Photos by Ralph Freso / Slideshow
Senior Pastor Ashley Wooldridge of Christ’s Church of the Valley admitted he could not get the theme song to the "Caillou" animated series out of his head while raising three daughters.
“They watched this every single morning, so I would walk into work singing the words to 'Caillou' in my head,” Wooldridge told the Chapel audience Monday at Grand Canyon University's Global Credit Union Arena. “I learned some more and I hated it. It got to the point where I said, ‘"Caillou." I hate you.’ I literally did.”
Wooldridge said most of us have a broken soundtrack that, unfortunately, is negative. Experts said people have about 60,000 thoughts a day, and that 95% of those thoughts were repetitive.
Unfortunately, 75% of those repetitive thoughts are negative.
“Most of us have a broken soundtrack in our lives that’s stuck on routines,” said Wooldridge, who openly admitted to this weakness but shared ways to remove them and replace them “with the thoughts God wants for your life.”
“My friend (and Life Church founder) Craig Groeschel puts it this way,” Wooldridge said. “He says, ‘Your life is always moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts. My question to you is, do you like the direction that your life is going based on the thoughts that are repeating in your mind?’ “
Wooldridge stressed the need to learn to break these strongholds in your mind, or else your actions will be driven by your beliefs and cause your identity to go down a path that you never wanted to go in your life.
Furthermore, if you focus on your problems, you will be overwhelmed and struggle with your mental health for the rest of your life. And if you have a victim mindset, you will become a victim for the rest of your life and likely will attract people that victimize you.
Wooldridge cites Psalm 139:23, in which David, who struggled with a broken soundtrack in his mind, wrote, “Search me, O God, try me and know my anxious heart.”
Wooldridge shared later that God has a script for your life in the same manner a movie is produced, starting with the script and then producing a soundtrack that is synced to the script.
“Now understand this: God has a script for your life,” Wooldridge told the audience. “But if the soundtrack in your mind doesn't match the script God has for you, you will find yourself dazed and confused and moving in the direction He doesn't want you to go.”
As an example, Wooldridge, who grew up as a fan of martial arts movies, displayed a clip of 1972 movie "The Way of the Dragon," in which martial artists/actors Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris are ready to fight. Lee unbuttons his shirt and Norris takes off his belt as the soundtrack depicts that a fight is imminent.
“There’s probably going to be a fight to the death, the way the soundtrack plays,” Wooldridge said following the clip.
But Wooldridge warns what can happen if the same script is synced with the wrong soundtrack.
The clip of Lee and Norris is replayed, only to be serenated by the opening music of George Michael’s 1984 hit “Careless Whisper,” which brings immediate laughter from the students.
“Doesn’t that mess you up?” asks Wooldridge, referring to the predictability of the first clip compared to the confusion in the second one.
“And this is why some of you are still confused. Because you walk around, and the soundtrack in your mind doesn't match the script God has for your life. So you have to change the soundtrack in your mind, or you are going to be just confused all the time.”
Wooldridge asked the students to perform a “thought audit” this week to examine their most negative stronghold. “You can’t defeat what you don’t define.”
“God has given us everything we need to live a godly life. You don't have to be enough when you have Jesus, when you have His Word, guiding and directing you.”
Even if you do not fulfill your goal to become an artist or cannot find a love in your life, it is not the end.
“Let me tell you something,” Wooldridge said. “You've already found love. His name is Jesus. He is the person that can give you everything you need, not another human relationship in this world. We have to remove the broken soundtracks in our minds if we ever want to live the life that God has for us.”
The sword represents the Word of God, which has the divine power to demolish sharp holes, and we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And we take captive every thought, and we make it obedient to Christ.
Wooldridge said, “It blows me away how many Christians read a Christian book instead of God's Word, and they wonder why they’re a mess.
“Now, listen, I'm not against Christian books. I think Christian books are awesome. But please understand, a Christian book is not the same as God's Word. So a Christian book can be a supplement, but it's not a substitute to you getting into God's Word, like actually in the Word of God, the pages of Scripture.
“Almost every single morning, I’m in God’s Word. I’m not perfect. So I’ll miss a morning here and there. And when I miss, I can tell it in my mind. Because every single time I’m reading God’s Word, he’s renewing my mind to understand what’s true.”
GCU News Senior Writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]
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Next week's Chapel: Megan Fate Marshman, teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church and director of women’s ministries at Hume Lake Christian Camps in Southern California, is the scheduled speaker as the next Chapel, 11 a.m. March 4. A question-and-answer session with Marshman will be held at 12:30 p.m. in the northwest corner of the second floor of GCU Arena.
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