Progress

Onward.

“The key question to keep asking is, Are you spending your time on the right things? Because time is all you have. ” -Randy Pausch The Last Lecture 

I have friends and family who have supported me through some really weird times, loved me through some dark times, and laughed with me during some fun times. I consider my life blessed, and I want to thank every person who continues to be a blessing to me. 

The last 3 years I have become a significantly different person, and I hope only in better ways. Through my work at LiNK and Invisible Children I have surrounded myself with incredibly talented and incredibly humble individuals that challenge me greatly. Both of these, and many other, causes are great and are well worth my time. I will be around the non profit circuit for a while that much I know for sure. However it has come time for me to focus on my education, at least for the time being. With that said, I will be transitioning out of LiNK in just a little over a week.

It’s not a decision I made quickly, in fact I have been thinking about it for several months and have given it a large amount of prayer. I know that right now this is the decision I should make. I will be pursuin sound engineering and I will be attending Los Angeles Film School. I want to continue to use my skills and passions to help other people, but I feel I owe it to myself to pursue this dream. 

Aside from that I don’t have a road map for my future. I’m sure there will be pain and I am sure there will be happiness, but I am humbled by all the support I have been given by my friends and family.

Do something crazy this month, and be free.

Godspeed. 

Sean

Passions

My name is Sean and I am passionate about a few things. 

1. God. I believe that God has given me so many things, all of which I am pretty sure I don’t deserve. I want to use my gifts for the betterment of the world and the Kingdom of the Lord. (if you have seen a side of me that doesn’t represent that I apologize sincerely for it, because that is what I want my life to look like.) 

2. My family. It’s weird to say you are passionate about your family, I just can’t help it. I have the most amazing family who have stood by me in some of the dumbest decisions I have ever made, and have made the things I want to do possible. Who’s hearts break when mine does, and who love me unconditionally while making sure I know it. I am so lucky to have incredible individuals in my life like them.

3. My Music. I love making music. I don’t care to be great, and I am definitely not trying to get “famous.” I love to sing and I love when people sing. I feel like I am in a different place when I am playing music, not a better or a worse place, just a different one. 

4. Justice. I don’t know when this happened exactly, but seeing people suffer for no reason makes me physically uncomfortable. I became involved with Invisible Children and it made me more aware of the world around me. Then I started working at LiNK, and I have worked alongside incredible people. I have seen lives transformed since I have been here, and it is indescribable. 

Why am I taking the time to write all these things? Because I believe I am supposed to fight for my passions.

In a little over a week I’ll be home with my family. I’ll make music with my friends, and I’ll worship God in the church I call my home. 

Before that though I have something I need to get done. I am trying to raise $500 for LiNK before December 31st. I already have $305, that only leaves me $195 to go. 

So I am selling all of my music for donations here : deadendstanley.bandcamp.com

Any donation you make will go towards my $500 goal to help LiNK’s rescue and resettlement program. It’s time my passions supported each other. :)

If you don’t want music, but you want to make a donation to LiNK you can do so through my Reliance fundraising page : http://www.stayclassy.org/fundraise/link?fcid=123008

Thank you for your support all this time. 

Special thanks to the people who have donated to get me this far. 

My Mom

My Brothers, Eric and Chris.

My Aunt Mo.

Allyson Tibbits.

Joshua Booth.

Stefan Hutzfeld

How do you love yourself?

³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.

The past few weeks I have been struggling with the idea of the last part, loving my neighbor as myself. I keep the thought flowing through my head all day and night, “How do I love myself?” I don’t communicate with myself through love languages. (Physical touch, words of affirmation, etc…) So if I can not pin point how I love myself, how can I love someone else like it? How am I supposed to mimic what can not be seen? 

Then yesterday it hit me, I love myself so frequently and so effortlessly that it happens without me ever noticing. I choose to love myself when I don’t belittle myself for mistakes, or when I give myself grace for wrongs I do. Those things only happen when I love God, other wise it would be giving my self a pass for no reason, but God keeps me accountable to love me, because he knows I need it. 

However, why is it that loving others is such a burden. Why is it I can so effortlessly give my self what I need, but I can not do that for others? It is a clear as it can be that I am meant to love others almost seamlessly. I am called to a higher standard of loving, yet I fall short of that standard most, if not all days. I am quick to call out when someone wrongs me, but I am not quick to correct myself when I wrong others.

It is because I do not want to be wrong, I do not want to love incorrectly. My pride tells me that I know how to love, because I love myself. It is incorrect though, my job is not to love others effortlessly. It is to love others, and almost always that takes sacrifice.

Finally, all are our neighbors. From the homeless, rich, diseased, straight, homosexual, transgendered, believers, non-believers, and those caught in between. Every single person deserves my love. I am called to pray for my enemies, and love everyone. Let’s start doing it together.