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Jesus “J.C.” Christ

Maybe you think that Jesus was a raving lunatic. Maybe you think He was the biggest liar to ever walk the face of the Earth. Maybe you feel like the Gospels of Jesus are all over-exaggerated and Jesus really did not perform all the miracles that they say He did. Maybe you believe that Jesus is Messiah and Lord and King of Kings and Savior of all mankind. Whatever the extreme of your beliefs is, you absolutely have to admire the guy, or at least respect Him. Never has there been a greater teacher of compassion and humility than Jesus.  If you don’t believe in God, or you are an agnostic, that’s fine, but everyone can learn a thing or two from Jesus about how to treat others around us.

 

If you read about Jesus, you learn that He was far from perfect. He threw temper tantrums, He became frustrated at times, He had a hard time sticking up for himself at times, He knew He couldn’t change some people no matter how hard he tried, He contradicted himself, etc. etc. etc. But in the end, He accomplished what He came on this Earth to do. He followed what He felt His calling was and He came through victorious at the end despite incredible diversity. He never gave up and gave everything He had (including His own life) to his most passionate cause: Getting us to love ourselves for who we are and getting us to love and accept each other for exactly who we are.

 There are not many of us that can say we have that kind of drive and determination. Whether it is to create the biggest and most bada#& Star Wars memorabilia collection, or to rid the world of hunger, not many of us can say we are truly taking advantage of our talents and passion that God has given us. It does not matter what it is; find something you are good at and that you like to do and DO IT…not just for yourself but do it to influence others and spread joy and happiness.  

That is why J.C. is my hero. Yes, I believe that He is the son of God; an amazing and incredible God. But why do I truly admire him? Because He fulfilled his destiny, that’s why.

 Bob Dylan

I remember walking into a musty room at my Fraternity when I was a freshman. I had just pledged and I did not know many of the active members that well. The first thing I noticed was the 90000 point combo that a guy named Roy was working on in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. But the second thing I noticed was that they were playing Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” on repeat on an old dusty CD player. I sat down there on a couch that was at least 35 years old and listened to that song for over an hour. That’s when I knew I had to have more Bob Dylan. Over the years I have obtained several original LPs of his, thousands of illegal MP3s, countless CDs and literature (including Chronicles Volume One) about this man which I have come to have a heterosexual crush on.

 

Bob Dylan made a living playing folk music when playing folk music simply was not cool. He wrote songs that he felt passionate about, not songs that would get bras and panties thrown at him. Bob Dylan can’t sing worth a crap, his guitar playing is mediocre at best, his harmonica playing sounds like an injured cat and he doesn’t exactly believe in the concept of a mere 3 minute song. But when it all comes together, he creates masterpieces. His music finds a way of burrowing into your heart in the bluntest of manners. Bob Dylan to me is like a mutt dog. Mutts look like no other dog and they are usually so incredibly ugly that they are actually beautiful little things and just take your breath away.

 

Bob Dylan is sort of like J.C. in a way. He does his thing no matter what people think of him, because he has a passion to tell stories through song. He is humble (having only a small handful of public interviews EVER recorded) and dedicated (still on tour in his late sixties). If there is one thing that I have learned from Bob Dylan, it’s that success seems to depend more on NOT caring what people think of you; not always conforming to standards and expectations.

 Trent Hamm

Trent is the creator of The Simple Dollar (www.thesimpledollar.com). He has an enormous passion for the written word and for helping others through one of the most awkward times of life: Managing money in our Twenty-something’s. Trent is the author of a few short books which you can purchase on his website or read through for free. He is also a very prolific blogger who has learned so much about himself and the value of life through putting his thoughts to the keyboard. He is an inspiration to over a million people that visit his blog monthly, even though he has only been writing publicly since late 2006!

 

But here is the kicker; and this goes along with a common theme that is developing in the heroes section of my blog: Trent just quit his job to blog full-time. He has two kids and a wife to support. He has in excess of 100,000 dollars in debt from school and mortgage. He doesn’t have an exact game plan of where his life is going to take him from here on out. But he made the decision to do what he loves to do; WRITE. He realizes that his writing brings not only joy to his own life, but influences thousands of other people and spreads joy and meaning to a financially confused world. So he has decided to devote himself to this full-time.

 

The claim that I normally make about myself is that I am about the most average of the average. I don’t consider myself to have any outstanding talents. Part of that comes from my inability to devote myself to a project for a long enough period of time, and part of it comes from the fact that I am just not blessed with anything extraordinary. If there was one thing that I really have always kind of had a knack for, it’s writing. Call me a dork, but I always looked forward to writing term papers and essays in college. There is something fulfilling in putting my racing thoughts on paper; getting them off my chest and out of my system, and creating a piece of work as a result. I have never been interested in creative writing; i.e. short stories, novels, play etc. Non-fiction writing gives me the chance to relax by getting the racing thoughts out of my head in an organized manner that I feel good about. I haven’t been able to do that very much in the past 4 years since college. Then I discovered blogging, particularly Trent’s blog. What a perfect way to create a sense of structure and meaning in one’s life then to blog one’s thoughts; even if nobody ever reads them. For me, it’s fulfilling (and a cheap hobby) and I have Trent to thank as one of my first inspirations.

 

How many of you can say that before the age of thirty you have truly found your calling? Trent Hamm has found his and it has allowed his soul and his pocketbook to prosper.

 Joe Holt

I first met Joe my freshman year of college. He has a smile that would make the whale that swallowed Jonah, envious. Joe is the most introverted extrovert I have ever met. By this I mean he has the most mysterious yet captivating personality of anyone I know and this is what draws people to him. Everyone always wants to see what Joe Holt is going to do next. He is unpredictable, spontaneous, free-spirited, a social genius, and enigma wrapped in a Twinkie. Joe defies the status quo and acts on whims; he goes out on limbs; he jumps the gun; he organizes his life on yellow business tablets and sticky notes; every e-mail he sends you is the kind you never delete; he’s just plain the type of person you brag about being friends with.

 

And to add to the reoccurring theme of my heroes page, Joe Holt follows his intuition and does what makes him happy; or at least he does what he feels compelled by an unknown force to do. Since graduating college, Joe has worked for a small town South Dakota newspaper, taught kids at a church camp, moved to Taiwan to teach kids how to read, moved to Wales to work at a jewelry store and learn Spanish on a CD-ROM in his spare time, written a screen play, moved to Arizona to live with this sister and brother-in-law, moved to North Dakota to complete a Master’s Degree in literature, moved to Norway to teach language composition at a University and has become an apple (yes, the fruit, not the computer company) connoisseur and critic. Some may say that it appears that Joe is struggling to find himself. I say Joe has always known who he was; he developed confidence in himself and his abilities long ago and he has learned to grab life by the horns and ride the ride.

 

How many of us go through life believing there is a system we have to follow? Get good grades in high school – do good in college – get job after college – find girlfriend – marry girlfriend – have kids – get promotion – worry about money – always try to have nice things – forget about life dreams and aspirations – never continue education – worry about retirement – take things to seriously – stress out – don’t live in the moment – be miserable because we feel unfulfilled – never try new things – never take risks – wish we could win the lottery – retire – die.

 

Surprisingly this is how I often find myself envisioning my life and I am sure it is the same for others. This is why Joe Holt is my hero; I idolize him for living life the way he does; for dusting himself off; for not worrying about investment portfolios and simply trying to build his life portfolio. That is what it is all about.  He is one of my favorite people, ever.

   

Feel free to comment below. You may need to click on the article’s title (headline) in order to open up the comments section. You may also e-mail me any thoughts you might have to ahubbard13@bloginyourface.com and if I like what you have to say I will post it alongside this blog. If I don’t like what you have to say I may also post it alongside this blog along with my personal comments on where you should shove it!