Pete Wilson: The book was originally a sermon series I did at our church. The response was massive and continued on well after the series ended. That's when I knew I needed to dog deeper into this topic.

Recently, I watched the movie Surrogates. The imagery was slightly disturbing - human-like surrogate robots the majority of the population use in every day life. At the beginning of the movie, Bruce Willis stares at the TV announces "Robotic human surrogates combine the durability of a machine with the grace and beauty of the human body. With most people living their lives through their surrogate selves, our world has become a safer place." 

 

With such reality, there was no more need to risk. Their choices to risk were only virtual, their real selves stayed locked in the dark rooms of their homes. Because everyone could decide exactly what their surrogates looked like, no one was ugly, overweight, pimply, or scarred. But the plasticky, flawless bodies were creepy and just too perfect. The surrogates may have looked sexy to some people,  but they weren't human.  Not only was it there no need for physical risk, there was no need to risk emotionally either. Besides being "flawless," their surrogate replacements couldn't shed tears.

What the God is billed as a community for curious Christians.  Launched on March 15, 2010 the community at What the God is invited to explore their deepest darkest questions about God, life, the Bible and everything in between - but in a light-hearted and humorous fashion. 

 

Authors Jesse Medina (whom you may recognize as an author of various Wrecked articles and occasional commenter) and AJ Teaters tackle the questions that Christians ask - or not - in a genuine effort to look for Biblical truth without getting bogged down in solemn academia.  I recently had the opportunity interview them and ask some questions about What the God.

When I was in first grade, I had a bully named Teddy. Yes, that's right, Teddy. It doesn't exactly conjure fear and intimidation, does it? (More like cute and cuddly...) And quite frankly, he looked like a "Teddy."

 

But Teddy had a friend. A bodyguard, if you will. I can't remember his name, so for the sake of the story, we'll call him Bruno. He definitely looked like a "Bruno." They had a sort of Master-Blaster relationship (that's a Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome reference, by the way). Teddy was the master, and Bruno was the blaster.

 

We thought Pieces of a Real Heart was a very fitting title and concept thematically. Each song was written from a piece of our band's collective heart. They address different topics but are tethered together by underlying themes of love and humanity... being real. There is definitely a continuing maturity in the content, as we get older too.  We've had to address serious issues in our real lives, and we've tried to reflect this honestly in our music.

 

More than anything, we struggle with insecurity and not measuring up to standards we set for ourselves. It almost seems like an opposite struggle as "being fake," but really it's just another form of pride.