Pursuit of My Passion: Dwelling In A Place Called Passion

I've shaken the hands of the gate keeper of my passion...and entered with exuberance.  The benevolent hospitality my passion has bestowed upon me has led me to ask myself, "What took you so long to discover this place?"  I dreamt of his place called passion when I was younger...and even when I got older.  Truth is...I never stopped dreaming about it.  But my dreams pale in comparison to the real thing.  It felt like I always knew about this place but for the longest time, I couldn't figure out how to get here.  Now that I'm here, my passion has made room for me.  It's like...once I stepped over the threshold of my passion, I began to have visions of my inevitable success.  I began thinking out of the box and more creatively.  People around me can see on my face, hear in my voice, and notice in my behavior .,,that I have become passionate ...about life ...all because I made the decision to pursue my passion for writing.  The most amazing thing is...my passion promised to take me to the most sought after place known to man ...purpose!   Many a person have died trying to get there,  The thing is though ...majority of those people chose to pursue other things like money and notoriety than to simply follow their passion.  I hope whoever reads this decides to pursue their passion instead of whats trending or convenient.  I chose to pursue my passion and I'm getting on my flight to reach my purpose!

Until next time, decide today to pursue your passion!  Don't let another day go by...

Christoph Writes...

"If my words have the ability to develop wings of encouragement, I hope they take flight in someone's life." ~Christoph Jenkins

In Pursuit of Passion: An Example of Who & What I Intend To Be!

While browsing Youtube, I came across this behind-the-scenes video (above) of Kirk Franklin and Tamela Mann creating this MASTERPIECE of a song, “Take Me To The King.”  I'd heard the song before and right from the start, I loved it!  But when I saw this video of Kirk coaching and grooming Mrs. Mann, I thought of myself as it relates to my poetry.  I think of my future and my goals on a daily basis, as should we all.  I have a passion for writing but I don’t necessarily have a passion for the stage.  Ironic, right?!  Well, this is the blessing…God gave me this idea some time ago.  I’ve been matching my passion for writing poetry with other’s passion for the stage and acting.  And it’s sounds funny to say, but one of my goals is to be the “Kirk Franklin of Poetry!”  lol

Tomorrow (Saturday), I’ve been asked to put together what I call, “a poetic production” for a fashion show at Love Nightclub from 5-7pm.  This will be a continuance of my journey as a writer because I’ve been writing since I was young but I would take breaks.  I’ve refocused my lens and reloaded my felt tip pens with ink and the intent to  win and exceed my goals!

Below, is the final product that was spawned from hard work, dedication, and passion!

Until next time ...don't go a day without doing something that'll get you closer to reaching your goals!

Christoph Writes...

"If my words have the ability to develop wings of encouragement, I hope they take flight in someone's life." ~Christoph Jenkins

Project of Passion: My Gift ...Your Testimony ...Their Breakthrough!

We all have been gifted by God with unique talents, skills, and abilities. I believe that it is imperative that we all begin (if we haven't begun already) to tap into our God-given gifts. I am grateful for my gift of writing and have chosen to use it as a platform to connect with people all over the world. With that said, I would like to introduce you to a new project that I am launching that I believe has the potential to make a HUGE impact in lives of many.

Earlier this year, a college friend of mine suffered a significant loss in her family, and asked me to do the honor of writing the poem that would be placed in the obituary and read during the homegoing service. I was humbled and obliged to fulfill her request. I blogged about that experience shortly after and want to encourage you all to take a look at the post called, "Personalized Poetry: 'My Baby Girl." and its comments to get a glimpse of the kind of impact it had on her and her family.

There have been several other personalized poems that I've written throughout the years. I'm sure some of you followed my involvement with the Trayvon Martin Movement earlier this year when there were marches and rallies being held all over the country.. I took the chance and wrote a poem called,“Who Will Cry for the Little Boy, Trayvon Martin,” that I believe speaks to the injustice that occurred. I was blessed to be afforded the opportunity to recite this poem at the majority of the marches and rallies held in the DC Metropolitan Area.

This project is very similar; however, it is a little more involved. My vision is to have people email their testimonies to ChristophWrites@gmail.com. Once read and reviewed, I then will transcribe them into personalized poetry. We all have a testimony because we have all gone through something that GOD has brought us out. And some of us are currently being tested. In the end, though, people who hear about people going through similar things can be encouraged and empowered to endure the PROCESS God has them in.

I look forward to reading your testimonies and transcribing them into pieces of art that will serve as a light in a dark place.

 

Until next time ...continue to help others get through what you just came out of!

 

Christoph Writes...

 

"If my words have the ability to develop wings of encouragement, I hope they take flight in someone's life." ~Christoph Jenkins

In Pursuit of Passion: Don't See Your Wait as a Weight!

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. James 5:7-8

We all have needs and desires...this is clearly a fact of life.  However, at this very moment, there are some specific things and stages of life that we are currently waiting to occur in our lives.  We have read, re-read, and memorized all of the scriptures and quotes that pertain to being patient. We've excercised the privelege of prayer and we've forged forward with faith... but we have yet to see it come to pass. 

As I wait... (and have been waiting for some time now), for the thing that I have requested of God, I believe I have done well at being patient and waiting on the Lord.  Even though I can admit I have experienced the question stage where I've asked God, "When will you bring this to pass? Why does it feel like I'm sill in the same place I was last year? When will it be my time?"

We all know and have experienced some of the stages of waiting and trying to be patient for the things we desire.  I just thought I'd share what I've learned while I've been waiting patiently.  God has taught me, in my waiting, that we have responsibilities while we wait on Him.  He isn't making us wait because He likes to see us squirm.  Their is a growth process that we must see to the end. Have you ever got radical with God? Try surprising Him by saying "You know what God, you're right. I'm NOT ready for this thing that I desire... because if you did give it to me while I'm still at this stage in life, I just might make a mess of it.  Teach me all that I need to know about myself and about that thing that I desire... so that I'm ready to handle all of the hidden things that come with it."

I've reached for and grabbed things that I desired and wasn't ready for.  When I had it in my possession, I either made a  huge mess of it, took it for granted and lost it, or realized that it was a being hinderence to my growth.

I'm simply saying this... use "waiting time" wisely.  It isn't a time to sit and wait.  It's actually a process that God has strategically placed you in.  But the longer you linger on the on the question stage, asking God why, the longer you will be in your process... waiting.

Until next time... don't see your wait as a weight!

Engaging Engagements: I've Been Asked To Speak At The DC Justice Rally For Trayvon Martin

 

I am honored to say that I have been asked to deliver the poem, "Who Will Cry For the Little Boy, Trayvon Martin," at the  Justice Rally in Downtown, DC at Freedom Plaza on 14th & Pennsylvania Ave, NW.  it will be held Saturday, March 24, 2012, this Saturday.  You are asked to wear all black and/or a hoodie. 

I truly feel blessed and humbled to be asked to present my expression of how I feel about the Trayvon Martin case.  This is, indeed, a defining moment in my life and in my writing career.  I put my heart into this poem because I can't help but to think about the world my future children will be born into.  It's really scary how you think times have changed and then tragedies like this occur.

The world can be a cruel place sometimes...BUT God is still good and He is still in control!  If you're in DC on Saturday, please come by and support the cause because it effects us all no matter what.

Until next time...GET INVOLVED!!!

In Pursuit of Passion: Commit To Your Passions Daily!

Consistency is a vital component to the upkeep and promotion of your passion.  I make this statement because while writing for an audience, I write to encourage and inspire myself as well.  I love writing!  "I write to strategically sort out the many thoughts that fill my mental. I make sure that I have a pad and pencil handy most of the time to ensure that I jot down the potential literary brainstorms that are my thoughts."  HOWEVER, sometimes I get lazy.  At times, I get discouraged. From time to time, I experience pockets of low self-esteem as it relates to progression in my writing.  I'm human.  I have imperfections and insecurities like everyone else.  I wonder why my blog traffic and amount of comments on my posts aren't as high as I think it should be.  Traffic and comments are the currency of the blogging world.  Naturally, bloggers want people to read their blogs ...but I thank God for sending me constant reminders that bring to my attention the real reasons why I write. 

Right when the spirit of laziness came upon me, I was in the process of  checking my mentions on twitter.  For those of you who are not twitter literate or "twiterate", mentions are when people mention you in a tweet.  I was mentioned in a tweet from "The Poetry Daily" an online magazine that features the TOP daily blog posts.  On yesterday, I was featured for having the top poetry post for the poem, "Confessions of a Contrite Heart."  I felt so honored and surprised.  God amazes me on a daily basis so I think it is important to commit to being passionate about the gifts God has given us. 

If you have been fortunate enough to discover your passion and have the fortitude to pursue it, don't ever let it go.  Don't ever release it from your grasps.  Life can sometimes distract us from the pursuit of our passions.  We all have priorities.  The question is, where on our list of priorities is our passion or is our passion even on our list?    We must commit to our passions daily..  Committing to your passions on a daily basis re-ignites the fire we have for the gifts God has bestowed upon us.  If you have a slow leak in your passion, remember to recommit to it daily.  This will serve as a plug to your leak.

Until next time ...continue to pursue your passions and commit to them daily!

Christoph Writes...

In Pursuit of Passion: 7 Things I'm Passionate About

1. CHRIST
2. FAMILY
3. TRAVELING
4. WRITING
5. BLOGGING 
6. MEETING NEW PEOPLE
7. OWNING MY OWN BUSINESS

What are your passions???

Until next time...Recognize your God-given gifts!  Attach yourself to your gift!  Develop your gifts!  Become passionate about your gifts! 

Christoph Writes...

In Pursuit of Passion: Become Passionate About Your Gifts & You'll Find Your Passion (Video)

As I continue to write about my passions and research on how one finds their passion ...I learn something every day.  God sends me to different sites and places of resource where I find a wealth of information and sometimes small nuggets that resonate heavily.  I came across this video, below, where Steve Harvey is the keynote speaker.  From this video, I got a revelation that I believe we all can learn from. Our passion is not some foreign object that we have to go to the edge of the world to locate.  God has never created a soul without a gift.  We were given gifts from God for a reason.  All we have to do is to get passionate about the gifts God has given us and there we will find our passion.

 (A must see video!)

I've learned...

• God never created a soul without a gift.
• "A gift opens the way for the giver and ushers him in the presence of the great!" ~Proverbs 18:16
• Apply the principles/scriptures you've learned to your life.
• If you think there is more to life...chances are there is.
• The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.
• Make room for your gift.
• Attach yourself to your gift.
• Develop your gift.
• Become passionate about your gift.
• Prepare for the haters.

Until next time...pursue, develop, and become passionate about your God-given gifts!  There you will discover your passion!

Christoph Writes...

In Pursuit of Passion: Leave A Legacy! "Reasons"

Life has become more and more perishable as of late.  It's beginning to seem as if our friends, family members, and public figures are transitioning on at younger ages.  R.I.P. Whitney Houston & Don Cornelius. Just this year, as new as it is, I've experienced the loss of a GREAT friend, Justin Izlar (read his story), who I grew up with in church.  We were on the same church step team as pre-teens.  Justin found out he had cancer at the age of 18, during his freshman year at Coppin State University.  Despite the rigorous and trying trials cancer  brings along with it, Justin still persevered with the help of his family, church family, frat brothers (Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.), and God, Himself.  He accomplished one of his greatest goals before he passed; he graduated college and EARNED his degree while battling cancer.

The reason for this post and the TRUE inspiration behind me starting this blog is ...I DISCOVERED MY PASSION FOR WRITING as a direct result of the LEGACY Justin left behind.  The legacy that this young man of God labored to leave has blessed not only my life but so many other's lives.  To catch a glimpse of the legacy he left behind, please visit the blog I created for him called Justin Touched Me.  Leading up to his homegoing and even after, we had people email us stories and testimonies about how Justin touched their lives.  Before the blog was even designed, people he impacted flooded the inbox.

I'll say this again ...I DISCOVERED MY PASSION FOR WRITING because I witnessed, first hand, how many people Justin touched through out his life.  Not one of the stories were written out of pity because he had cancer.  You could feel the sincerity and fallen tears in their writings.

After 29 years of searching high and low for what some people take a lifetime to discover, I found my passion because I asked myself this question ...IF YOU KNEW THAT YOU HAD A SHORT TIME TO LIVE, HOW WOULD YOU LEAVE YOUR LEGACY? ...HOW WOULD YOU TOUCH PEOPLE'S LIVES IN A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME???"  I knew right then and there that writing would be the avenue I would take to reach people; it always has been; ever since I started writing in the 1st grade.

I'm a realist ...and I've come to realize that no one is guaranteed a long life.  This is why I've decided to live every day as it were my last...because one day it just might and this blog will be the documentation of the legacy I leave.

"I will...

Write from my heart
Write from my soul...
Make the best of my talent
And won't Ever let it go
Not for anything..."

Until next time...continue to Pursue Your Passion!

Christoph Writes...

In Pursuit of Passion: Don't Wait To Pursue Your Passion! Start TODAY!

 

The sooner you start to pursue your passion ...the sooner you will discover it and begin to fulfill your destiny!  Just imagine how it will feel when you finally discover your passion.  It's a GREAT feeling ...so much so ...I started this blog just to inspire people like you to pursue their passion and be on the path of hearing, "Well done!" when it's all said and done.

        

Start TODAY!!!

Christoph Writes...

In Pursuit of Passion: The Discovery of My Passion

On yesterday, my very first blog post, "In Pursuit of Passion: The Beginning of My Journey," received a comment that turned out to be a question...for me.  This question is very significant to the pursuit of my passion.    Notice that I am still saying "the PURSUIT of my passion."  You might ask, "I thought you found your passion?!"  Just because I discovered what my passion is doesn't give me the green light to turn on the red light and stop pursuing it.  For example, I found my future wife, my fiance, but I still pursue her.  The pursuit never ends.  The day you stop the pursuit will be the day the passion will begin to wither and die ...but I digress.

My reader, who is also my friend and co-worker, asked, "When did u realize writing was ur passion?"  Again, this question is so very significant to the pursuit of my passion.  I say this because it is so very important to celebrate the fact that you've accomplished what so many people in this world have been trying to do all their lives.  Yes, it is true that there are people who have been fortunate enough or, better yet, exposed enough to discover their passion at a young.  Remember, what I said in my last post, "In Pursuit of Passion: Exposure Is Key (Video), "One's passion can be found in the unlikely of places."  We must expose ourselves to different things.

I discovered my passion on last week, February 14, 2012, ironically on Valentines Day, ...at the tender age of 29, lol.  I used the descriptive word, ironic, because I found my PASSION on the day ...of LOVE.  Get it? ...passion ...love?  Ah, forget it!  Anyway, I had just received the new issue of the Christian magazine, Optimal Living Magazine, a magazine I have been blessed to write for and have my own column in called "True Confessions of a Saved Black Man," previously entitled "The Diary of a Single, Saved Black Man." I'm engaged now so we had to change the name of the column, lol..  I wrote and submitted this particular article, "Conditioning Myself ...To Love Unconditionally" about a month before.  It's weird because when I'm in the process of writing an article or a poem, I don't really think it's all that great ...but once time has had a chance to breathe on it, when I read it again ...it's like, "Was I the one who wrote this???  This is actually good!"  It's amazing to me.  Not to gloat at all, I look back at old poems from when I was a kid and say, "Wow, I wrote that at that age?"  I have been writing in different capacities nearly all my life.  

To be honest, I think the real reason I've always considered my writing ability to be a mere talent and not my passion is because I thought I couldn't make any money from it.  I've always thought that your passion had to be something that you love doing and will make you a lot of money ...like playing in the NBA, NFL, or becoming a doctor.  Looking up to Michael Jordan and people who make millions doing what they love, I thought your passion had to be something that made you a lot of money.  As I got older, I learned that YOUR PASSION IS YOU DOING SOMETHING YOU WOULDN'T MIND DOING ...FOR FREE!  Also, I truly believe that we were gifted with a passion, not only for us to benefit from, but for others to reap the benefits as well.  How can you change the world or your community with what you're passionate about?  How can you inspire others to pursue their passion?

In the very near future, I'll post why I KNOW writing is my passion.  You shouldn't be unsure about what your passion is.  You don't want to waste time pursuing something you thought was your passion...but was only a talent ...or obligation.  Been there ...been doing that for way too long!  I had been frolicking around my passion and didn't even know it!

Until next time ...keep pursuing your passion!

Leave a comment ...it encourages me to continue to pursue my passion.

Thanks,

Christoph

In Pursuit of Passion: Exposure Is Key (Video)

One's passion can take residence in the unlikely of places.  So many people spend their life searching for their passion in the four corners of the box they confine themselves to.  In this video, Jeff Johnson hits the nail on the head when he points out that many people miss their passion because they can't seem to look anywhere else other than where they are most comfortable; in their box.  One must be open-minded and willing to try new things and go different places; possibly causing a spark that may lead to the discovery of their passion.  Check out the video!

Until next time...keep pursuing your passion!

Christoph Writes...

In Pursuit of Passion: The Beginning of My Journey!

My excitement for life has recently been enhanced by something that I have found and been searching for ever since my age was a single digit.  I found my passion!  I'm 29 now and I am just now coming to the realization that WRITING is my passion.  I have been writing ever since I was in grade school.  It's funny, my memory can be weird sometimes because I don't remember a lot of things that I should remember about my childhood, but the few things I do remember shock people.  My memory shocks people because it is so selective and specific.  I remember the first time I was introduced to writing...it was in first grade.  I do not remember my teacher's name but I do remember that she assigned us a very elaborate assignment.  We had to create and design a poetry book from scratch!  When I say from scratch, I mean we had to build the book from nothing.  Everything that a book possessed we had to include it.  And I remember so vividly how excited I was.  Why was I so excited? I don't know!  I had never constructed a book before...let alone written poetry.  

Long story short, my excitement replaced my fear of failure.  From what I remember, I believe I started writing first but I had never written a poem before.  So guess what I did...I went and checked out one of Langston Hughes' poetry books and went to work.

I utilized a lot of his style of writing and began to write about what children go through.  Looking back at it now, I'm not to sure what we went through ...din't have any bills to pay, lol.  Even still, I think I must've wrote about 10 poems.

Then I began building the book.  I think I cut out one piece of cardboard from a sturdy box and slightly bent it in the middle.  I then took a nice size piece of blue felt fabric and and glued it to the cardboard to cover every inch of it.  It looked good if I must say so myself, lol.  As I was constructing the book, I kept in mind that I had to think of a title.  And I don't know how I came up with it but I played around with the word, POETRY and thought of this title, "The Leaves From My Poet Tree."  To this day, I believe the title alone convinced my teacher to give me an A+.  Well, I take that back because my book was pretty nice.  I included the table of contents, dedication...to my mom of course, lol, preface, title page, that little random blank page in the front, everything!

Needless to say, I was somewhat of a nerd...but a cool nerd, lol.  No, seriously!  I had friends!  BOTTOM LINE! ...that was the first time I ever wrote and created creatively (:.  As this blog progresses, I'll share with you all of what I have experienced and pursued in discovery of my passion.  So I encourage you to encourage me (by commenting & conversing with me) to continue on with my journey...because the journey does not end with you finding your passion.  Actually, the journey just begins.  The pursuit of your passion is simply the preface to your journey.  And you never know, by you encouraging me to carry on with my journey, the laws of reciprocity just might sway in your favor and help you in the pursuit of your passion.

I encourage comments and shares...lets me know I can count on your support of my journey!

Until next time ...I'll holla!

Christoph Writes...