Jamin Rathbun & Superdink.com

Who is this Jamin guy anyway?
I am the husband of one and the father of nine. I was created to sing, to worship, to encourage, and to be steady. I am the Owner & Executive Director of Trinity Arts Center, a multi-disciplinary Arts Center in Eastern Tennessee, and the President of Trinity Arts Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization focused on funding arts education and performance. I've been involved with four music projects in my life -- Hot Pink Turtle, Spin Radio, Stand Like Stone, and of course, Jamin Rathbun.

In 2013, I added my Twitter feed to this site (below). To view the old content, just scroll down past the Twitter timeline. To keep in the loop on new posts, thoughts, and updates, just follow me on Twitter using the button below. Thanks!

Tweets by @jaminrathbun

stuff

How many days do you have left?
I stumbled across a web site listing the average life-span for white males in Tennessee. According to their statistics... I'm about 6 months short of mid-life.

Actually, the estimated totals work out something like this:

36.5 years
438 months
1898 weeks
13,322 days
319,728 hours

Now that I think about it, I spend about 1/2 my time sleeping, eating, showering, dressing, and driving so... The real totals (of usable time) are more like:

18.25 years
219 months
949 weeks
6,661 days
159,864 hours

I find myself not so much looking at those numbers as looking at the first number I mentioned... 6 months short of mid-life. I am almost exactly 1/2 way through my life on Earth. That is kind of depressing and motivating at the same time.

It is amazing how quickly life passes by. I turned 35 last year and it just keeps getting quicker. I have some older (and wiser) friends who tell me that it's only just begun so... I'm starting to feel a sense of urgency about where I'm going and what I'm accomplishing. I know I've talked about this before but -- I get so "busy" doing the things that I do, that I keep putting off the things that I want to do.

When am I going to start doing the things that I want to do? When am I going to "shift gears" and begin to focus on the things that are important to me?

I remember hearing a speaker a few years ago that talked about testing your "busy-ness" to see if the numbers added up by budgeting your time. He talked about taking the 168 hours you have every week, budgeting them, and see if you're really as busy as you think you are. In my case, it was really enlightening. If you asked me before I had completed the exercise, I would have told you that I was too busy for another thing. Too busy with kids, too busy with church, and work, and music, etc. But -- after I took the time to map out where my time was going, I was amazed at what I had time to do.

I wrote down my ideal schedule. I included everything that I wanted to make time for. For me -- that meant an hour each day with one of my kids, an hour of bible study and scripture memory, an hour of writing music, an hour of exercise, and (of course) sleep and work and all the rest. I got to the end of the exercise and I had something that I never expected... I had 6 hours left in the week, with nothing left to do.

Let me qualify this statement by admitting that I am nowhere near speaking from the high ground on this issue. Regardless, I want to challenge you (and myself) with a couple questions:

What is important to you?
How much could you accomplish in one year if you skipped your TV time and worked on that instead?

I'm guessing you could accomplish a lot. I bet that the impact you would you have on your wife, kids, friends, church, community, and world could be HUGE AND I bet you wouldn't look back in 35 years and wish you would have caught that new episode of House. = )

I have a vision that I'll share with you... I have a picture in my head of me, as an old man, sitting in a chair looking over my family at a picnic or wedding or some type of family reunion. There are probably a 100 kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids there and I'm just sitting in my chair, as the patriarch of this group -- and just smiling. = )

THAT is what is important to me. That is what I should be working toward. That is motivation to do the great (or small) things God is calling me to do... and to inspire those things in my kids, and their kids, and their kids...

Maybe I'll get there, maybe God has other plans for me but regardless... That is what I'm aiming at. If you see me aiming at something else... Please remind me. = )

bible

Jeremiah 29:11-12
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.