People Who Keep It Real: Tomas Stanton

I rarely get the chance to meet people like Tomas Stanton... especially when I TRY to meet people like TOMAS STANTON!

He is a rare breed.

A survivor.
A lover.
A community hero.
A street soldier.
And MY homie.

Tomas currently holds the position of Teen Director, at the Harry & Sandy Rosenzweig Boys and Girls Club in Metro Phoenix (the HOOD).

Day in, and day out, Tomas cultivates meaningful relationships with some of our nations toughest youth. His goal is simple... do whatever is necessary to teach, reach, and preach love into the lives of at risk youth. Often times at the expensive of his own dreams.

Tomas is humble... a rare type of humble.

Have you ever seen Good Will Hunting? (if not rent, bootleg, or steal a copy...it's that good)

The way Will Hunting (Matt Damon) looks at math... is the same way Tomas looks at words.

Slicing and dicing his way through the English language like no other person I have ever met in my life.

His story is one of tragedy and triumph. Pain and jubilation. Silence and fear. AND finally after years of keeping his PASSION a secret... he is setting a new course for his dreams.

Tomas is stepping out of the shadow for the first time as a professional speaker, poet, and youth development expert. It takes a lot of courage to overcome the fear of failure, and I am happy to be able to share with you for the first time what that looks like.

Please enjoy this short video I made. I give you Tomas Stanton.



Best of luck to you Tomas.

Keep It Real.

Murph

"young" ADULTS What?! What?!

Everyone has something that their heart breaks for...mine happens to be YOUNG adults. The "overlooked" stage in life.

No. I'm still all about my teenagers, BUT I had to give a quick shout out to the aspiring adults out there.

I can remember all too well my first job after my 150k+ education.

I graduated from college and spent the summer with friends, traveling, laughing, and goofing off. One last party before REAL life hit.

I call this stage in life UNEMPLOYED/HOMELESS!

BUT I was happy, really happy.

Then the money ran out and so did the good times. I was now looking at loans, debt, and STRESS!

So I applied, interviewed, and was hired at Enterprise Rent-A-Car! B-A-L-L-I-N!!!

I remember being told that I had to wear a suit... and shave my beard... and WASH CARS! Say What! Wash Cars? Yes, I had to get up everyday at 6AM with my nice suit and tie and wash cars.

But I was working, right? Wrong... I was surviving. I think I made $450 a week, and I worked something like 90 hours (kidding, but it was a lot)!

I had NO idea what I really wanted to do.

I spent 7 months working at Enterprise before I started to feel like there HAD TO BE MORE to life.

Have you ever had this moment in your life? Have you ever asked yourself why you stay at your job if you HATE it?

WE ALL DO. Don't feel bad.

My greatest fear is dedicating a huge portion of my life to something, only to look back and be unsatisfied with it.

Have you ever asked yourself if GOD has something better for you?

Have you ever reflected on the gifts He has given you?

Does it make you nervous? Anxious? Or do you feel nothing at all?

God has made numerous promises to us in the bible and throughout history. Equipping us with the right set of tools to fulfill His purpose for our lives.

His purpose...

Yes, we tend to lean away from His purpose and blaze our own path. Sometimes straying away from our gifts and trying to justify our pursuit of temporary things. Temporary things that our culture says are important.

My advice for today: Take the time to identify Gods gifts for your life. What are you naturally gifted at? Can you build a life around your gifts? Does this create purpose?

My hope for you is to not look back on your life ten years from now and say "Oh Crap! How did I get here?"

I hope you define your gifts and apply them to your life creating a picture of your future. AND if it is still unclear, at least it will point you in the right direction... His Purpose.

Keep It Real.

Murph

The BIG Question!

People ask me questions all the time, and we answer about 100 questions a day... Would you like cream with that? Are you free? How are you? (which is usually answered by "how are you". This is not an answer, FYI!) Can I GET YO NUMBA!?... You know the normal questions I get.

But every once in a while I get a question that is worth sharing my answer...

On my blog I have a section called ASK MURPH ANYTHING, and PEOPLE DO! Recently, I received this question:

"You went to a catholic school... were you raised catholic? when did you make the switch to christianity? and why?"



Truth.

I did grow up Catholic and attended Catholic schools from kindergarten to college. I appreciate the Catholic education system, and I think it can offer many advances both academically and spiritually.

BUT

I have at times during my faith asked those BIG questions...Why? and What?

Why do I get dressed up for church?
Why do I kneel during this portion and stand during that?
Why do I have to go to the priest to get my sins forgiven?
What is transubstantiation?

And finally What does the "Church" think about...

And then IT hit me.

It shouldn't MATTER what the "church" thinks. The Church is made up of people, and led by clergy, presently restricted to men. According to Romans 3:23, "all men fall short of the glory of God". Which means that the Church now becomes... MAN.

Men are deceptive, proud, envious, sinful, and at times violent. We seek power and often destroy to get it. We're driven by personal fulfillment and susceptible to greed.

For this reason I made the decision to seek out what lies beyond the confides of the "Church" and man made doctrine.

During my search I visited multiple denominations of Christianity. I found many similarities in terms of practice and organization of the church building. Some had kneelers, some didn't. Some had an alter and some barely had seats. Then another question came to mind. What does "church" really mean. I had to redefine my understanding of what church had meant my whole life.

The early followers of Christ were referred to as the church, which literally means "the body of Christ". Early Christians would meet in back rooms of houses, but ultimately the Chruch was a mobile evangelical ministry.

With this in mind, the huge beautiful buildings that I called church for so long, became just that. Buildings.



It became evident the people and hearts inside those buildings was what truly mattered.

At this stage, I was in search of community, which didn't exist in the Catholic churches I attended or visited. I found that the majority of parishioners at "mass" (mass - a term for the service in a Catholic church) cleared out in record time after it ended. I was told that we were fulfilling an obligation by attending mass on Sundays, and just being there for an hour a week kept us in good standings spiritually.

I honestly didn't read the Bible at all growing up. There wasn't emphasis from the Catholic Church to do so. I believe we heard Scripture through the various readings at Church and the priests homily. But this wasn't reading the Bible.

My wise grandfather once told me, "Just because you are in a church building doesn't make you a Christian - like being in a garage doesn't make you a Cadillac". My need for community and accountability were evident, but everything came up short.

What we did during the week, and sometimes right before we got to mass, could easily be absolved with a few Hail Mary's and Our Fathers. There was no sincere, broken repentance or reconciliation once I stepped out of the confessional. I felt no reformation or personal accountability with God. I felt accountable to a man, a priest. This is when I started to inquire about who Jesus was and how I viewed him.

Who IS Jesus? And did I really need someone else to mediate my conversations with Him?

I tried talking to Jesus on my own. Slowly, my conversations (or prayers) turned into a very personal relationship.

I wanted to attend a Church that encouraged community, biblically-based teachings, and ultimately a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This was unfortunately far from what I found in the Catholic church.

After my long and continued faith journey I'm certain of this:

Jesus came and died for everyone... EVERYONE. Jew and Gentile.
There is nothing that we can do to EARN our way in to heaven. Man will ALWAYS fall short of the glory of God, which is precisely why Jesus died in our place.
Jesus is the best example of a human being that we'll ever know, because he was both man and God.
The Bible is God's word, and through it, we are changed.
As a Christian, we need each other. We need fellowship for encouragement and accountability.

I currently attend Praxis Church in Phoenix. AZ. Praxis literally means "practical". So "Praxis Church" literally means "practical followers of Christ".

In closing, I'm not saying that if you're Catholic you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. But I AM encouraging you to take responsibility of your faith. Seek out truth according to Scripture, to be reconciled back to a God that loves you more than anything.

What are your thoughts? I'd love to get a good discussion going!

Keep it Real.

Murph