The Servant's Heart

The first evening of SonShine Fest in July (where we got a large portion of our interviews), while mi madre rested in her luxurious hotel room (yeah, I camped), I did a solo interview. It was with Tobin Bawinkel, frontman of the Celtic punk rock band (oh yes) Flatfoot 56. I had a quick phone chat with Tobin and we agreed on a meeting place. I went to meet him and had no trouble finding him in the crowd. My immediate internal reaction was simply, "Whoa." The man stands at roughly six and a half feet tall. You have no idea how awkward it is to take a stroll to a quiet place to have an interview with someone who is actually about a foot taller than you, attempting to make small talk all the way. Try it sometime.
Fortunately, Tobin was not an awkward person with whom to talk. As with many physically intimidating people one might meet, he is personally the exact opposite of intimidating. Kindness illuminates him. His main focus in the interview was on being a servant of Christ. He talked about showing the love of Christ to those we may not normally be inclined to reach out to, like social outcasts or people who do tend to intimidate us. After all, that's what Jesus did.
He was also all about God's will. In talking of the anxiety one experiences when thinking of the future, he emphasized the fact that we are taken care of in God's hands, as long as we are following His plan for us. We may know a major component in following God's path for us is being in constant communication with Him through prayer and reading the Bible, but Tobin also mentioned the need for good spiritual leaders, such as pastors and parents. He advised us not to become prideful when we are young and being filled with knowledge, because our elders' experience trumps what we think we know from books. And again he mentioned servitude as a way to follow God's will. Even if you're not sure what specifically you're supposed to do with your life, Tobin said, "You’ll never go wrong with pouring into people’s lives around you. That’s a calling of all of us, whether we know what our big goal is or not."
It's a great reminder that I think we could all use. Jesus had a servant's heart and commanded us to do the same. In serving our Lord's creations, we serve our Lord.
It is also wonderful to see a popular rock band have the opposite of the "typical" attitude of "rock stars." Thanks for blessing our lives, Flatfoot 56, and thanks for your time and inspiring words, Tobin!