Live life like there's no tomorrow

Do things as if you won't be able to do them again tomorrow. Not to invoke a sense of doom-and-gloom, but to really bring of the essence of the importance of seizing opportunities in life.

Yesterday I watched "The Bucket List" starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. In short it's about these 2 men who have been diagnosed with cancer and eventually they found out how much time they have left to live.

Freeman comes up with some items in his "Bucket List' - things to do before one dies. Nicholson happens to see it, adds some items into it of his own, then off they go to accomplish them.

A couple of takeaways from this show. That at the end of the day - end can mean the conclusion of life, a season, an opportunity, a period, etc - things/issues like what others think of you or what you think of yourself doesn't matter at all. Afterall, these 2 men are "dead" anyway.

Receiving Christ into my life and dying to myself has once again reminded me that my life is there for me to live it, God is there to help me on, despite what happens or what others do along the way.

That movie really enlarged my perspective of life once again. Bringing death, or even the light of eternity into the picture, being frustrated or uptight with trivial and insignificant things seem to be totally a waste after all.

The soundtrack of this movie is entitled, "Say" by John Mayer. (Roy introduced the song to me, which in turn led me to the movie)...

Take all of your wasted honor
Every little past frustration
Take all your so called problems
Better put 'em in quotations

Say what you need to say (x7)
Say what you need to saaaay...

Walking like a one man army
Fighting with the shadows in your head
Living out the same old moment
Knowing you'd be better off instead

If you could only
Say what you need to say (x7)
Say what you need to saaay...

Have no fear for giving in
Have no fear for giving over
You better know that in the end
It's better to say too much
Than never to say what you need to say again

Even if your hands are shaking
And your faith is broken
Even as the eyes are closing
Do it with a heart wide open... wide...


At the end of the day, what's most important? Fear, pride? Your opinion/approval and theirs? God's plans and purposes intended for you?

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I'm really encouraged by my Dad's friend's (who's into guitars and who also helped me get some of mine) heart in his playing.

While we were in a guitar shop and trying out electrics, he took one of the guitars, played his blues and sung along to it.

To me, he had his heart in it. Even if you can definitely find another person who can play or sing better than him - it doesn't matter - he held NOTHING back. He gave his ALL.


Colossians 3:23 - Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.

Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like no-one's watching.
Sing like no-one's listening.
Live like there's no tomorrow.

A Dying Cat And A Nylon String Guitar

"Music isn't just learning notes and playing them, you learn notes to play to the music of your soul" - Katie Greenwood.

Why are you learning music anyway? Is it to pick up chicks? Is it to fulfill a void in your mundane life? Is it an indescribable calling?

I always wanted to learn the drums. I don't know why, maybe it's the aggressive nature of the things. You sit there and bash the crap out of them.

As fate would have it I shared a house with Dave, a guitar player, so I decided to learn the guitar as I had my very own teacher living in the next room. Or so I thought.

I went out and bought a nylon string classical guitar for $70. I didn't have a clue what I was doing but that never stopped me before.

So I went back home with my new guitar in its cardboard box. And with anything new, you want to play with it straight away, as soon as you get it home.

I also bought one of those guitar case chord dictionaries. You know the ones, they have a thousand chords in them and they are designed to confuse rather than actually help you.

So I waited for Dave to get home from work and as soon as he was in the door I was at him. "I bought this new guitar and I was wondering if you could show me how to play it" I said.

He just laughed at me but eventually agreed to show me which chords to learn first. He told me to learn the open chords A, D, E, G, and C. So I did. I spent every spare moment learning these chords.

Dave wouldn't show me any songs to play so I was forced to make up my own songs. This forced me to really explore every one of these chords as I thought at the time that I had to include them all in every song I wrote.

The songs I wrote were pretty strange to say the least. We were into punk music at that time so just imagine what a dying cat like vocals set to a nylon string out of tune guitar played as fast as a speeding train sounds like and you get the picture.

It sounded good to me at the time and I was very proud of my new found ability. It took about three months to get the hang of changing between the chords, and being able to write a song. (if you could call it that).

I didn't know it at the time but I had the one thing that was needed that would ensure I would become a good guitar player. That one thing was sheer bloody determination. And the more people told me how bad I sounded the more determined I became to improve.

So it doesn't matter how good or bad you are at the moment just play the music of your soul - even if it sounds like a cat being tortured. You will improve as long as you keep trying.

Here's a mental exercise for you. Fast forward your mind to 4 years from now. How good a guitar player will you be? The time will pass regardless of what you do. Are you going to keep at it? or are you going to give up? It's up to you. You will be four years older, but will you be four years wiser?

See ya next time

John Stockwell

Later this evening, after work, I'm going to head towards my childhood friend's place to jam.

I suddenly feel like David (me) going up to Goliath (him) not to fight but to spar and train up my skills.

His fingers run across the fretboard faster than my feet run on solid ground.

I'm feeling a little uncertain about this, but in order to improve my skills, I'll have to seek those who are more proficient and let them kick me beyond my current abilities.

The last time we jammed (and talked) was like the past Chinese New Year. It's been quite a while. I still remember not knowing a single thing about scales and soloing when we were at another friend's place with our guitars.

Hope that with all the training and practicing I've done so far, we'll be able to at least get going with some things.