February 7, 2025 • 34 mins
View the Creative Legacy Website
Through a joyful recap of their experiences at the Creative Legacy Conference, we explore the themes of creativity and calling. With insights from engaging speakers, personal stories, and valuable reflections, we encourage listeners to step out of their comfort zones and embrace their creative potential while fostering community among fellow artists.
• Key highlights from various speakers and their inspiring messages
• Importance of planning and creating intentional spaces for creativity
• Liz's talk about transition and trading comfort for calling
• Emphasizing the need to overcome fear in creative expression
• Creating space for "Boredom" to fuel family creativity
• The significance of community and collaboration in creative endeavors
Join us in creating meaningful connections and igniting passion for creativity!
Your Listening to our 1 blessed mess, with ben and liz
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Liz (00:07):
All right, welcome to our One Blessed Mess.
This is Ben and Liz, and we arehere telling our story of
raising six kids and eight yearswhile having a dual
entrepreneurial home with twobusinesses, plus raising four
teenagers, seven chickens andtwo dogs just to keep it
interesting and I'm so excitedbecause today's conversation is
(00:27):
about what Ben- the CreativeLegacy Conference yes, and we
just attended we just attendedand so we figured we'd do a
little recap and just mentionall the cool things that we got
to do and learn.
It was awesome.
So what exactly was thisCreative Legacy Conference.
Ben (00:44):
Yeah, and learn.
It was awesome.
So what exactly was thisCreative Legacy Conference?
Yeah, so it's a conference forChristian creatives and it is
put together by someone who'skind of near and dear to us our
brother-in-law.
Liz (00:55):
Justin Rizzo?
Yes, that guy.
Ben (00:57):
That guy.
Liz (00:58):
That guy?
He's our Bill, isn't he?
Ben (01:00):
Yeah, our Bill.
What's a Bill?
Liz (01:02):
A bill is, I like to call either a brother in law or, you
can say, brother in love,although we have some family
members that don't like thatterm, don't we?
Ben (01:13):
Yeah, that's true, and they told me that to my face and
we're kind of calling them outright now actually.
Liz (01:18):
Yes, if you're watching this, you know who you are,
that's right.
I know.
I wonder if those who know ushave any guesses of who doesn't
like that.
We won't we won't say that, wewon't say that yeah.
So anyway, tell us, like whattotally was this conference
about?
Ben (01:33):
Yeah, so it was a conference again just about, you
know, creativity, and we hadsome really cool people that
attended and spoke there, and soone of them was Stu G.
Stu G who is from the bandDelirious.
Yes so all you 90s people outthere.
Liz (01:49):
You might know him.
If you grew up in the 90s, thenyou know the band Delirious.
They did some amazing songsthat we all used to rock out to
in youth group days.
Ben (02:00):
It's true, yeah, he's great , he's cool.
Yeah, what do you call it?
Papa Stu, papa Stu.
Group days, it's true.
Yeah, it's true, he's great,he's cool.
Yeah, what do you call it?
Pop a stew.
Pop a stew.
Yep.
Liz (02:08):
um, there was also josh scott, who he is the head of jhs
pedals yep he is, and actuallyhe and stoogey did a guitar
clinic for a couple hours and Ithink their room was packed with
like all these musicians whoare just in in heaven.
I it looks like they were inheaven.
I saw some of the pictures andstuff.
(02:28):
It sounded like it went reallyreally good.
I don't play the guitar so Ididn't know, but every it
appears that people were geekingout it sounds like it.
Ben (02:35):
Yeah, it sounds like they're having a good time.
There was also uh sean blancwho does like the time
management stuff, courses andthings, things like that.
Liz (02:42):
Oh, he's amazing, so he got to speak there.
That was really cool.
Yes, yeah.
Ben (02:47):
And there was another artist there, Andy Squire.
Oh, yeah.
And there was also an author,Rachel Hauk.
Rachel Hauk.
Liz (02:58):
Rachel Hauk.
She is phenomenal.
She's a novelist.
She's written quite a few books.
One that's just coming to mindis called the wedding dress, but
she also watched, uh wrote anovel which became a hallmark
movie.
So yeah, she, she's quite,quite the the the um author.
She's amazing in person too.
(03:18):
We just, we just enjoyed umgetting to know her, and there
were a lot of others too we hadcaleb.
Ben (03:23):
There was jordan.
I know fady spoke it was hadCaleb, there was Jordan.
I know Fadi spoke.
It was amazing, it was reallyamazing.
One in particular that spoke,who was someone I know actually.
Liz (03:33):
Well, who is that?
Ben, that was you.
Ben (03:35):
Liz, and you did a great job.
Oh well, thank you.
Liz (03:39):
I love how you just set me up there.
There was someone else.
Well, yeah, hopefully you knowme.
Ben (03:45):
Yeah, yeah I do, I do.
Liz (03:46):
We have quite the life together.
Ben (03:48):
But what did you talk about ?
Liz (03:49):
Well, I spoke on a great topic called trading your
comfort for calling.
Yeah, we can get into that in aminute, but let's talk about
Justin for a second, because heis the one that was behind this
and Justin's kind of like arenaissance man.
I don't know how else toexplain him and who he is, other
(04:11):
than saying that, becausethere's like a laundry list of
things that he can do.
Ben (04:12):
It's true, he is probably one of the most hardest working
people I know.
Liz (04:17):
Yeah, I agree.
Ben (04:18):
And just talented too.
He has his hands in a lot ofdifferent things.
He's very gifted a lot ofdifferent ways, musically,
obviously.
If you don't know Justin,definitely worth a Google search
and then we'll put some linksto the conference and to him.
And he's got a podcast as well,but he writes worship songs and
he has written several musicals, films and done films as well
(04:41):
to those musicals, and so he'sjust a really cool guy.
He's very creative and he'svery connected and he just loves
kind of just the creativeprocess.
Liz (04:49):
Yeah, and he also has a worship soaking channel.
So, if you look him up, justinRizzo Music, he has a soaking
channel.
He has other worship leadersthat hop on there and he's my
brother-in-law.
So it's like of course you'regoing to say these things.
But to be honest, you guys, Iput that on, especially in the
mornings when things are alittle chaotic in my house.
I put it on and it's just likethis piece that just comes in
(05:11):
our house and his stuff is likean hour and a half.
It's not like just like 30, youknow, 30 minutes is like for a
while.
My sister sings on there aswell, naomi.
She's phenomenal.
But you guys, when we think ofJustin, it's like is there
anything this man cannot do?
Ben (05:28):
Actually, I can think of one thing.
Liz (05:29):
What is that?
Ben (05:31):
Well, it kind of coincides with the story we have about him
.
Liz (05:34):
What is it?
Ben (05:36):
Well, I think it's actually return library books.
Liz (05:45):
Oh, okay, yes, we need to tell this story.
Ben (05:47):
Yeah, yeah, let's tell, let's tell the story, because we
kind of are going to throw themunder the bus a little bit, a
little bit, yeah, but he's goingto watch this.
Yeah, we do love you.
Liz (05:51):
He's going to watch this.
He's probably he's like greatguys.
Thanks.
Ben (05:55):
Okay, let's, let's talk about this.
Yeah, so we got the story withJustin and he's at our house and
we're cleaning.
Liz (06:01):
We're doing a deep clean.
The family's visiting us.
Yeah, my sister, you know.
Justin, and the kids, justin.
Ben (06:06):
Yeah, and of course, Justin , he is a clean freak.
He likes to clean.
Liz (06:11):
He loves to clean, he helps us, he hops right in there.
He really does, yeah.
Ben (06:15):
Takes charge.
Sometimes it's great.
I mean, sometimes it's justlike kind.
I was a little too hands offthis one time, though.
Liz (06:22):
Uh-huh.
Ben (06:23):
And Liz sent me and Justin to a thrift place to kind of get
rid of some of the stuff thatwe no longer needed.
Liz (06:29):
We're donating.
Yeah, we're donating it.
Yeah we do that.
Ben (06:34):
While we were doing that, we actually donated something
that we weren't supposed towhich was a big old bin of past
due library books.
Liz (06:45):
They weren't past due.
I'm sorry they were past due,but they were library books.
They were coming up to beingdue.
Ben (06:50):
Well, they ended up being past due.
Yeah, Well they ended upbecause Because we gave them to
the thrift shop.
Liz (06:55):
Yes.
Ben (06:56):
And I mean it was a big crate of books.
Liz (06:58):
Yeah, it was because, let's be clear, you guys, we
homeschool we.
Let's be clear, you guys, wehomeschool.
We have a lot of kids.
So when I go to the librarywith my crew, our six pack, you
know, when we get there it'shalf a dozen.
You know it's kids.
Sometimes they're getting sixto 10 books a piece and they
will read all of them and it'spart of their homeschool
(07:20):
curriculum.
So when you know that's, ifeach of them gets six, that's 36
books.
Ben (07:27):
Okay.
So of course I have a lot ofbooks, a lot of books.
Liz (07:28):
Well, now, that thrift store had a lot of books.
Yeah, they dropped them offbecause we mistakenly just
dropped them right off.
Ben (07:33):
And then what happened?
Liz (07:34):
Well it was like a couple of days past and I'm thinking
where, where's the bin?
I got to go take them inbecause the do they're due, like
it's due in the next day or two, and all of a sudden it was
realized yeah, all of a sudden,were they over by the door?
Ben (07:48):
was that been in the back of the car?
Liz (07:50):
with the other stuff?
Yes, we might have donated thatto a good cause and so at our
expense, at our expense, and sothat became a very frantic
moment.
I mean, I felt like, oh, like,oh my gosh, so I started calling
.
Ben (08:06):
And I should have checked.
I think I actually drove thecar and then Justin got
everything out of the back andhappened to grab that mistakenly
.
Anyways, how much do you thinkit ended up costing?
Liz (08:16):
Well, I started making phone calls to see if we could
get them back and apparently,like the way that the thrifting
system happens and where we are,it like goes to a distribution
area and then they make thedecision, and so they couldn't
find them.
They couldn't find any of them.
And they said, well, sometimeswhen we find them we'll just go
and drop them off, so give it acouple of weeks.
So I called the library in themidst of it to say, hey, I need
(08:40):
to let you know what's going on.
Here's all of our books which,by the way, we had put them on
one child's card, so that onechild is still not use their
card, even though they got theircard back and everything's fine
.
But it was okay.
So the librarian that I spokewith, they sent me to the higher
ups, and that person sent me tothe higher ups and so, anyway,
(09:02):
I'm talking to the person who isgoing to hopefully help me.
They had like a board meetingor something and they went on my
behalf and the total, you guys,was over $600.
Over $600.
Ben (09:16):
A lot of books.
Liz (09:16):
Oh yeah, I think every bit of blood in my face just drained
as they were saying this to meand I was like all I could think
of is having $600 bills andjust lighting them on fire, Like
there they go.
There's nothing I can do aboutit, you know.
And so she said, let me seewhat I can do.
And she literally got in theresomehow and called back after it
(09:38):
had been so many weeks.
Nothing was ever returned, Notone library book was ever
returned, and so she just shesaid, hey, they forgave that and
you don't need to worry aboutit.
And I said well, what aboutthis one kid's library card?
She's like, we're going to takecare of it.
That was a story.
Ben (09:57):
That was a story, yeah.
Liz (09:59):
That was a Justin.
Ben (10:00):
Thanks, Justin.
That was a Justin at the centerstory.
Liz (10:02):
Yeah, we still love you.
But back to the legacyconference, like I mean, what
were our like takeaways?
What was the overall.
Ben (10:09):
So what did we learn?
Yeah, I think the number onething that I took away was that
and this is kind of an obviousthing, but it was helpful to
hear it again is that God is acreator.
You know, a lot of times, youknow, we hear the salvation
story and that's great and a lotof focus is put on that.
But even going back further,the creation story, it's kind of
(10:30):
where it all started and itreally set the tone for who God
is and his personality, and thenalso the fact that we were made
in his image, like we'recreators too, and he gave us
dominion, and I believe he wantsus to create and he wants us to
um even create with him, and sothat piece was really cool,
like just realizing that again,um, seeing ourselves as kind of
(10:54):
having this creative bent,because our God has creativity
and our God is a creator, and so, yeah, this that was cool.
Liz (11:02):
Just to get refreshed in that thinking and you are a
creative.
Ben (11:06):
Well, so are you.
Liz (11:06):
Yes, I am, but you are creative too.
I mean, I felt like you wereinspired.
There was different momentsthroughout the weekend that I
looked over and I was like, okay, I can see like a little fire
being rekindled.
A little spark A little yeahbeing rekindled in you Because I
mean, let's face it, you're adad, you have a job, you know
we're doing this podcast, youknow you have me in your life.
Ben (11:27):
Oh man yes.
Liz (11:29):
I know.
Ben (11:29):
Suck all the creative juices out.
I'm the best part.
What are you talking about?
Liz (11:33):
Yeah.
Ben (11:34):
And we have creative kids too.
Liz (11:35):
Yeah, we have a lot of creative kids.
Yeah, incredible creative kids.
Ben (11:55):
Yeah, I they do.
Liz (12:02):
Well, I think one of the things that I came back with was
that creatives need a plan,because the idea Well, I mean
think about it.
A lot of times we hear createor creatives.
They're just like oh, I'm freewhenever I feel, you know, blow
me wherever the wind takes me,Like you know, that kind of
thing.
But one thing that we came awaywith is, if you're going to
(12:23):
create, you have to create spaceto create.
You need the space,intentionality, intentionality,
but also you need to plan tocreate.
And again, we're going to bringup Justin, because he's in our
lives and we've watched him, butwhen?
Ben (12:36):
he, he's a planner.
Liz (12:37):
Is he ever?
Is he ever?
Actually he's really fun to bewith when we're going on family
vacations and stuff, because theguy like plans and I love it
because I love planning too.
So it's fun to have somebodythat's like kind of doing it
with you.
But I'm just going to use himas an example and I hope he's
okay with this.
(12:57):
But when he was writing hisfirst musical 14 years ago, I
remember that he sat down andlooked at his schedule and in
his schedule he found four orfive blocks where he had four or
five hours to just sit down hispiano and create writing songs.
I mean, he wrote how many songsin that first musical?
(13:19):
Is it 24 songs?
Ben (13:20):
It was a lot, you guys, it's a lot.
Liz (13:22):
Plus the dialogue, plus the screenplay, like I mean so many
things that went into that.
And so, as painters, as writers, as dancers, musicians, you
need to, yes, have your life,looking at when are you working,
when are you in school, familytime, but then creating that
(13:42):
space and planning to make sureit takes place.
I felt convicted in that,really, because I've got some
things in my heart that I wantto do and I thought all right.
I want to make sure that I'mallowing the space for
creativity to flow.
Ben (13:55):
So do you have a plan?
Liz (13:56):
I actually do Nice, I just got to implement it.
I like it.
I got to implement it.
Ben (14:00):
Well, one thing additional that I learned was we talked
about fear in the process ofcreativity and how that can be a
thief yes right.
So just the fear of like whatothers think, the fear of
failure, the fear of beingscrutinized or criticized, like
(14:21):
that is real, that's a real.
Liz (14:24):
It is.
Ben (14:24):
But that oftentimes kind of sinks the ship before it can
even go out to sea.
Liz (14:30):
Yeah.
Ben (14:30):
Like it just stops the effort from even happening, and
so we need to think in terms ofbeing proactive, like having a
plan.
Yeah, but also just likethrowing that fear away and just
going for it.
Liz (14:42):
I think being brave and taking risks, and doing the
effort to be creative.
Ben (14:48):
apart from the fear, I think that was one thing that I
came away with as well.
Liz (14:52):
Yeah, and also just thinking about sometimes the
fear that people have is thatthey're just going to be
copycats.
Ben (14:58):
Yeah.
Liz (15:01):
And so part of the risk is not being a copycat and
exploring that.
Ben (15:06):
Right, right, that's good.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was goodand I think just being able to,
you know, just get out thereright, just do something.
That was one thing that someonekept saying just do something.
It's almost like a Nikecommercial, you know.
Just give some effort, put alittle time here and there, just
(15:29):
whatever it is, do something,just get going and see what
sparks from that.
Liz (15:34):
Yeah, yeah, that's good.
Yeah, and creativity looksdifferent.
Ben (15:37):
It does.
Liz (15:38):
It doesn't have to be just one medium.
Ben (15:41):
It can be multifaceted, multitalented.
Yeah yeah, multi-faceted,multi-talented, yeah yeah, for
sure.
Well, do you?
Liz (15:50):
want to jump into your talk .
What you talked about.
Sure, I totally can do that,okay, so I actually had the
topic of trading your comfortfor calling, and that was a
really near and dear topic to me.
In fact took a couple of weeksto get that going, and Ben was
there plowing through all of theups and downs of getting it
going, just because I'm a momand homeschooling and busy and
(16:13):
all those kind of things.
But I was so honored to beasked to speak, especially from
the main stage, and so it wasabout navigating significant
life transitions andparticularly when God calls
someone to leave their comfortzone for a greater purpose, and
so I shared about how I had laiddown my business after 14 years
(16:34):
and what that looked like beingin the midst of transition,
because transition is prettyintense if you are doing
something like that and I wasliterally leaving one ecosystem
to, I didn't know, the greatunknown.
Right, right, yeah, so you wereliterally trading comfort for
where you felt like God wascalling you yeah, yeah, and
(16:57):
didn't know where God wascalling me Like.
Let's be clear.
Ben (17:00):
Yeah, still, maybe don't know all of it.
No, not at all.
Liz (17:03):
Not at all.
I mean other than, like themain things, being a wife, you
know, of course, being a mother,a daughter of the king, you
know daughter A podcaster.
A podcaster.
I love that one, that one Inever thought would be mine, but
you know, but transitions canbe scary, you know, and I kind
of went through nine differentways to know that you're going
(17:24):
through transition.
Ben (17:25):
Why don't you tell us a?
Liz (17:26):
few.
Well, and how to recognize it?
I'll tell you a few, since youasked Ben Sure, of course, Pull
those right up.
Sometimes you have morecapacity than you're currently
using.
So you know it could be thatyou may be having impact.
You may be seeing, you know,great influence, those kind of
things, but it's like you're notreally using all of your gifts,
(17:49):
talents, you know, yeah, thatyou've been given a little
stifle.
Yeah, and sometimes also to intransition, just your assignment
is finished, right, you knowit's a clear cut, you know
you've you've done a good joband the Lord's like, yay, I'm
proud of you.
But now you know there's it'sactually finished and that can
be maybe the job's ended.
Or you just know in your heartlike you're just not moving
forward and sometimes also, too,you know your current
(18:12):
environment could becomelimiting.
I use the example of you know,if you are putting a coat on
that used to fit perfectly andthen all of a sudden now it
feels too tight.
The coat hasn't changed, butyou have, there's something in
you that has actually changed.
Um, and one of the other thingsI I heard feedback from some of
(18:32):
the girls that were actuallyother moms that I guess were
going through transition.
They shared that.
Um, I said that your currentposition was never meant to be
permanent.
So the idea is like you're onyour way, you know, heading to a
direction, you get off at a pitstop to get gas, but then you
end up making that pit stop yourpermanent spot and all along
you had something else to headtowards, and so a temporary stop
(18:56):
over has become a permanenthabitation.
Ben (18:59):
There's like a guy in the Bible that you mentioned, right.
Liz (19:01):
Yeah, I spoke about.
It was me.
Read the scriptures right here.
It says one day Terah took hisson Abram and moved away from Ur
of the Chaldeans.
He was headed for the land ofCanaan, but he stopped at Haran
and settled there.
Terah lived for 205 years anddied still in Haran.
So that was actually in Genesis11.
(19:22):
And what it's talking about issometimes we make a pit stop and
you know, and we make it intothat permanent address like I
was just talking about, and sohow many of us are living in
Haran when God is calling us toCanaan?
Ben (19:34):
That's good.
Liz (19:35):
Yeah, yeah, and so you know there were some other ones that
were in there, but you know itwas really cool too, because as
I was thinking about speaking atthis conference, there was a
couple of other things that werekind of sticking out to me,
especially as a creative.
And you know, I see people andI've done this to myself.
I'm actually also a dancer, andso when you're creating
(19:56):
something, you know you areconcerned with what people are
going to give you know feedbackto you, but then also to you.
Ben (20:00):
Sometimes you have this internal dialogue that's going
on and it's critical Right.
Liz (20:21):
And it can even be cynical.
Ben (20:22):
Yeah cynical.
Liz (20:29):
And when the Lord was creating the heavens and the
earth, when he was creatingcreation in the beginning, in
the book of Genesis and rightnow I'm reading through the
Bible because we just started anew year and when he created,
after he created, what did hesay?
Every single time?
What did he say?
It was good, it is good.
So, as creatives whatever thatmedium may be even us doing this
podcast, this is a creativething that we're doing because
(20:49):
we're speaking and writing andall this stuff.
But as a creative, no matterwhat it is, when you do it, look
at it and say it is good.
And if someone comes up to youand they say, oh, great job,
this really blessed me, yoursong that you wrote, or your
piece that you painted, orwhatever it may be you created,
(21:10):
don't dismiss them and go.
Oh, they're just saying thatbecause they have to say that or
they don't really mean it.
They see, all the things that Idid wrong.
Literally say it is good,because when you say it is good
one, you are mirroring the onethat we've been created after
right the Lord.
But then also, too, it'shappening as we're speaking.
(21:30):
What's happening in our mindsand our hearts and in our
basically our spirits.
It is agreeing with what isright, and so it changes your
thought process.
So that was something that Ishared.
And then do you have a thoughtabout that?
Ben (21:43):
You look, like you have a thought about that.
No, it's good.
It's good, yeah, I think aboutthat.
You look like you thought aboutthat.
It's good.
Yeah, I think like just hearingyour own self say it.
I think that kind of re, thatreinforcement learning like say
it, believe it you know, just Ilike that act of like getting it
out, yeah, yeah.
Liz (21:59):
Well, because when you say it, then you believe it right,
like that's part of it.
Ben (22:02):
It's part of it.
Well, it could be for good orfor bad, true, yeah, so yeah,
that's true we.
Liz (22:07):
We can get into that another day.
I'm sure Ben has some booksthat he's read that he can jump
into that.
Are you thinking of any?
Ben (22:13):
books?
No, no, not at the moment.
No, it's a miracle.
Liz (22:15):
This is a true miracle on this episode.
Oh boy, I know.
But something else that I didhave the chance to speak also
into was the story of thetalents you know, the master and
there was the one, two and fivetalents and you know you can be
a one talent person, a twotalent person or a five talent
(22:36):
person and when you are giventhe talent, whatever that may be
okay, you choose if you'regoing to really use it double it
, become amazing at it, or ifyou're going to bury it,
squander it, right yeah,squander it and we don't want to
be a one talent person.
Ben (22:53):
Right.
Liz (22:53):
Because in that parable, when Jesus is telling that
parable, the person who had theone talent says I buried it
because I knew you were harsh.
Ben (23:01):
Not that the one talent's bad, but just what they did with
that one talent, right did withthat one talent.
Right and we want.
Liz (23:08):
we've all been given gifts.
We've all been given talentsEvery single one of us, I no
matter what your physical stateis, even your mental state.
There there is stuff that theLord has given you that you can
use and bless the world.
Ben (23:21):
Like it's really there.
Liz (23:22):
That's scriptural and so you want it.
You want to multiply that.
And then the other thing is isthat I was thinking about the
story when the king came toElisha and was asking Elisha
about going to war, and I mean,I've heard all kinds of sermons
on this and I'm sure you havetoo, but you know, when Elisha
instructs the king to take thearrows and strike the ground,
(23:44):
Right.
And then Elisha's irritatedwith him.
Like why didn't you?
Strike it more.
Ben (23:48):
Because he did it three times.
He only did it three times.
Liz (23:50):
Yeah, just a few times, and it's like there's a fear factor
that's there, is my God goingto pull through, or there's,
like you know, a pride orsomething like that Something,
something limited, like I'mholding back.
Yeah, not holding back, notholding back just like jumping
in there and doing it and youknow there's something about
(24:13):
that.
There's something that'sbeautiful and our work is our
worship.
Our creating is our worship.
Like it's beautiful and we'remeant to, as creatives, display
that.
Like there's.
There's something that opens inthe hearts of people when they
see it, they hear it, they feelit.
I'm thinking about whathappened at the creative
conference, when there was apainter who got on stage Philip
(24:35):
Ortiz Right, so that happened atthe very end, right.
Ben (24:38):
Yeah, it was the last thing , one of the last things, yeah,
so there was this painter whogot up there on stage and just
started painting and had amicrophone on and he was being
videoed at the same time and hedidn't.
I guess he had kind of like aninkling of what he was going to
paint, but he just was likegoing for it and he, in the
moment he was like kind ofpraying and dialoguing with the
(24:59):
Lord and just trying to figureout what he's going to do, while
in front of everybody and therewas someone playing the piano
and worshiping, and so it wasjust kind of this weird, um and
good, like good, but strange inthe sense like we we don't
really see that whole uh veryoften, but it was cool and he
really just kind of like wentfor it and it was almost like,
(25:21):
uh, like a Bob Ross moment wherehe's like oh I made a little
mistake here.
I'm going to make that a happytree.
Liz (25:28):
Kind of like that, but it was uncomfortable for him.
Ben (25:30):
It was he's never done this before.
Liz (25:31):
Yeah, and it was.
Ben (25:33):
And it was a risk Like he took a risk.
Yeah, he took a risk and hekind of illustrated that whole
like fear is a thief thing andhe just went for it.
Liz (25:46):
Just like struck the room.
Ben (25:47):
You're right.
You're right Because he wassharing, like his own journey in
the past year and coming forsome painful things in his life
and even near death experienceswith some of his loved ones.
Liz (25:58):
Yeah.
Ben (25:59):
And so he was talking that through, as he was painting, as
he felt the Lord like lead him,and he was painting about some
of those grief moments and man,it was really, and he was
painting about some of thosegrief moments and, man, it was
really powerful.
Liz (26:12):
It was super powerful, in fact.
At one point I looked over atyou and you were tearing up.
Ben (26:14):
I was tearing up, you were tearing up, and it just kind of
hit me very differently, becauseI was seeing art expressed, but
then I was also hearing theartist behind each brushstroke
saying kind of what thatrepresented, and the place that
he was coming from.
And man it was, and then, ofcourse, you had someone playing
the keys very beautifully.
(26:34):
So, yeah, it was very emotive.
Liz (26:35):
An amazing worship leader, Matt Gilman.
Phenomenal, I mean literallyphenomenal.
Ben (26:40):
We forgot about him.
Yeah, we forgot Matt.
We forgot to mention that hewas part of the creative
conference.
Yeah, he was there in Zachton'sMoor.
He led worship as well.
Liz (26:45):
Yeah, he was there in Zachton's more, he led worship
as well.
We also saw another display ofrisk happening in front of us we
had Andy Squire.
He's also a singer-songwriter.
This guy is like a lament.
Ben (26:59):
I don't know how to describe him.
How would you describe Andy?
Squire to someone who's neverheard of him.
It is such a strange guy,amazing.
And I mean that with a lot ofsincerity.
Strange in the sense that wejust don't have a grid for
someone like Andy Squires.
He literally is like a modernday psalmist, and what I mean by
that is he would present to theLord his lament, and even
(27:26):
stretching some of theboundaries of what we would
consider worship.
And it was kind of beautiful.
It was very beautiful.
Liz (27:33):
And also risky and yeah, it was risky and sometimes
uncomfortable.
Ben (27:36):
I mean I'm not going to lie Like there were some things you
know that he would talk aboutor say, and I'm like can you put
that in a worship song?
Like, can we talk?
Liz (27:43):
about this subject in a worship song but it was moving
because there was a realness anda raw, like you, yeah, it was
beautiful, but I was thinking so, um, some of the, there was a
band that got put together,phenomenal worship, worship band
.
I mean they were playing alltheir instruments I mean
phenomenal and they're all fromall different backgrounds.
So they all came together andhe doesn't play this.
(28:05):
This guy, andy, doesn'tnormally play with a band.
And so he got up there with theband, yeah, and they went for it
and it was very risky, I mean.
So you could see.
You could see it happeningbefore your eyes, but it was
amazing and I'm not a musician,but some of the people with us
are musicians and they were likedid you hear that?
(28:29):
Oh my gosh.
Yes, as a matter of fact, wedid, even though I just thought
it was amazing.
Ben (28:35):
Right, yeah, it was really cool.
It was really cool to see thatput together and what a cool guy
I mean.
Definitely go check his workout.
His stuff's cool, got a lot tolink to.
Yeah, we do.
We're going to have to link toa lot.
A link tree is going to be verylong A link tree Just go
through, Just follow, followfollow, follow Phenomenal.
Liz (28:54):
Phenomenal conference.
We were so blessed to be thereand we're looking forward to the
next one.
Yeah, we're excited, we'reexcited.
Ben (29:02):
Yeah, I mean, I think just kind of like in summary, like
just some takeaways, right, thebiggest thing for me, I believe,
from this conference was justlike making sure that I'm doing
something to create.
And one of the things I kepthearing from the different
speakers was like talking abouthow we're such a consumer
(29:22):
culture and even you know us asChristians we like to consume
just a lot of stuff, but veryfew of us are actually creating.
And there was just a charge putforth from the stage.
It was like hey guys, we needto be creators because God is a
creator, and so not justrelegating the creating to the
people who are the most creativeright the five talent people
(29:45):
but just expressing it mighteven be a half talent that we
have, but just making sure thatwe own that and just start
creating ourselves.
Not just thinking about beingconsumers, but creating for
other people and for the Lordand for ourselves, just like
getting out there and doingsomething.
Liz (30:03):
And doing it in community.
Ben (30:04):
Oh, that was a good one too .
Yeah, a lot of communityexpressed, even as people were
giving talks and things likethat Just how to be in community
with one another and just tolink up.
That was really cool too.
Liz (30:17):
We have our own community in our house.
Ben (30:19):
We do.
Liz (30:21):
Our house.
Ben (30:22):
There's all kinds of people .
It's an eight-person community.
Liz (30:25):
There's a lot of community.
Ben (30:26):
In fact, some of our community members, I think,
would like to escape thecommunity at times.
Liz (30:30):
Sometimes that's happening.
I was going to say, now that wehave teenagers, you know that
age is where they love all theirfriends.
So, today I just had aconversation with one of our
teenagers and the conversationwent something like this hey,
what do you think about if, forthe summer, my one friend could
come and live with us all summer?
I said, what wait, what?
Wow, yeah, I haven't even had achance to talk to you about
(30:52):
that.
That's news to me and so, yeah,that's news to you.
And I was like well, uh, whatokay?
Ben (30:57):
I mean honestly, we probably wouldn't even notice.
Liz (31:00):
We've got so many people in the house already well, I mean,
and yesterday we had two otherteenagers that, like hang hung
at our house all day long.
They showed up at 930 and Ithink they left at 9 pm.
They literally were here allday.
My point is is that we areliving in community and we, you
know, practically you may or maynot be able to do this,
depending on your kids and I'mgoing to switch to parenting
(31:24):
creatives, to parentingcreatives, but we've created
space for our kids.
So we have an actual music roomthat we have set up.
There's a bass, there's anelectric, there's a guitar,
there's a piano, we have thedrums, which are so quiet.
Ben (31:36):
That's not true.
Liz (31:38):
No, the drums are not quiet , but we're allowing the kids to
have that space to be able tocreate.
Their friends come over, theycreate.
We have a whole craft areabecause we've got some serious
crafters and it's not just thegirls, you guys.
The guys like to get in theretoo and they'll create.
We sometimes do creative thingsas a family, like painting
rocks together.
Ben (31:55):
This is true, and sometimes even being creative means we're
choosing not to do other thingsright.
So it's like we're stoppingmaybe some of the normal
activities or some of the thingsthat we just kind of default to
and we're just giving space forthis kind of sounds weird, but
when you give space for a littleboredom sometimes you never
(32:16):
know what comes out of thatboredom mentality you get
creative.
It's kind of almost bynecessity.
Liz (32:24):
Well, they get really creative because they have
created shops.
Oh yeah, I mean the shops.
We really should dive into thisin another episode about
raising entrepreneurs.
But I mean they like straightup made shops and then got all
the neighbors and other familiesinvolved and my whole living
room became this shop.
Ben (32:44):
Marketplace.
Liz (32:45):
Marketplace and if you've ever followed me on social media
, you've seen some of thesethings that kids have come up
with.
Um, I mean, the boredom isactually a good thing because it
causes them to get into thatspace of creating.
And we do limit screens, we dolimit, you know, gaming and all
that kind of stuff, but thatwe'll have to dive into
definitely another podcast, ifyou're interested in that, just
(33:06):
let us know in the comments.
Like, hey, we'll have to diveinto, definitely on another
podcast.
If you're interested in that,just let us know in the comments
.
Like, hey, we would love tohear about these kinds of things
because that helps us to kindof, you know, get in there and
talk about it.
But, yeah, boredom is good.
We throw I don't want to say wethrow the kids outside, but I'm
like it's a beautiful day, getoutside, you know, and they go
out there and and from theoldest to the youngest I mean
even our older emerging adultsyeah, they get out there.
Ben (33:30):
They do.
Liz (33:31):
So just creating.
My point is just creating thatspace.
All the kids have journals.
We'll put on music and havethem draw.
Not everybody draws the same.
We have some that are betterthan others, but the point is
just kind of getting that pumpedand going yeah.
Ben (33:47):
That creative well, that creative well, that creative
well.
Yep, cool man.
I think we've hit most of theconference stuff.
I think that's really what wekind of wanted to get through, I
know.
We have enjoyed today have youenjoyed today, definitely,
definitely, feel inspired.
Liz (34:05):
Well, thanks for being a part of our One Blessed Mess
today.
Don't forget to subscribe likeshare heart, all the things for
anybody that you think thatwould enjoy this podcast.
We certainly are very gratefuland thankful that you're
listening or watching today, andwe are just loving this.
So, again, if you have anyquestions or anything like that,
let us know, reach out to us.
But until next time, we wantyou to embrace your beautiful
(34:27):
mess, Because if our mess can beblessed, then we know, so can
yours.
That's right.
Have a great day.
All right, welcome to our One Blessed Mess.
This is Ben and Liz, and we arehere telling our story of
raising six kids and eight yearswhile having a dual
entrepreneurial home with twobusinesses, plus raising four
teenagers, seven chickens andtwo dogs just to keep it
interesting and I'm so excitedbecause today's conversation is
(00:27):
about what Ben- the CreativeLegacy Conference yes, and we
just attended we just attendedand so we figured we'd do a
little recap and just mentionall the cool things that we got
to do and learn.
It was awesome.
So what exactly was thisCreative Legacy Conference.
Ben (00:44):
Yeah, and learn.
It was awesome.
So what exactly was thisCreative Legacy Conference?
Yeah, so it's a conference forChristian creatives and it is
put together by someone who'skind of near and dear to us our
brother-in-law.
Liz (00:55):
Justin Rizzo?
Yes, that guy.
Ben (00:57):
That guy.
Liz (00:58):
That guy?
He's our Bill, isn't he?
Ben (01:00):
Yeah, our Bill.
What's a Bill?
Liz (01:02):
A bill is, I like to call either a brother in law or, you
can say, brother in love,although we have some family
members that don't like thatterm, don't we?
Ben (01:13):
Yeah, that's true, and they told me that to my face and
we're kind of calling them outright now actually.
Liz (01:18):
Yes, if you're watching this, you know who you are,
that's right.
I know.
I wonder if those who know ushave any guesses of who doesn't
like that.
We won't we won't say that, wewon't say that yeah.
So anyway, tell us, like whattotally was this conference
about?
Ben (01:33):
Yeah, so it was a conference again just about, you
know, creativity, and we hadsome really cool people that
attended and spoke there, and soone of them was Stu G.
Stu G who is from the bandDelirious.
Yes so all you 90s people outthere.
Liz (01:49):
You might know him.
If you grew up in the 90s, thenyou know the band Delirious.
They did some amazing songsthat we all used to rock out to
in youth group days.
Ben (02:00):
It's true, yeah, he's great , he's cool.
Yeah, what do you call it?
Papa Stu, papa Stu.
Group days, it's true.
Yeah, it's true, he's great,he's cool.
Yeah, what do you call it?
Pop a stew.
Pop a stew.
Yep.
Liz (02:08):
um, there was also josh scott, who he is the head of jhs
pedals yep he is, and actuallyhe and stoogey did a guitar
clinic for a couple hours and Ithink their room was packed with
like all these musicians whoare just in in heaven.
I it looks like they were inheaven.
I saw some of the pictures andstuff.
(02:28):
It sounded like it went reallyreally good.
I don't play the guitar so Ididn't know, but every it
appears that people were geekingout it sounds like it.
Ben (02:35):
Yeah, it sounds like they're having a good time.
There was also uh sean blancwho does like the time
management stuff, courses andthings, things like that.
Liz (02:42):
Oh, he's amazing, so he got to speak there.
That was really cool.
Yes, yeah.
Ben (02:47):
And there was another artist there, Andy Squire.
Oh, yeah.
And there was also an author,Rachel Hauk.
Rachel Hauk.
Liz (02:58):
Rachel Hauk.
She is phenomenal.
She's a novelist.
She's written quite a few books.
One that's just coming to mindis called the wedding dress, but
she also watched, uh wrote anovel which became a hallmark
movie.
So yeah, she, she's quite,quite the the the um author.
She's amazing in person too.
(03:18):
We just, we just enjoyed umgetting to know her, and there
were a lot of others too we hadcaleb.
Ben (03:23):
There was jordan.
I know fady spoke it was hadCaleb, there was Jordan.
I know Fadi spoke.
It was amazing, it was reallyamazing.
One in particular that spoke,who was someone I know actually.
Liz (03:33):
Well, who is that?
Ben, that was you.
Ben (03:35):
Liz, and you did a great job.
Oh well, thank you.
Liz (03:39):
I love how you just set me up there.
There was someone else.
Well, yeah, hopefully you knowme.
Ben (03:45):
Yeah, yeah I do, I do.
Liz (03:46):
We have quite the life together.
Ben (03:48):
But what did you talk about ?
Liz (03:49):
Well, I spoke on a great topic called trading your
comfort for calling.
Yeah, we can get into that in aminute, but let's talk about
Justin for a second, because heis the one that was behind this
and Justin's kind of like arenaissance man.
I don't know how else toexplain him and who he is, other
(04:11):
than saying that, becausethere's like a laundry list of
things that he can do.
Ben (04:12):
It's true, he is probably one of the most hardest working
people I know.
Liz (04:17):
Yeah, I agree.
Ben (04:18):
And just talented too.
He has his hands in a lot ofdifferent things.
He's very gifted a lot ofdifferent ways, musically,
obviously.
If you don't know Justin,definitely worth a Google search
and then we'll put some linksto the conference and to him.
And he's got a podcast as well,but he writes worship songs and
he has written several musicals, films and done films as well
(04:41):
to those musicals, and so he'sjust a really cool guy.
He's very creative and he'svery connected and he just loves
kind of just the creativeprocess.
Liz (04:49):
Yeah, and he also has a worship soaking channel.
So, if you look him up, justinRizzo Music, he has a soaking
channel.
He has other worship leadersthat hop on there and he's my
brother-in-law.
So it's like of course you'regoing to say these things.
But to be honest, you guys, Iput that on, especially in the
mornings when things are alittle chaotic in my house.
I put it on and it's just likethis piece that just comes in
(05:11):
our house and his stuff is likean hour and a half.
It's not like just like 30, youknow, 30 minutes is like for a
while.
My sister sings on there aswell, naomi.
She's phenomenal.
But you guys, when we think ofJustin, it's like is there
anything this man cannot do?
Ben (05:28):
Actually, I can think of one thing.
Liz (05:29):
What is that?
Ben (05:31):
Well, it kind of coincides with the story we have about him
.
Liz (05:34):
What is it?
Ben (05:36):
Well, I think it's actually return library books.
Liz (05:45):
Oh, okay, yes, we need to tell this story.
Ben (05:47):
Yeah, yeah, let's tell, let's tell the story, because we
kind of are going to throw themunder the bus a little bit, a
little bit, yeah, but he's goingto watch this.
Yeah, we do love you.
Liz (05:51):
He's going to watch this.
He's probably he's like greatguys.
Thanks.
Ben (05:55):
Okay, let's, let's talk about this.
Yeah, so we got the story withJustin and he's at our house and
we're cleaning.
Liz (06:01):
We're doing a deep clean.
The family's visiting us.
Yeah, my sister, you know.
Justin, and the kids, justin.
Ben (06:06):
Yeah, and of course, Justin , he is a clean freak.
He likes to clean.
Liz (06:11):
He loves to clean, he helps us, he hops right in there.
He really does, yeah.
Ben (06:15):
Takes charge.
Sometimes it's great.
I mean, sometimes it's justlike kind.
I was a little too hands offthis one time, though.
Liz (06:22):
Uh-huh.
Ben (06:23):
And Liz sent me and Justin to a thrift place to kind of get
rid of some of the stuff thatwe no longer needed.
Liz (06:29):
We're donating.
Yeah, we're donating it.
Yeah we do that.
Ben (06:34):
While we were doing that, we actually donated something
that we weren't supposed towhich was a big old bin of past
due library books.
Liz (06:45):
They weren't past due.
I'm sorry they were past due,but they were library books.
They were coming up to beingdue.
Ben (06:50):
Well, they ended up being past due.
Yeah, Well they ended upbecause Because we gave them to
the thrift shop.
Liz (06:55):
Yes.
Ben (06:56):
And I mean it was a big crate of books.
Liz (06:58):
Yeah, it was because, let's be clear, you guys, we
homeschool we.
Let's be clear, you guys, wehomeschool.
We have a lot of kids.
So when I go to the librarywith my crew, our six pack, you
know, when we get there it'shalf a dozen.
You know it's kids.
Sometimes they're getting sixto 10 books a piece and they
will read all of them and it'spart of their homeschool
(07:20):
curriculum.
So when you know that's, ifeach of them gets six, that's 36
books.
Ben (07:27):
Okay.
So of course I have a lot ofbooks, a lot of books.
Liz (07:28):
Well, now, that thrift store had a lot of books.
Yeah, they dropped them offbecause we mistakenly just
dropped them right off.
Ben (07:33):
And then what happened?
Liz (07:34):
Well it was like a couple of days past and I'm thinking
where, where's the bin?
I got to go take them inbecause the do they're due, like
it's due in the next day or two, and all of a sudden it was
realized yeah, all of a sudden,were they over by the door?
Ben (07:48):
was that been in the back of the car?
Liz (07:50):
with the other stuff?
Yes, we might have donated thatto a good cause and so at our
expense, at our expense, and sothat became a very frantic
moment.
I mean, I felt like, oh, like,oh my gosh, so I started calling
.
Ben (08:06):
And I should have checked.
I think I actually drove thecar and then Justin got
everything out of the back andhappened to grab that mistakenly
.
Anyways, how much do you thinkit ended up costing?
Liz (08:16):
Well, I started making phone calls to see if we could
get them back and apparently,like the way that the thrifting
system happens and where we are,it like goes to a distribution
area and then they make thedecision, and so they couldn't
find them.
They couldn't find any of them.
And they said, well, sometimeswhen we find them we'll just go
and drop them off, so give it acouple of weeks.
So I called the library in themidst of it to say, hey, I need
(08:40):
to let you know what's going on.
Here's all of our books which,by the way, we had put them on
one child's card, so that onechild is still not use their
card, even though they got theircard back and everything's fine
.
But it was okay.
So the librarian that I spokewith, they sent me to the higher
ups, and that person sent me tothe higher ups and so, anyway,
(09:02):
I'm talking to the person who isgoing to hopefully help me.
They had like a board meetingor something and they went on my
behalf and the total, you guys,was over $600.
Over $600.
Ben (09:16):
A lot of books.
Liz (09:16):
Oh yeah, I think every bit of blood in my face just drained
as they were saying this to meand I was like all I could think
of is having $600 bills andjust lighting them on fire, Like
there they go.
There's nothing I can do aboutit, you know.
And so she said, let me seewhat I can do.
And she literally got in theresomehow and called back after it
(09:38):
had been so many weeks.
Nothing was ever returned, Notone library book was ever
returned, and so she just shesaid, hey, they forgave that and
you don't need to worry aboutit.
And I said well, what aboutthis one kid's library card?
She's like, we're going to takecare of it.
That was a story.
Ben (09:57):
That was a story, yeah.
Liz (09:59):
That was a Justin.
Ben (10:00):
Thanks, Justin.
That was a Justin at the centerstory.
Liz (10:02):
Yeah, we still love you.
But back to the legacyconference, like I mean, what
were our like takeaways?
What was the overall.
Ben (10:09):
So what did we learn?
Yeah, I think the number onething that I took away was that
and this is kind of an obviousthing, but it was helpful to
hear it again is that God is acreator.
You know, a lot of times, youknow, we hear the salvation
story and that's great and a lotof focus is put on that.
But even going back further,the creation story, it's kind of
(10:30):
where it all started and itreally set the tone for who God
is and his personality, and thenalso the fact that we were made
in his image, like we'recreators too, and he gave us
dominion, and I believe he wantsus to create and he wants us to
um even create with him, and sothat piece was really cool,
like just realizing that again,um, seeing ourselves as kind of
(10:54):
having this creative bent,because our God has creativity
and our God is a creator, and so, yeah, this that was cool.
Liz (11:02):
Just to get refreshed in that thinking and you are a
creative.
Ben (11:06):
Well, so are you.
Liz (11:06):
Yes, I am, but you are creative too.
I mean, I felt like you wereinspired.
There was different momentsthroughout the weekend that I
looked over and I was like, okay, I can see like a little fire
being rekindled.
A little spark A little yeahbeing rekindled in you Because I
mean, let's face it, you're adad, you have a job, you know
we're doing this podcast, youknow you have me in your life.
Ben (11:27):
Oh man yes.
Liz (11:29):
I know.
Ben (11:29):
Suck all the creative juices out.
I'm the best part.
What are you talking about?
Liz (11:33):
Yeah.
Ben (11:34):
And we have creative kids too.
Liz (11:35):
Yeah, we have a lot of creative kids.
Yeah, incredible creative kids.
Ben (11:55):
Yeah, I they do.
Liz (12:02):
Well, I think one of the things that I came back with was
that creatives need a plan,because the idea Well, I mean
think about it.
A lot of times we hear createor creatives.
They're just like oh, I'm freewhenever I feel, you know, blow
me wherever the wind takes me,Like you know, that kind of
thing.
But one thing that we came awaywith is, if you're going to
(12:23):
create, you have to create spaceto create.
You need the space,intentionality, intentionality,
but also you need to plan tocreate.
And again, we're going to bringup Justin, because he's in our
lives and we've watched him, butwhen?
Ben (12:36):
he, he's a planner.
Liz (12:37):
Is he ever?
Is he ever?
Actually he's really fun to bewith when we're going on family
vacations and stuff, because theguy like plans and I love it
because I love planning too.
So it's fun to have somebodythat's like kind of doing it
with you.
But I'm just going to use himas an example and I hope he's
okay with this.
(12:57):
But when he was writing hisfirst musical 14 years ago, I
remember that he sat down andlooked at his schedule and in
his schedule he found four orfive blocks where he had four or
five hours to just sit down hispiano and create writing songs.
I mean, he wrote how many songsin that first musical?
(13:19):
Is it 24 songs?
Ben (13:20):
It was a lot, you guys, it's a lot.
Liz (13:22):
Plus the dialogue, plus the screenplay, like I mean so many
things that went into that.
And so, as painters, as writers, as dancers, musicians, you
need to, yes, have your life,looking at when are you working,
when are you in school, familytime, but then creating that
(13:42):
space and planning to make sureit takes place.
I felt convicted in that,really, because I've got some
things in my heart that I wantto do and I thought all right.
I want to make sure that I'mallowing the space for
creativity to flow.
Ben (13:55):
So do you have a plan?
Liz (13:56):
I actually do Nice, I just got to implement it.
I like it.
I got to implement it.
Ben (14:00):
Well, one thing additional that I learned was we talked
about fear in the process ofcreativity and how that can be a
thief yes right.
So just the fear of like whatothers think, the fear of
failure, the fear of beingscrutinized or criticized, like
(14:21):
that is real, that's a real.
Liz (14:24):
It is.
Ben (14:24):
But that oftentimes kind of sinks the ship before it can
even go out to sea.
Liz (14:30):
Yeah.
Ben (14:30):
Like it just stops the effort from even happening, and
so we need to think in terms ofbeing proactive, like having a
plan.
Yeah, but also just likethrowing that fear away and just
going for it.
Liz (14:42):
I think being brave and taking risks, and doing the
effort to be creative.
Ben (14:48):
apart from the fear, I think that was one thing that I
came away with as well.
Liz (14:52):
Yeah, and also just thinking about sometimes the
fear that people have is thatthey're just going to be
copycats.
Ben (14:58):
Yeah.
Liz (15:01):
And so part of the risk is not being a copycat and
exploring that.
Ben (15:06):
Right, right, that's good.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was goodand I think just being able to,
you know, just get out thereright, just do something.
That was one thing that someonekept saying just do something.
It's almost like a Nikecommercial, you know.
Just give some effort, put alittle time here and there, just
(15:29):
whatever it is, do something,just get going and see what
sparks from that.
Liz (15:34):
Yeah, yeah, that's good.
Yeah, and creativity looksdifferent.
Ben (15:37):
It does.
Liz (15:38):
It doesn't have to be just one medium.
Ben (15:41):
It can be multifaceted, multitalented.
Yeah yeah, multi-faceted,multi-talented, yeah yeah, for
sure.
Well, do you?
Liz (15:50):
want to jump into your talk .
What you talked about.
Sure, I totally can do that,okay, so I actually had the
topic of trading your comfortfor calling, and that was a
really near and dear topic to me.
In fact took a couple of weeksto get that going, and Ben was
there plowing through all of theups and downs of getting it
going, just because I'm a momand homeschooling and busy and
(16:13):
all those kind of things.
But I was so honored to beasked to speak, especially from
the main stage, and so it wasabout navigating significant
life transitions andparticularly when God calls
someone to leave their comfortzone for a greater purpose, and
so I shared about how I had laiddown my business after 14 years
(16:34):
and what that looked like beingin the midst of transition,
because transition is prettyintense if you are doing
something like that and I wasliterally leaving one ecosystem
to, I didn't know, the greatunknown.
Right, right, yeah, so you wereliterally trading comfort for
where you felt like God wascalling you yeah, yeah, and
(16:57):
didn't know where God wascalling me Like.
Let's be clear.
Ben (17:00):
Yeah, still, maybe don't know all of it.
No, not at all.
Liz (17:03):
Not at all.
I mean other than, like themain things, being a wife, you
know, of course, being a mother,a daughter of the king, you
know daughter A podcaster.
A podcaster.
I love that one, that one Inever thought would be mine, but
you know, but transitions canbe scary, you know, and I kind
of went through nine differentways to know that you're going
(17:24):
through transition.
Ben (17:25):
Why don't you tell us a?
Liz (17:26):
few.
Well, and how to recognize it?
I'll tell you a few, since youasked Ben Sure, of course, Pull
those right up.
Sometimes you have morecapacity than you're currently
using.
So you know it could be thatyou may be having impact.
You may be seeing, you know,great influence, those kind of
things, but it's like you're notreally using all of your gifts,
(17:49):
talents, you know, yeah, thatyou've been given a little
stifle.
Yeah, and sometimes also to intransition, just your assignment
is finished, right, you knowit's a clear cut, you know
you've you've done a good joband the Lord's like, yay, I'm
proud of you.
But now you know there's it'sactually finished and that can
be maybe the job's ended.
Or you just know in your heartlike you're just not moving
forward and sometimes also, too,you know your current
(18:12):
environment could becomelimiting.
I use the example of you know,if you are putting a coat on
that used to fit perfectly andthen all of a sudden now it
feels too tight.
The coat hasn't changed, butyou have, there's something in
you that has actually changed.
Um, and one of the other thingsI I heard feedback from some of
(18:32):
the girls that were actuallyother moms that I guess were
going through transition.
They shared that.
Um, I said that your currentposition was never meant to be
permanent.
So the idea is like you're onyour way, you know, heading to a
direction, you get off at a pitstop to get gas, but then you
end up making that pit stop yourpermanent spot and all along
you had something else to headtowards, and so a temporary stop
(18:56):
over has become a permanenthabitation.
Ben (18:59):
There's like a guy in the Bible that you mentioned, right.
Liz (19:01):
Yeah, I spoke about.
It was me.
Read the scriptures right here.
It says one day Terah took hisson Abram and moved away from Ur
of the Chaldeans.
He was headed for the land ofCanaan, but he stopped at Haran
and settled there.
Terah lived for 205 years anddied still in Haran.
So that was actually in Genesis11.
(19:22):
And what it's talking about issometimes we make a pit stop and
you know, and we make it intothat permanent address like I
was just talking about, and sohow many of us are living in
Haran when God is calling us toCanaan?
Ben (19:34):
That's good.
Liz (19:35):
Yeah, yeah, and so you know there were some other ones that
were in there, but you know itwas really cool too, because as
I was thinking about speaking atthis conference, there was a
couple of other things that werekind of sticking out to me,
especially as a creative.
And you know, I see people andI've done this to myself.
I'm actually also a dancer, andso when you're creating
(19:56):
something, you know you areconcerned with what people are
going to give you know feedbackto you, but then also to you.
Ben (20:00):
Sometimes you have this internal dialogue that's going
on and it's critical Right.
Liz (20:21):
And it can even be cynical.
Ben (20:22):
Yeah cynical.
Liz (20:29):
And when the Lord was creating the heavens and the
earth, when he was creatingcreation in the beginning, in
the book of Genesis and rightnow I'm reading through the
Bible because we just started anew year and when he created,
after he created, what did hesay?
Every single time?
What did he say?
It was good, it is good.
So, as creatives whatever thatmedium may be even us doing this
podcast, this is a creativething that we're doing because
(20:49):
we're speaking and writing andall this stuff.
But as a creative, no matterwhat it is, when you do it, look
at it and say it is good.
And if someone comes up to youand they say, oh, great job,
this really blessed me, yoursong that you wrote, or your
piece that you painted, orwhatever it may be you created,
(21:10):
don't dismiss them and go.
Oh, they're just saying thatbecause they have to say that or
they don't really mean it.
They see, all the things that Idid wrong.
Literally say it is good,because when you say it is good
one, you are mirroring the onethat we've been created after
right the Lord.
But then also, too, it'shappening as we're speaking.
(21:30):
What's happening in our mindsand our hearts and in our
basically our spirits.
It is agreeing with what isright, and so it changes your
thought process.
So that was something that Ishared.
And then do you have a thoughtabout that?
Ben (21:43):
You look, like you have a thought about that.
No, it's good.
It's good, yeah, I think aboutthat.
You look like you thought aboutthat.
It's good.
Yeah, I think like just hearingyour own self say it.
I think that kind of re, thatreinforcement learning like say
it, believe it you know, just Ilike that act of like getting it
out, yeah, yeah.
Liz (21:59):
Well, because when you say it, then you believe it right,
like that's part of it.
Ben (22:02):
It's part of it.
Well, it could be for good orfor bad, true, yeah, so yeah,
that's true we.
Liz (22:07):
We can get into that another day.
I'm sure Ben has some booksthat he's read that he can jump
into that.
Are you thinking of any?
Ben (22:13):
books?
No, no, not at the moment.
No, it's a miracle.
Liz (22:15):
This is a true miracle on this episode.
Oh boy, I know.
But something else that I didhave the chance to speak also
into was the story of thetalents you know, the master and
there was the one, two and fivetalents and you know you can be
a one talent person, a twotalent person or a five talent
(22:36):
person and when you are giventhe talent, whatever that may be
okay, you choose if you'regoing to really use it double it
, become amazing at it, or ifyou're going to bury it,
squander it, right yeah,squander it and we don't want to
be a one talent person.
Ben (22:53):
Right.
Liz (22:53):
Because in that parable, when Jesus is telling that
parable, the person who had theone talent says I buried it
because I knew you were harsh.
Ben (23:01):
Not that the one talent's bad, but just what they did with
that one talent, right did withthat one talent.
Right and we want.
Liz (23:08):
we've all been given gifts.
We've all been given talentsEvery single one of us, I no
matter what your physical stateis, even your mental state.
There there is stuff that theLord has given you that you can
use and bless the world.
Ben (23:21):
Like it's really there.
Liz (23:22):
That's scriptural and so you want it.
You want to multiply that.
And then the other thing is isthat I was thinking about the
story when the king came toElisha and was asking Elisha
about going to war, and I mean,I've heard all kinds of sermons
on this and I'm sure you havetoo, but you know, when Elisha
instructs the king to take thearrows and strike the ground,
(23:44):
Right.
And then Elisha's irritatedwith him.
Like why didn't you?
Strike it more.
Ben (23:48):
Because he did it three times.
He only did it three times.
Liz (23:50):
Yeah, just a few times, and it's like there's a fear factor
that's there, is my God goingto pull through, or there's,
like you know, a pride orsomething like that Something,
something limited, like I'mholding back.
Yeah, not holding back, notholding back just like jumping
in there and doing it and youknow there's something about
(24:13):
that.
There's something that'sbeautiful and our work is our
worship.
Our creating is our worship.
Like it's beautiful and we'remeant to, as creatives, display
that.
Like there's.
There's something that opens inthe hearts of people when they
see it, they hear it, they feelit.
I'm thinking about whathappened at the creative
conference, when there was apainter who got on stage Philip
(24:35):
Ortiz Right, so that happened atthe very end, right.
Ben (24:38):
Yeah, it was the last thing , one of the last things, yeah,
so there was this painter whogot up there on stage and just
started painting and had amicrophone on and he was being
videoed at the same time and hedidn't.
I guess he had kind of like aninkling of what he was going to
paint, but he just was likegoing for it and he, in the
moment he was like kind ofpraying and dialoguing with the
(24:59):
Lord and just trying to figureout what he's going to do, while
in front of everybody and therewas someone playing the piano
and worshiping, and so it wasjust kind of this weird, um and
good, like good, but strange inthe sense like we we don't
really see that whole uh veryoften, but it was cool and he
really just kind of like wentfor it and it was almost like,
(25:21):
uh, like a Bob Ross moment wherehe's like oh I made a little
mistake here.
I'm going to make that a happytree.
Liz (25:28):
Kind of like that, but it was uncomfortable for him.
Ben (25:30):
It was he's never done this before.
Liz (25:31):
Yeah, and it was.
Ben (25:33):
And it was a risk Like he took a risk.
Yeah, he took a risk and hekind of illustrated that whole
like fear is a thief thing andhe just went for it.
Liz (25:46):
Just like struck the room.
Ben (25:47):
You're right.
You're right Because he wassharing, like his own journey in
the past year and coming forsome painful things in his life
and even near death experienceswith some of his loved ones.
Liz (25:58):
Yeah.
Ben (25:59):
And so he was talking that through, as he was painting, as
he felt the Lord like lead him,and he was painting about some
of those grief moments and man,it was really, and he was
painting about some of thosegrief moments and, man, it was
really powerful.
Liz (26:12):
It was super powerful, in fact.
At one point I looked over atyou and you were tearing up.
Ben (26:14):
I was tearing up, you were tearing up, and it just kind of
hit me very differently, becauseI was seeing art expressed, but
then I was also hearing theartist behind each brushstroke
saying kind of what thatrepresented, and the place that
he was coming from.
And man it was, and then, ofcourse, you had someone playing
the keys very beautifully.
(26:34):
So, yeah, it was very emotive.
Liz (26:35):
An amazing worship leader, Matt Gilman.
Phenomenal, I mean literallyphenomenal.
Ben (26:40):
We forgot about him.
Yeah, we forgot Matt.
We forgot to mention that hewas part of the creative
conference.
Yeah, he was there in Zachton'sMoor.
He led worship as well.
Liz (26:45):
Yeah, he was there in Zachton's more, he led worship
as well.
We also saw another display ofrisk happening in front of us we
had Andy Squire.
He's also a singer-songwriter.
This guy is like a lament.
Ben (26:59):
I don't know how to describe him.
How would you describe Andy?
Squire to someone who's neverheard of him.
It is such a strange guy,amazing.
And I mean that with a lot ofsincerity.
Strange in the sense that wejust don't have a grid for
someone like Andy Squires.
He literally is like a modernday psalmist, and what I mean by
that is he would present to theLord his lament, and even
(27:26):
stretching some of theboundaries of what we would
consider worship.
And it was kind of beautiful.
It was very beautiful.
Liz (27:33):
And also risky and yeah, it was risky and sometimes
uncomfortable.
Ben (27:36):
I mean I'm not going to lie Like there were some things you
know that he would talk aboutor say, and I'm like can you put
that in a worship song?
Like, can we talk?
Liz (27:43):
about this subject in a worship song but it was moving
because there was a realness anda raw, like you, yeah, it was
beautiful, but I was thinking so, um, some of the, there was a
band that got put together,phenomenal worship, worship band
.
I mean they were playing alltheir instruments I mean
phenomenal and they're all fromall different backgrounds.
So they all came together andhe doesn't play this.
(28:05):
This guy, andy, doesn'tnormally play with a band.
And so he got up there with theband, yeah, and they went for it
and it was very risky, I mean.
So you could see.
You could see it happeningbefore your eyes, but it was
amazing and I'm not a musician,but some of the people with us
are musicians and they were likedid you hear that?
(28:29):
Oh my gosh.
Yes, as a matter of fact, wedid, even though I just thought
it was amazing.
Ben (28:35):
Right, yeah, it was really cool.
It was really cool to see thatput together and what a cool guy
I mean.
Definitely go check his workout.
His stuff's cool, got a lot tolink to.
Yeah, we do.
We're going to have to link toa lot.
A link tree is going to be verylong A link tree Just go
through, Just follow, followfollow, follow Phenomenal.
Liz (28:54):
Phenomenal conference.
We were so blessed to be thereand we're looking forward to the
next one.
Yeah, we're excited, we'reexcited.
Ben (29:02):
Yeah, I mean, I think just kind of like in summary, like
just some takeaways, right, thebiggest thing for me, I believe,
from this conference was justlike making sure that I'm doing
something to create.
And one of the things I kepthearing from the different
speakers was like talking abouthow we're such a consumer
(29:22):
culture and even you know us asChristians we like to consume
just a lot of stuff, but veryfew of us are actually creating.
And there was just a charge putforth from the stage.
It was like hey guys, we needto be creators because God is a
creator, and so not justrelegating the creating to the
people who are the most creativeright the five talent people
(29:45):
but just expressing it mighteven be a half talent that we
have, but just making sure thatwe own that and just start
creating ourselves.
Not just thinking about beingconsumers, but creating for
other people and for the Lordand for ourselves, just like
getting out there and doingsomething.
Liz (30:03):
And doing it in community.
Ben (30:04):
Oh, that was a good one too .
Yeah, a lot of communityexpressed, even as people were
giving talks and things likethat Just how to be in community
with one another and just tolink up.
That was really cool too.
Liz (30:17):
We have our own community in our house.
Ben (30:19):
We do.
Liz (30:21):
Our house.
Ben (30:22):
There's all kinds of people .
It's an eight-person community.
Liz (30:25):
There's a lot of community.
Ben (30:26):
In fact, some of our community members, I think,
would like to escape thecommunity at times.
Liz (30:30):
Sometimes that's happening.
I was going to say, now that wehave teenagers, you know that
age is where they love all theirfriends.
So, today I just had aconversation with one of our
teenagers and the conversationwent something like this hey,
what do you think about if, forthe summer, my one friend could
come and live with us all summer?
I said, what wait, what?
Wow, yeah, I haven't even had achance to talk to you about
(30:52):
that.
That's news to me and so, yeah,that's news to you.
And I was like well, uh, whatokay?
Ben (30:57):
I mean honestly, we probably wouldn't even notice.
Liz (31:00):
We've got so many people in the house already well, I mean,
and yesterday we had two otherteenagers that, like hang hung
at our house all day long.
They showed up at 930 and Ithink they left at 9 pm.
They literally were here allday.
My point is is that we areliving in community and we, you
know, practically you may or maynot be able to do this,
depending on your kids and I'mgoing to switch to parenting
(31:24):
creatives, to parentingcreatives, but we've created
space for our kids.
So we have an actual music roomthat we have set up.
There's a bass, there's anelectric, there's a guitar,
there's a piano, we have thedrums, which are so quiet.
Ben (31:36):
That's not true.
Liz (31:38):
No, the drums are not quiet , but we're allowing the kids to
have that space to be able tocreate.
Their friends come over, theycreate.
We have a whole craft areabecause we've got some serious
crafters and it's not just thegirls, you guys.
The guys like to get in theretoo and they'll create.
We sometimes do creative thingsas a family, like painting
rocks together.
Ben (31:55):
This is true, and sometimes even being creative means we're
choosing not to do other thingsright.
So it's like we're stoppingmaybe some of the normal
activities or some of the thingsthat we just kind of default to
and we're just giving space forthis kind of sounds weird, but
when you give space for a littleboredom sometimes you never
(32:16):
know what comes out of thatboredom mentality you get
creative.
It's kind of almost bynecessity.
Liz (32:24):
Well, they get really creative because they have
created shops.
Oh yeah, I mean the shops.
We really should dive into thisin another episode about
raising entrepreneurs.
But I mean they like straightup made shops and then got all
the neighbors and other familiesinvolved and my whole living
room became this shop.
Ben (32:44):
Marketplace.
Liz (32:45):
Marketplace and if you've ever followed me on social media
, you've seen some of thesethings that kids have come up
with.
Um, I mean, the boredom isactually a good thing because it
causes them to get into thatspace of creating.
And we do limit screens, we dolimit, you know, gaming and all
that kind of stuff, but thatwe'll have to dive into
definitely another podcast, ifyou're interested in that, just
(33:06):
let us know in the comments.
Like, hey, we'll have to diveinto, definitely on another
podcast.
If you're interested in that,just let us know in the comments
.
Like, hey, we would love tohear about these kinds of things
because that helps us to kindof, you know, get in there and
talk about it.
But, yeah, boredom is good.
We throw I don't want to say wethrow the kids outside, but I'm
like it's a beautiful day, getoutside, you know, and they go
out there and and from theoldest to the youngest I mean
even our older emerging adultsyeah, they get out there.
Ben (33:30):
They do.
Liz (33:31):
So just creating.
My point is just creating thatspace.
All the kids have journals.
We'll put on music and havethem draw.
Not everybody draws the same.
We have some that are betterthan others, but the point is
just kind of getting that pumpedand going yeah.
Ben (33:47):
That creative well, that creative well, that creative
well.
Yep, cool man.
I think we've hit most of theconference stuff.
I think that's really what wekind of wanted to get through, I
know.
We have enjoyed today have youenjoyed today, definitely,
definitely, feel inspired.
Liz (34:05):
Well, thanks for being a part of our One Blessed Mess
today.
Don't forget to subscribe likeshare heart, all the things for
anybody that you think thatwould enjoy this podcast.
We certainly are very gratefuland thankful that you're
listening or watching today, andwe are just loving this.
So, again, if you have anyquestions or anything like that,
let us know, reach out to us.
But until next time, we wantyou to embrace your beautiful
(34:27):
mess, Because if our mess can beblessed, then we know, so can
yours.
That's right.
Have a great day.
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