.Nick Bilich.

Letting It In--Romans 7:8-9

2010-12-11T16:47:00.000-08:00

Some of the toughest things to confront in life, are the moments that challenge our world view. It's an interesting dichotomy, that although many of us desire to grow and to learn, we're all on some level very biased concerning what information we let affect our personal set of exclusive beliefs (these being our deep seated philosophical/ideological premises). And when we do let something in that challenges these beliefs, it's often times a pretty scary situation, because it presents us with the possibility that we might be mistaken in how we've been viewing the world.

This morning, I was reading Romans 7:8-9, in which Paul discusses the effects of the law and sin--"For apart from the law, sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died" (just to clarify, the "law" that Paul discusses here are the Ten Commandments). What I realized, is that it can be a very trying time when we're confronted with God's law, either for the first time or in situations when our lives are contradictory to it. Our natural tendency is to shut out the forces that challenge us, and it's really just an act of self preservation. We all want the safety of a manageable world view, in which we feel we're living "on the good side".

Yet what the law does is show us that the whole world isn't living on the right side--that we're actually blowing it BIG TIME when it comes to how God desires us to be living. And so we shut the law out, because when we're not living accountable to it, we feel alive as Paul says--we don't have anything telling us we're wrong. Nobody wants to feel repeatedly condemned their whole life when they mess up--it's really a horrible way to live!

This is where I think so many people stop, but the greatest revelation of the Bible is that God says there's one more piece to the puzzle...Jesus. And here's the big secret so to speak: we can never fully understand Jesus, his holiness, or the beauty and greatness of what he did on the cross, without letting the law into our lives. If someone tells you that Christ died for your sins, but you don't think you're a sinner, the obvious answer is, "cool story dude...so what?" But when we let the law show us who we really are in God's eyes, the cross becomes the most gnarly, the most beautiful, the most precious and loving gift that God could give...because now we understand what Christ died for: OUR sins.

There's a great verse in Matthew 11: 28-30, "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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Such amazing words! The burden that Christ wants to lift, is the weight which the law puts upon us--the reality of our sin. And the bottom line is this: if we want to know Christ, we need to let the law humble us.

It's a big jump, but take Christ's word for it when He says, "I am gentle and humble in heart." God loves you. And if you want to know the depths to which His love goes, the first step is to open your heart to God's law. You'll be amazed how God will show you how crazy His love for you really is.

Giving When We Think We Can't--Luke 21: 1-4

2010-12-07T19:25:00.000-08:00

   As Americans I believe we have a great propensity to think and make decisions from a financial perspective. Not to say that this is always the case, but I think the predominant mentality is that if you're low on cash, you can't afford it. Now this seems completely responsible doesn't it--that a person should always be aware of how much money they have, and making decisions that fit within those means. This is an absolutely wise model when it comes to spending. But when it comes to giving, it can be very hard to rationalize doing this, especially when we're financially stressed. And although it sounds crazy, I'd like to encourage you to keep giving even when the money is tight.
   The Bible has a very interesting take on giving found in Luke 21:1-4. Luke writes, "As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 'I tell you the truth,' he said, 'this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.'" You see it's easy to give when you have much, because it doesn't cost YOU that much. A hundred bucks is really just pocket change if you have a million in the bank. But when you're living paycheck to paycheck, when you're struggling to pay your bills, when you just got fired or laid off from your work, this is when we brush off the idea of giving. And we do it because we're not sure what the future has for us--we don't know when we'll be back in a place of financial security.
   But the beauty of what the Bible says here, is that God is STOKED when we have nothing, and yet we still give. Because giving when we have nothing humbles us before God, making us trust and depend on Him to sustain us. And it takes us out of ourselves, causing us to let go of living egocentrically. These are two things God loves, because it allows him to show us how much he cares for us, and it frees us to love others as God has loved us.
   Check out Luke 12: 22-32 as well! The most amazing thing about the Lord, is that he frees us to live recklessly! Not in the sense of jumping off a cliff, or robbing a bank. But God gives us complete confidence that He will provide for us, as we love people wildly by giving generously of what He has blessed us with.
   But remember this, because it's important---when we become reluctant or afraid to give when it DOES cost us much, we limit our ability to see God working powerfully in our lives. I can say from experience that being in this position opens up our eyes to God's provision. And most of all, we put more value on God's provision because we're in a place where we need it so much more.
   So don't be afraid to give when you don't have much! You'll see God do some amazing stuff in your life, and you'll grow more confident in His greatness and love.

Humanity and Our Environmental Progression

2010-02-06T13:43:00.000-08:00

I had an extremely interesting conversation with T-bone this morning, while driving to Sacramento for one our shows. T-bone has always been an avid outdoorsman, and I had always been curious why he had such an affinity for nature. When I asked him, he said that the main reason he liked nature, why he liked backpacking into the middle of nowhere for a few weeks, was that it allowed him to get back to what the world was like before Man.

Now I thought this was an amazing thing to think about--what the world was like before Man came about to cultivate it. I thought back to Genesis 1, which details God creating the world and everything in it. He creates the oceans, the birds, fish, animals, plants--everything is in its place...then God creates man and woman. And the one thing He commands both of them to do, is to lovingly rule over all He has created. God entrusts His entire world into the care of mankind.

It's interesting that of all the creations on this earth, humans have the highest capacity to think and organize. There's an amazing talk by primatologist, Robert Sapolsky (which I'll include at the end of this entry) which talks about the cognitive and biological distinctions between humans and the rest of life. One of his main contentions is that humans have an incredibly deep capacity to think--about life, about the creation of communities, about emotions, complex math, etc. The reason I bring this up, is that if you look at the facts--the human ability to think, we really are the most qualified to govern this earth (or so it seems).

Let's go back to Genesis for a minute. Later on in the narrative, Adam and Eve eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge (which God commands them not to do), and are expelled from the Garden of Eden because they disobeyed God. He had created a world for Adam and Eve to govern--a world in which He established rules for them to follow, so that things would be done correctly. So when Adam and Eve disobey God (went against how he intended things to be), there were undesirable consequences. The point I want to make, is that I think mankind has been given a responsibility (in light of the mental capacity with which we were created) to tend to our world. There is a right way and a wrong way to go about doing this, and how we choose to do so creates positive or negative repercussions.

Now let's take a look at the progression of humanity over the centuries. If we examine the development of mankind, we find the overarching trend to be that we progress more technologically than we do morally. Of course there are developments in philosophy which change the way we think about a whole spectrum of particular issues. But the main axioms of how people desire to be treated (we like to be loved, we desire friendships, we don't like people killing us, etc.) have been intact for centuries.

On the other hand, technology has been changing as far back as we can trace. Stone tools progressed to iron, steam to gasoline, candlelight to electricity--humanity is always progressing to another level of technology that enables us to achieve new and unprecedented things.

I think we can all gather how morality has changed the world. We find that when societies treat each other with mutual respect and love, the tendency is that the community is influenced positively. And when these general elements are not there, and people treat each other badly, communities are negatively affected.

But how does this technology affect our world? If we look at the progression of the earth, it seems that one major ability which technology has given us, is more ways to adversely effect the environment, on an increasingly greater scale. For instance, the Egyptians had a huge culture, and no doubt had their negative affects on the environment. But that effect was localized and contained by the parameters placed upon them by their technology. They didn't have airlines, cars, plastic, styrofoam.

But today, our technology allows us to put massive holes in the ozone, our trash dump sites are larger and more frequent that they've ever been, and the amount of people using technology is greater than ever before.

Now it's not that technology is a "bad" thing--in fact, it seems that each new development in technology solves a current problem, but also (in many cases) creates a new dilemma.

Thus, I find it extremely interesting that the way in which humanity has developed over the centuries, caters more towards harming our world than making it better.

I don't want to seem completely pessimistic by pointing this out, but I think it's a real and important issue that we must face--that we have a responsibility to our world, and that the odds are kind of against us to manage the earth in a positive way.

But the point I'd like to finish with, is the old saying "With great power, comes great responsibility". Humanity has been given a great power to think, create, and govern, and we must be wary of how we choose to use the amazing things that spring from human ingenuity.

How We Think About People

2010-01-28T11:30:00.000-08:00

So I'm reading this book called "Velvet Elvis", by Rob Bell, which is a great read if anyone is interested in a really fresh and in depth perspective on Christianity. But one part that really struck me, was when Rob talked about mankind being created in the image of God. Now this idea is taken from Genesis 1:27 "God created man in His own image". And the reason I found this so interesting, was that it's really an amazing way to think about people.

Lets take a step away from religion for a sec, and talk solely about belief in "God". Now if we believe there's a higher power of some sort---something or someone that created the world and all we have in it, then I think we have to recognize that there's a serious amount of ingenuity and beauty to be attributed to that being. I mean, in light of plants, music, coffee (hahaha), the human body, sunsets--these are things that are quite amazing and beautiful. So to think that people are created in the image of this "higher being", I think adds a lot of value and uniqueness to our view of humanity--that each of us have some of that beauty and ingenuity within us.

For myself, I definitely enjoy this point of view, because I find myself going into society with the mindset that everyone was created with an inherent value, and should be treated as such. It's not always the easiest thing to keep in mind, especially when people are annoying or rude, etc. But trying to live this way has definitely brought a lot of love into my life, and a keener appreciation for the people I meet.

When Was the Last Time You Thought About Creativity?

2010-01-19T10:41:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure of being introduced to the TED Conference a few years ago, and it has since then provided me with a great means of experiencing some of the most creative and brilliant minds in the world. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, the TED Conference (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) is a gathering held every year in which some of most skilled and educated people in these fields, converge to discuss their areas of expertise, and how they relate to our present and future world.

This particular talk by Sir Ken Robinson was one of the most moving I've come across, and addresses some fundamental issues in our perception about creativity and education system. If you like this, I'd encourage you to check out www.ted.com, to find more talks of the same caliber.

You're a Teacher...even if you don't know it.

2010-01-17T21:12:00.000-08:00

I think everyone remembers a time in their life when someone severely influenced the way you thought, possibly even motived you to change the way you lived. For instance, my buddy Adam is one person I can definitely site as someone who has positively influenced my life.

Adam was one of the first people I met in college, yet we really didn't get to know each other until the later years of school. But during my senior year, we did breakfast every Thursday at The Breakfast Buzz in SLO, which quickly turned into our weekly "talk about life". Adam has always been incredibly socially minded, and driven to foster creative, dynamic, and educational communities around him.

Later senior year, I went to an Spring slam poetry event called, "Anthem" that Adam was very instrumental in organizing. Just seeing the care to detail, the organization, and the massive spectrum of people that came to the event, was enough to testify to the hard work ethic. and huge heart that Adam had for bringing people together to experience something positive and educational. I'll never forget leaving there, so incredibly pumped to orient my life in a way that strove for the same things.

This is just one example of a person who has influenced my life--I'm sure we all have many. Yet the point I want to make is that sometimes, I don't think we see ourselves as THAT person. The truth of the matter, is that many of us aren't aware that others are influenced (in both major and minor ways) by what we do--by how we live our lives. We get caught up in thinking about how to take life experiences, and use them to create a better "me". And we forget that all of us have a distinct influence on everyone within our social realm, whether that be your family, you best (or worst) friend, boss, neighbor, etc.

So, in a way, we're all teachers. We all instruct, in some way, by how we live our lives. And I think that's definitely something to think about: a) what things do we want to "teach" with our lives? And b) what are we teaching now?

New Series--Relationships: What is Our Definition of Love?

2010-01-15T11:02:00.000-08:00

I'd like to introduce a new topic which I hope to write about repeatedly: that being the huge and crazy topic of relationships. What sparked my interest in this was an experience I had yesterday, while renewing my drivers license at the DMV.

A friend of mine, who I believe is in his early 40's, stopped me as I was walking across the room to get my license picture taken. I asked him how everything was going, and he answered with a weak smile, "Well Nick...not so good". I sat down and he told me that his wife was divorcing him; that it was, without a doubt, one of the hardest things he'd experienced in his life. We couldn't chat long because I had to get my picture taken. So we shook hands, and I said I'd keep him and his family in my prayers.

I left the DMV with a lot of thoughts going through my head. About how elemental relationships are in our lives; how much we create a foundation on those in whom we invest and intrust our love; about how broken a man or woman must feel, when they learn that their spouse or significant other doesn't want their love--will not return it. More thoughts about families who've been marred by separation; children who don't understand why the two people they love, don't love each other. And the overarching question of...what can I, what can we do about this?

Now I believe in God. And as the details of that relationship are lengthy, I won't go into much detail. But here is what my God says about love, and how it should look in each of our lives...

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong doing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends..."

The reason I bring this up, is that I want to question how each of us views our role as a person who is responsible for loving someone.

If the quote above is the correct definition of love (which you should question, and that I believe is), we should be deathly serious about who we choose to love. The reason being, if this is the love you mean when saying "I love you", what you're really saying is, I will be patient when you frustrate me; I'll be kind when I'm angry with you; I'll not envy what you have, and what I don't; I'll not boast, putting myself above you; I won't put you down; I'll always ask your opinion in decisions, because I care; I'll be happy when we're truthful with each other, and I'll push through the times when I want to quit....because you're worth that much to me.

This love is pretty serious, huh? I wonder how many broken relationships would be changed if we though of love this way?

There are millions of people who are engaging in relationships today, who are putting their hearts on the line, because they want things to work out. And if the love we're talking about here was what we defined as "love", how much more confident and determined would people be in their relationships, and in their commitments?

You might have heard the quote above millions of times at weddings, in greeting cards, in the movie Wedding Crashers--it might be sort of cliche by now. But the reason it's referenced in all of those, is because there's a deep truth to be found in it. Don't miss this. Truth is found everywhere, and it's our job to question it, and to claim it. So test this for yourself, and see if this is really how love should be.

Facial Hair

2010-01-13T21:56:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody,

I've been away for awhile, but my New Year's resolution was to post at least once a week (we'll see how this goes, hahaha). Anyways, for the first piece of 2010, I thought I'd start off with a deeply philosophical topic....facial hair. As a man of Italian and Croatian blood, I was blessed with a pretty solid ability to grow hair on my face. And especially over the past year, I've had quite a lot of fun experimenting with various patterns...some really creepy, some really 1970's. So in light of our upcoming national tour, I've decided to post some of the facial hair highlights throughout our trip. Here's one from Nov., don't freak out mom. Hahaha

Post Phishing Trip

2009-08-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

Hello! So I'm back from the two day adventure up to Northern California to see Phish, and it was definitely the experience I was hoping for. I left Tues. afternoon for Santa Rosa and visited the fam for a night. My dad and I grilled a tri-tip and feasted on steak and baked potatoes, pared with some delicious melot--it was probably the best meal I'd had in six months. After dinner we capped off the evening with "Romancing the Stone", the mid-80's (I think) film starring Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito. If you haven't seen it, I'd say its worth checking out at some point.
Wed. morning I hit the road to check out Two Rock Amplifiers, a Rohnert Park based amp company that builds some of the best amps on the market. For perspective, a few players who sport a Two Rock amp are John Mayer and Santana, so you can get an idea of the caliber of musicians that Two Rock attracts. I met with Mac, one of the five or so employees that Two Rock has, and he gave me the rundown of their facility and the amps he'd lined up for me to try out. All the amps sounded amazing; the Classic Reverb is definitely the one I'd like to pick up in the future. So after an hour or so of playing ridiculously expensive amplifiers, I said goodbye and drove to meet the madre for a sandwich before I took off for the Phish show. She's an awesome lady!
I got down to Mountainview about 4pm, and the pre-show antics were already in full swing. For anyone who has been to a Phish show, you know how sweet the parking lot is beforehand. It's pretty much this massive mobile colony of hippies who've been following Phish for the last however long, plus everyone who's come for just that show. Everyone is blasting great music, jamming on acoustics, throwing frizbees, and going from tailgate to tailgate saying "what's up" to see where people are from and such. I handed out a bunch of demos before I went into the show, and got to meet a lot of really cool people. A photographer came up to me and snagged a pic, saying he was going to write a story about the show. I got an email yesterday with the link, so check out the show details, and if you go to the photo album, you'll see a great photo of me with a pretty cracked out expression.
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/entertainment/music/Phish-30-Lands-at-Shoreline-for-One-Night-Only-52638702.html

Phish!!

2009-08-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

So this week is going to be my first Phish show since 2002. The band is playing at the Shoreline Amphitheater on Wed. (8/5), and I think my biggest question is whether or not they're going to have the same gusto as they did back in the day. Granted bands change inevitably throughout the years, but to put it more finely, I hoping I'm as in to their current state as I was in '02. Trey has always been one of my influences and favorite guitarists, so it's going to be sweet seeing him jam again. And they always throw out a tasty cover or two, and I'm hoping they're a few new ones I haven't heard. I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon to go see the folks before the show the following evening, but I'll do a little recap of the experience later this week. It's going to be a cool little adventure.

"Radin on the Parade"

2009-02-21T00:23:00.000-08:00

I figured I'd make the title to this one as cheezy as the experience, or at least matching in its ridiculousness. Tonight Haircut and I went to the Joshua Radin concert. I must admit I didn't expect much--I'd only heard his recordings online and wasn't too enthralled. But one of my good friends told me that Josh's live show was amazing, and that I should definitely go. So we made the trek downtown and saw the show. I actually got to meet the guy. He seemed very regular, humble, made a few goofy jokes. But I didn't think the guy who I'd chatted with for a few minutes about his tour was the person who took the stage 45 minutes later.
The show started off well--everyone was thrilled that Josh was finally onstage. Girls were screaming, guys were not screaming, and everyone cheered loudly after his first song. But then he told everyone to quite down, and waited, and waited........and waited some more, probably for a full five minutes so that everyone would be quite. Mind you, this is in Downtown Brew, a BAR which means people DRINK and subsequently TALK. Apparently Joshua didn't get the memo. He started talking to the very front row only, so that none but them could hear what he was saying. He made jokes about the town, telling the people in the back who were talking to go walk around the "beautiful city they have" rather than chatting at the show. He even unplugged his guitar at one point and played three songs without the PA--all you could hear was him screaming every once in a while, and the people in the back still kept talking.
I think the worst part of it all was when people started filing out, and someone said, "You're loosing fans!". His response was, "Good, it'll weed out the suckers". I'm sorry pal, but no musician is above their fans, none.
It was painful to watch someone with a fairly reputed name, who obviously worked hard to get where he is, treat his audience like crap. It was as if he expected everyone to do exactly as he staid, like a child who knows if it cries, it will get what it wants.
The best part of the show was his last song. They were jamming away and right when Josh told his guitarist to take a solo, this lady who was standing right next to us by the sound board, put her elbow on the lighting system's kill switch, and the entire stage went black. Although it was the most awkward moment for that to happen, it was a perfect cap for such premadonna--lights going out at his final moment of glory.
Long story short: Joshua Radin = very self centered, crowd = half P.O.ed, have still loyal to the man, end result = man's got a short career ahead if he continues down that road.

Word of the Month

2008-11-04T10:02:00.000-08:00

So it's been a bit longer than I anticipated since I've had a minute to put something down. But while writing emails this morning I came across an interesting twist on a word, and decided that I should start doing a "word of the month" segment.

Word of November: "Manner"
Adj.
Definition: The instance or cirumstance in which one displays characteristics superceding the currently exstablished norm of masculinity or manliness.

Please feel free to post your uses of this word throughout the month.
-NB

Why "The Rhombus"

2008-08-15T15:06:00.000-07:00

So the title, "The Rhombus" actually hails from the days when my buddies and I used to jam in high school. Around our junior year we all were obcessed with Phish, and devoured all the literature we could about how they met, jammed, etc. But one interesting detail about their history was a section my buddy Sean and I read about the place Phish used to go and philosophize, which they termed The Rhombus. Apparently somewhere near where Phish lived, they found a giant rhombus sitting in the forest and decided to make this their meeting spot of sorts. Thinking this was a great idea, Sean and I went driving around Santa Rosa to find the spot which we could deem our own Rhombus. The place we found was a electrical shed, cut into the side of a hill next to a golf course. And if you climbed onto the hillside behind the building, you had to most amazing view of the city as well as complete privacy from anyone who might be passing by. Thus, our Rhombus became the place to which we retreated, to talk about life, faith, music, girls, etc. It became a place where you could step back from life and realize the intricacies of the situations which were presented to you, a place where you could tap into the zeal which drives our creative minds, and a place where you could appreciate the depth of true friendship. Therefore, I thought it quite fitting to call this blog, The Rhombus.
-NB