, cars from both directions will clear and you’ll be able to make that stressful left turn across 4 lanes without sitting in the center lane for 5 minutes as your car shakes back and forth and people fly by you at 50 mph.

I encourage you all, as socially conscious people and safety-encouraging public stewards, to wait for both directions to make way for you to turn left out of a subdivision or parking lot. See if it really sets you back more than 15-20 seconds, rush hour or not.

Get honked at by those impatient behind you! Let people think you’re old-school! Let ‘em assume you’re just used to country roads! Don’t conform to them! Be radically different! Save the left-hand turn lane for…ummm, left-hand turns.

Life’s a funny little journey with twists and turns
Sometimes it tickles, sometimes it burns
Sometimes it’s no joke
We grow, we shrink, we breathe, we blink
We squint to see and process to think
Often times we choke
For rich or for poor, through less and through more
Alas the prude will envelop the whore
And the match is played
What’s fun to you is garbage to me
The song in your ears, the show on TV
The foundation is laid
A vow we proclaim to an unworthy name
A dollar is spent on privatized shame
And the earth revolves
People ask why did you ever get high
Can I really rely on a girl or a guy
Can this be resolved
Forget what you know and know we forget
Start at square one, just as the sun will set
It will rise
Open the Book and see what it says
It means so much more than a story it has
It’s a sign
What fixes, what heals, it buys yet we steal
The good in us all is suppressed by the wheels
That rotate
Innate is inside and destroys us to hide
In whom I confide, to whom must I die
To create
For better, for worse, take a look at a verse
That changes and arranges a thought, a curse
A blessing
Is it ever enough to think we can rest
Is it ever really done to the best
Arrest Him
He’s in our place for what we have done
And what we will do, the race we will run
He came
And finally we sit at the Maker’s great hand
So small is man yet so stubborn we stand
So lame
Teach us to walk, Father please pick us up
Our stumble can only be graceful with love
Show us how
This life is short lived and bound to a wreck
Except through Your mercy and how You perfect
If we bow

Go, go, go! Can this thing go any faster? How do we get more and in a shorter amount of time? It doesn’t matter what it is; cars, the internet, lines, information in general…we can’t wait for it. What’s the word that describes that…? Well, maybe I’ll remember but you might need some ‘blank’. Anyways, our ‘Me’ generation has been raised to be obsessed with speed and volume. But with it, something’s gotta give and I think it’s been quality of the experience. ‘How,’ you may say, ‘does it really suffer?’

For starters, many industrial plants have become more focused on quantity than quality. The end result for a company, of course, is more product made at lower cost. This has also been the case with restaurants and fast food chains. As soon as they learned cheaper and faster ways to get us our meals, the nutrition value got overlooked by them and many of us. They didn’t care about the customer, they wanted to cut costs for more profit. We’re now seeing the harm this attitude has caused the business world and our health.

So, what about information, media, and the internet…is faster better? Well, when this noise is put into our heads, filtered by our minds and fed into our souls, it has the potential to pull us away from the quality of life we’ve been created for. We get so much, so fast, that we forget everything we just witnessed. And it takes over how we live and interact to the point where technology is our closest friend. How often are you with a person talking face-to-face but daydreaming about the text you need to send or the email you need to respond to? I do it all the time. It pains me to think that the person who should have my undivided attention at that moment is the one I have the hardest time giving it to. Or reading…do you remember anything from the last 2 minutes?

It’s the same with cars; we’re so set in making good time to our destination that we can’t even enjoy the ride (I’m talking in a literal sense here). One of the least enjoyable things in driving, perhaps ever, is the traffic jam…or even just getting stopped at a red light when it’s 11pm and the light should be blinking yellow (is there someone I can contact to change this). The funny thing is, all day every day I’m waiting to slow down and rest, but when I’m in a car and that happens, I couldn’t be more anxious.

I want to stop missing out, ya know? To almost enjoy that red light that God gave me to stare awkwardly at the kid next to me. To appreciate waiting a long time for the Lighthouse website to load because it’s receiving so many hits. To laugh when I buy a candle at the dollar store and the wick falls out because it wasn’t in the center of the wax. Genesis 2 tells us that God “rested from all His work”. I don’t know that I ever rest from ALL of my work. Maybe I break from a few things but it feels like I’m constantly thinking about something (else). Where do I find this ‘rest’? Hmmm…

In Matthew 11, Jesus rather famously states, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” So often in Bible study I get consumed with wanting to learn more, diving into reference materials, soaking up details, and I fail to just rest in His words. We can’t know everything no matter how fast it comes our way and we can’t have everything even though rarely do we feel we have enough. “Insatiable yearning with finite capacities.” I love how that sums it up. We are human, thus we are flawed, and thus we need help with everything,,,even rest.

It’s hard to slow down and take the foot off the gas pedal, but it must be done. Otherwise, we burn out and our lives and relationships suffer. God knew this and wants to help us with it. I think that’s so cool. When we work hard, we deserve to stop and take a break (from everything). And best of all, when I do get rest and find time for real sabbath, there’s a noticeable difference in my attitude, my work, my driving, and even…my patience. The Gospels speak of evil spirits leaving men’s bodies seeking rest, but they never find it. I pray we are all finding it and in the right place!

Podcasts are an awesome thing. We don’t even need books on tape anymore! Just click on your itunes and every week (for me every weekday) a new piece of non-musical audio goodness can be presented into your library. How cool is that? My choice of orated leisure listening is typically sermons and theological discussions. Nearly every time I put my ears to them, I can take something away for safe keeping. Most recently, I pressed play on a Ravi Zacharias talk and his closing thought was as follows:

“In reality, nothing is so beautiful as the good. In reality, nothing is so ugly as evil. But in our imagination we have reversed it. We have made good to become ugly and boring. We have made evil to become intriguing, attractive, and full of charm. Good and evil are like the positive and negative poles of an electric current. You transpose them and darkness falls and that’s why man is a stranger to himself today.”

I just love how simply put the problem of man is there, particularly relative to our culture but in existence since Adam and Eve. We ignore reality. We look past the soul and straight to the flesh. Once what is beautiful is put into perspective, it’s understood that it’s good. And once what is ugly is put into perspective, it’s understood that it’s bad. But when we look past the needs of the spiritual and straight to the needs of the body, we miss the big picture and fail to discern between the two.

What are we here for? You’d have no idea by looking at our society. It’s so ugly but gets portrayed to us as just the opposite. Bible believers in America are mocked, but Eastern philosophers are looked at as serious spiritual gurus. Sure it’s okay to believe in God, or a God, but nourishing a relationship with Him…you’re nuts! A scientist, a professor, a monk and a pastor sit on a public panel…who does the audience think is the least qualified for an intellectual discussion? The same people assuming the pastor’s ‘religious’ bias are guilty of their own ‘religious’ bias, but you know that would be the case.

The respect for followers of Christ is unapparent because the acknowledgment and appreciation for the necessity of the church is jaded. The allure of what is real and good has been defiled by human desire and excess. It is conveyed as pointless. “We don’t need God to tell us how to live good lives.” That’s the mentality. But as soon as you take God out of the equation and ignore His voice in your conscience, evil becomes standard and what once made you squirm does nothing to cause a batted eye.

As 40 approaches, I want to search deep into my own heart and make sure I’m seeking what is good and beautiful. Let’s not be blinded by darkness but instead led in the light…Lighthouse is our name after all. So many more thoughts and analogies come to mind, but it all boils down to this: what will we do with what God has given us? We can use it as it’s intended so that God’s glory is revealed or we can squander it by getting lost in things that don’t matter, serving our own flesh, and spoiling our collective heart. I don’t want to be a stranger to who I’m meant to be.

Sometimes you’re just not sure where you are. Not from the inside looking out, but the outside looking in. Take a step back from wherever you may be, or better yet a step to the side. Where are you? And do you even know it? Sure, we notice things once they’ve passed, but seemingly only once they’ve passed. We often go on like where we are is never going to end. As if the people around us will always be there: our roommates, bandmates, pastors, parents and best friends.

So you move to a different stage in life with different surroundings, new people, and a new used car. Even if you don’t move, everyone else does. And there you are, left with Facebook memories of what was as the date on your Summer ‘07 photo album looms further away. Wasn’t that like yesterday or was it forever ago? Oh no! Are the old cliches about time right? WHY?!?! Why, Pink Floyd, do you mock us?!?!

Remember? Remember when you had those three best friends and you spent everyday together? But there was a set change. A next act, and now you’re thrust into a new role that you didn’t even realize you were in. Suddenly, you’re somewhere you hadn’t planned on being, but it’ll become comfortable. We love our comfort (I’m a big pillow man myself…got like 6 of them) and we fall into it naturally wherever we are- in relationships, jobs, majors.

But things will change and we’ll grow. We’ll adapt to the change and then things will change again. Something will die and more somethings will be born. It’s such a funny concept that what is going on, where you are and who you’re with right now, will never be the same again…ever. This moment will never be duplicated anywhere! Do we even pay attention to life?

I don’t want to get all sappy and talk about appreciating the moment, but I can’t much help it. If you’re in a situation where there are people around you whom you love, go ahead and tell them. And you can always say it in jest and have a laugh right after the words come out of your mouth and maybe even an exaggerated hug is in order to quell the awkward momentum, but let’s get sentimental (not physical). And who knows, you might even get nervous and experience something not so comfortable ultimately getting you one step closer to that full life we’re all looking for.

It should be fun to thank people for being who they are and telling them “I’m glad I know you”. Every stage is here today and gone tomorrow (James 4:14) and before the curtain goes down, how about thanking a few people who helped you get there…wherever it is you are.

Now, I want to look at myself from outside of myself and ask myself if I’d appreciate hearing heartfelt words from someone close to me. Ummm, duh. Although we might not want to admit the fact, it means a lot to others that one might risk looking a little foolish and squeamish to be sincere. What’s holding you back? Well…maybe it’s time to work on that. Thanks for reading this, it meant a lot to me… and I love you (ha! Man hug and fade to black).

Lord, make me sick!

I love analogies - comparing two things usually for the purpose of clarification and understanding. I recently heard one that really stayed with me. In life, our bodies develop immunities and adjust to certain things; some ailments, darkness, smells, even foods. We have built-in natural defenses. We give ourselves a flu shot to produce antibodies against the virus. Our eyes change their balance based on how much light they’re exposed to. Similarly, we get used to scents that surround us, from colognes to pollution. Our bodies also adjust to what we consume, eating junk foods verses wholesome organic foods. God has given us an innate ability to adapt to our environment, inside and out.

In the same way, we develop spiritual immunities too. We get so used to course language, provocative images, greed, gossip and other everyday sin that their impact on our hearts wears off more and more quickly. Obviously certain things like murder, starvation and molestation make us want to scream, but the ‘little’ sins fall by the wayside (check out Ephesians 5). If we don’t detoxify our spirituality, it gets harder to recognize an unhealthy lifestyle. It’s part of the yin yang idea…without the darkness, how can we appreciate the light. At some point or another, I think we’re all guilty of this. That’s just how we’re wired. We get used to things and eventually become desensitized.

The Bible tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Unless we fear God, we cannot accept His wisdom in our lives. Unless we ‘understand’ His power, we will not fully fathom how to fit into His plan. If we were reminded that eating McDonald’s food everyday was going to make our bodies miserable and eventually kill us (see Super Size Me), we’d be more reluctant to eat it. If we were truly afraid of the consequences, we would raise our standards and not accept the junk. And on a side note, why is it whenever I eat fast food in my car, it stinks for like a week…it doesn’t even matter how long the bag is in there (10 minutes or 10 hours).

I know a guy who eats all organic foods and would literally get sick if he ate fast food. His body is so used to natural food products that even the thought of junk food makes him cringe. It started as a fear for his future health and has turned into a lifestyle. In the same manner, sometimes I feel I’ve been exposed to so much mental junk food that it doesn’t make me sick anymore. It’s an uneasy feeling that I want to change. Obviously some sin makes me discouraged (whether my own or other people’s) but a lot of sin blows right past me and I barely take notice.

One of my favorite David Crowder song says, “I’d love to start again. Go back to innocent and never leave.” Doesn’t that just ring so true sometimes? Wouldn’t you like a big do over for so much in your life? I’d love to not be so used to the filthiness in our culture, but I am. I’ve become somewhat immune to it and my innocence is long gone. I enjoy so much working with kids because they’ve been slightly less exposed to the ugliness of human nature. It evokes memories of when my parents knew everything and the world was super ginormous. But my parents don’t know everything and the world is getting smaller everyday. I squashed that naivety a long time ago.

So how do I change this? I’ve been asking myself for a few days now…how do I detoxify my mind of all this garbage? The answer is so simple…get into tighter community with God. Seek out what makes Him smile and what breaks His heart. Pray, dive into the Word and remain actively involved in the values that Jesus taught. Bible study is my favorite ‘cleanser’. It’s a constant reminder of God’s will and how to conduct a blameless life. As well, the Holy Spirit continually guides believers. The more we submit to the Spirit, the more in touch with our Maker we will be. We need to eat the organic bread of life and drink the purest of living water so that we can bear healthy fruit. Fruit pleasing not only to our own bodies, but most importantly to the body of Christ. If the body is treated well with the wholesome nutrition God has provided for us, the mere thought of junk food will be enough to make us sick.

I want to be sick.

I want to notice the darkness.

I want to recognize the stench of wrong.

If I am doing these things, then I’m immersed in what’s right!

Alright, this is the last time that I’ll ever mention this…just a beef I have with our restaurant culture that came upon us seemingly out of nowhere (like that Dane Cook guy). Since when am I supposed to expect a lemon in my water? Seriously! I can’t stand it! I ask for water and it’s automatically garnished! When did this happen? Was there some sort of meeting of the collective restaurant minds that spawned this sudden dogmatic principle that states water can no longer be just water? I can understand the general idea behind this phenomenon, but all of the sudden it applies to everyone without even a question as if we’re all wired the same way. What if every time you got an oil change, the mechanic painted a racing stripe on your car because he thought it looked cool? Or if you got a haircut and the stylist dyed your blonde roots brown because ‘the majority of her customers like it that way.’

This wouldn’t get accepted nearly as easily in any other part of society, but somehow this little trend slipped through the cracks. Maybe I’m the only one who is perturbed by it, but when I’m out at a restaurant I have to order ‘plain water’. PLAIN WATER! What’s more plain than water? But if I fail to specify, I end up getting some poor man’s Gatorade. This wasn’t the case five years ago, but nowadays it’s standard. Sure, a lemon in water may have health benefits…so does running but you don’t see everyone doing it. It may be tasty to some…but we all have different taste buds. Water is just fine as is. It doesn’t need a spritz of anything. And who decided lemon was the way to go? Why not an orange slice or grapefruit? Or how about a tomato? I hear they’re healthy.

I would just appreciate it if my servers would ask for my preference. Like so many other things in life, options should be given upon request and not assumed. I had to get this off my chest and I’ll try, real hard, not to bring this up anymore but it’s tough when it occurs every time I dine out. Now, can I get a Diet Vanilla Black Cherry Coca Cola Classic with Lime please?

How many of you have ever been job searching and the employers all require experience that you can’t get ‘cause they won’t give you a job? What’s the solution? I asked myself, ‘do I have to be an unpaid intern or volunteer my time to get this experience?’ What about the college experience and the piece of paper that came of it? Was that all for naught? Of course it wasn’t, but this logic often surfaces in reference to thoughts about Christian faith. We can’t use the Bible to prove God exists to those who don’t believe in the Bible in the same way we can’t prove to a company that we’re capable of doing the job offered by showing them our diploma. They might not believe in our diploma; they want to see our abilities in a tangible environment.

So where do we as Christians start with non-believers? Can we really just point to verses that we hold to be true?

In Acts 2:38,39 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” NIV

This verse speaks straight to us, but how do we explain these concepts of sin and repentance to someone who believes that this life is all there is and our bodies on earth are all we are…no soul, no afterlife? They believe the Bible is manmade, or equally disheartening, that God is manmade. There is a fundamental need to show the world that our lives are full of the Holy Spirit who infiltrates our being. How has it changed your life and your heart? How has it curbed your tendencies towards sin?

Corporations today need to see your experience in the work place, just like non-Christians need to see your experiences with the Lord. It is not enough to claim with our lips, instead we must show it with our bodies and minds. They want experience…show them experience.

So I ask, are you experiencing God working in your life? Are you conversing with Him and listening to what He has to say to you? I pray that you are and that you are not just holding that ‘diploma’ you received at age 5 hoping that it’ll be enough to get you into heaven.

That excitement and anticipation of the first hill…the one that takes forever to climb but wastes no time sending you plummeting to the ground only to yank ya back up and toss ya back down. And during the falls you feel somewhat weightless and some even sick. Then you get a little time to recover your stomach as you scale another grade only before it turns you upside-down and spins you around. When it’s finally over and the adrenaline has gotten the best of you, a deep breath precedes the thought that “that was so much fun, why not get in line and do it again.” I miss that…literally and figuratively. But a new season is brewing and I’m out of hibernation. I’m ready to ride a roller-coaster; to get back in line and see what kind of reward will be at the end of all the slow climbs and fast falls.

I’ve been on solid ground, practically kissing it for some time now, and think it’s about time I “get to the point”. The winds of change are upon us and 2007 has proved to be a definitive year in my life and the lives of those around me. Since January, I’ve had 5 close friends leave the state for better jobs and an improved standard of life. A Chrysler employee, a news broadcaster, an architect, a lawyer, and a student all have moved away to begin the rest of their lives. And other close friends are getting so wrapped up in their relationships…well, you know where that’s going. So here I am, the musician. But the aging musician…no longer 22 with few worries. Oh no! I’m staring 27 in the face, or it’s staring me in the face. But I think I’m ready now to embrace my “late-twenties” and to see what new things God has in store for my next ride. Standing still isn’t exciting. Doing nothing isn’t exciting. The people around us aren’t going to stand still and do nothing. They’re going to move, change, grow, and age just like you and me.

That’s where I am right now.

I vividly see the world around me transforming and I want to transform too.

Now is the time.

I’m standing, but I’m doing something…

I’m in the line.

Hello all. Introductions are not really my specialty. Most of my friends call me Fritts, but I always feel I should introduce myself with my first name, Eric. This has honestly led many a times to me sounding like a complete idiot meeting people a la “Bond, James Bond”. Well, I’m not that cool and I often feel strange meeting people in that fashion, but my name is Fritts…Eric Fritts.

I’ve been at Woodside my entire life, since the days of Troy Baptist. I remember Pastor Anderson and when Pastor Doug came into the church. In fact, I was best friends with Andy Schmidt all through high school. I graduated from Troy High in 1998…do the math people, and then graduated from Alma College in ’02. I’ve been playing guitar for about 12 years now and have sung for even longer, and after years of volunteer service at Woodside was offered the position of Student and Young Adult Ministries Worship Director. I’ve been working with the Kids For Christ Choir since ’03 and Oasis (middle school) since ’04. Now, I have the privilege of also leading worship for The Awakening and Lighthouse.

Out of college I worked for Chrysler as a bill collector for almost two years. Wow! What a fabulous job that was (sarcasm invoked). But following that wonderful position I went back to school in an attempt to become a teacher. Guess what? I didn’t finish. Well, I just kind of stopped after getting a couple gigs as a musician. I was soon teaching guitar, playing restaurants, and back living with my parents. Woo hoo! But it did happen to allow me to lead worship for Camp Woodside and subsequently Oasis.

In particular, it’s great to work with people my own age at Lighthouse. It’s really an amazing collection of great guys and girls from all walks of life that I’m so grateful to be part of. I’ve been truly blessed and am excited for the work that is God is going to do for the youth and young adults of metro-Detroit.

In this, my first and only blog, I look to inform anyone who’s interested about music, news, facts, truths, sports, and life from Fritts’s perspective. Here are some quickies; Check out the Sam Roberts Band, up for Spin Magazine’s artist of the year. Democratic presidential candidates are seeking to attract the African American and religious swing voters, quoting Bible verses and focusing on inner-city policies. Cats sleep 16 to 18 hours per day. The Neanderthals brain was bigger than yours is. The Pistons and Red Wings are going to make this spring exciting…as well as the Tigers. And finally, I absolutely cannot wait for summer nights, driving with my windows down, and bar-b-cues. March needs to drive out the winter and usher in warm enough weather for us to open up pools by April. Then, and only then, will I be reminded that’s it’s not that bad living in Michigan. But until that day, I will be hibernating in hooded sweatshirts and wool socks curled up in a ball by a fireplace and writing this blog while watching CSPAN and listening to any new music I can get my hands on. Talk to you soon.