jeff obafemi carr: the media scientist

i got back on Thursday from a phenomenal trip to the West Coast. i had a great time kicking off the speaker’s series on Religious Pluralism at the Claremont School of Theology, where my good friend and scholar i’d love to be Dr. Monica A. Coleman is a professor and coordinator of the fascinating series. i had a ball catching up with several old friends of mine, including Terri D. Bell, who runs the Youth United Academic and Enrichment Center in L.A. (thanks for the awesome Stepping Lesson at the fundraiser. i’m going to pretend i got that “swag” now), and ABD The Rev. Paula McGee, who is putting in the hard-core work that PhDs are well known for.

i also caught up with family and friends, discussed my coming film project, my book Leave God Alone (He’s Tired of You Bothering Him), and most importantly, held my wife’s hand and wrote our names in the sand of the beach on a sunny, slightly cool day. having my feet bathed by the cooling waters of my mama Yemaya, even for just a few moments, was rejuvenating. add to that the fact that i got to attend church at the Agape Spiritual Center and listen to Dr. Michael Beckwith (of “The Secret” fame) totally charge up a couple of thousand people with positivity, and you can say i’m pretty well done. stick a fork in me.

more than just a good opportunity to dialogue, do business, and have a little family fun, i really got the opportunity to be reminded of just how many assets i have in my life. sometimes, we all get so isolated by our circumstances (bills, deadlines, workloads, etc.) that we miss out on the power we get from taking an assessment of what–and who–we are connected with. in just a few days, i was able to dialogue with some of the sharpest minds in theology, hang out with people who “get me” without explanation, be inside a church where people are having fun and getting along, learn about my wife from her 83-year-old grandmother, and remember how calming a sea breeze can be.

those things have always been there, and there will be more to come, but it takes being conscious of them and assigning these deeper connections more importance than the circumstances. one of the great points i got out of Beckwith’s message was that human beings are created in the image of God and God is a Creator who forms things out of nothing (or, No-Thing). so we can look at apparent no-thingness and choose to make something out of it, or we can let our perception be shaped by our circumstances. if we do the former, then we chase our dreams and make them real; if we do the latter, then we’ll always be chasing a bill, an addiction, an affirmation, or a carrot being dangled in front of us.

i choose to create. on Donald Miller’s Blog, he has a great posting on creators just creating, instead of talking. i recommend that everyone–artist or not–check it out, because in the end, we are all creative in our own unique way.

now that i’m back in the ‘Ville, it’s a lot easier to soar through the tasks at hand. sure there are a lot of them, but i’m up to the challenge. i’d rather be busy than have nothing to do.