Chris Burkmenn's Blog

So often we go through life and have ourselves almost convinced that God has somehow forgotten about us. We confuse our finances with the notion that God is neglecting us. As if we had done something wrong to deserve a setback. I was at McDonalds this evening drinking a Diet Dr. Pepper and watching the people around me. I saw this woman sobbing and apologizing to her husband for how sorry she was. How she wished she could have changed their current situation. She had major dental work done today and was still in shock with the bill. She was standing at the Coke station and telling her husband that this was not what she had wanted, and that she would have rather gone on a trip. She seemed so convinced that this situation was bigger than God and that he had forgotten about her. That she was alone with no one looking out for her. I wanted to touch her hand and let her know that God had not forgotten about her. I overheard her apologizing to the cashier saying, "I am sorry I am so

To get places you must have transportation in order to arrive at your destination. You can travel by car, train, plane, boat, bike, and etc... Some of the vehicles can get you where you are going a little faster, but they all have the ability to get you there. Transportation can occasionally allow you to get where you are going a little quicker than walking/running. When most of us want to get somewhere we usually think of the fastest way possible. Whether it be taking a short cut driving, flying a plane, or even a helicopter. Why is that? It's because we want to arrive as fast as possible, and we usually are in a hurry. Rushing just as quick as we can. Resenting any obstacle in our path along the way. Throwing our hands up in the air when we are cut off driving on the road. Because it set us back from getting to where we are ultimately are trying to get. Those things often serve as a distraction. Taking our attention off of the destination and onto the tiny situation that is

Ever since I was a young boy I have been a big dreamer. Always believing that nothing could stop me. That there was not a goal to big. Nothing that could not be reached. Starting when I first saw the show on Nickelodean, Kenan and Kel. I believed that I could be an actor. And I knew that one day I would be on that show. Several of you know, that I used to pretend I was Carson Daly hosting TRL in the mirror when I was a kid. To be honest, Sometimes I still do. My dreams have always been so much bigger than myself, and at the time I thought I alone could reach them. Until one day I gave the Lord everything that I had. Every desire, goal, ambition, and my whole heart. Making Jesus my Lord and savior. He has taught me so much through my walk, teaching me patience and trust. Many other things he has taught me, and without him I wouldn't be anywhere near these goals. He is my all, he is my everything. He is the reason that I get up in the morning. If it had not been for Jesus

When you think of a story, the first thing you think of is a book. When you think of books, you may think of some of the greatest stories ever told. The Bible, Pride and Prejudice, To Kill a Mockingbird, Gone with the Wind, Night, The Book Thief, and The Hunger Games. The one thing about these books, they all have stories to tell. They are filled with adventure, Love, Set back, Set up, Tragedies, Death, and Pain. The stories in these books are all worth telling. From the beginning to end they paint the picture of what the author is trying to convey. Stories can also be found in songs, and some of the greatest story tellers ever are songwriters. Our generation has been blessed with epic songs that will go on to be timeless. Taylor Swift, love her or hate her, has been blessed with the extraordinary talent of making you a part of the story. Her songs can make you smile, make you angry, and possibly even make you cry. Other greats Paul McCartney, Dolly Parton, James Taylor, and C

In life things will come against you, and the results will not always be what you hoped for. Being rejected for a role, Losing a job, a Car repair, or failing a class. These are just a few of the examples that life tends to throw us. Many times it's hard to accept. How do I proceed? How did I end up here? I am good person, how could God let this happen? So many questions with very few answers. It can be discouraging when all we see is what before us. The obstacles of life, and we often overlook the promises God has spoken over our lives. I can forget that God has told me so often in the Bible. One of my favorites is Psalm 23: The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff t

As an actor and a person, one of the hardest things to do is move on. Moving forward has always been a challenge of mine because I don't always adapt well to change. I think that I love change, but then when it gets here I do everything I can to avoid it. I have talked about this in past posts, but a reminder never hurts. That being said, this week I am moving into a new apartment. A new apartment with a new roommate. I have been packing boxes this evening and going through things that bring a smile to my face from the past. It amazing the things that you accumulate from different seasons in your life. It's even hard to decide what to keep and what to get rid of, especially when you are moving. In my current apartment I never really quite settled. I was never quite comfortable so there were a lot things that I never took out of the boxes. Since moving to Nashville, I have moved 8 times in about 4 years. I am quite ready to not have to move again for a little while. My

In life I am learning the dreams that are inside of me will not be achieved without the hard work it takes to get there. For each of us that will look different, and neither road will be easier. We all must overcome something to get where we are going in our life journey. You may be working a dead end job that may seem as though it will last for ever. Someone beside you may come from a family that is financially secure, but has to overcome obstacles of being discounted their entire life.  Others may be required to set their pride aside for the sake of their job. It may be assisting someone, working for free, and the list can go on. We all must walkthrough less than ideal circumstances, but the reward shall be greater than anything we had ever hoped. For the heart of a servant shall be greatly rewarded. When we seek nothing for the work we do, but just to be a light in the dark. Be the great example the world needs, and not in your own strength. Rely on the Lord, and you will

In life I can tend to take things for granted, and one of those being my health. Something that seems to always be there in my life. Something that I don't always thank the Lord for. Most days it as though it's expected as the routine in my life. I get up in the morning and just assume that everything will go my way through the day. That I will be able to go as quickly as possible at my serving job, and be at my maximum activity level in my working out. Also composing myself to settle down for the evening to sleep. Today I was at my job in Cool Springs where I work as a server. I was going through the normal routine, when I was going much quicker on the job than I should have. When I was filling the ice tea urns, and my co worker noticed that the tea was much lighter than it should have been. Thinking to myself, I wonder what is going on. Before even wasting another moment, I quickly grabbed the basket which holds the filter and tea package. The basket was full of boili

Image available at mattdelarosby.com  Have you ever visited the doctor and the office has been so swamped with people. Feeling as though you have been waiting for hours to see the doctor. Seating in this white room and looking through the same magazine 15 times. Even though you have already looked through it once, you are so bored you think you might have skipped something that might be worth reading. Then you sit growing very anxious to get over with this waiting, so that you can see the doctor. You begin to get frustrated because you can't help but think, what is taking so long. Tapping your leg with the overgrowing thoughts in your mind. Finally having your name called and getting up to be taken back to see the doctor. Lately my life has felt as though I am in waiting. So many things have required me to wait: Paychecks, Goals, and living situations. All things that I am unable to control, but are something that I need in order to proceed. Today I was driving when it al

As I live I learn that my life is a work in progress. There are times when I wish that I was further than I am, but that leaves room to grow. If I was where I wanted to be right now where would I go from there. How could God work in my life to show me his amazing grace and compassion to get me there. As an actor you are constantly searching for that defining role. Something that will bring the dream to life. Most of us spend our whole life chasing it. We are all constantly on the journey to arriving who we are to be. We all have the opportunity in front of us. Each decision we make is shaping us into that person. Don't fear about making the right or the wrong decision because there is no rule book. There are guidelines and that is Bible. It's kind of like if you were a car, and you came with an instruction manual.  Giving you the understanding of how your car works, and what you need to do to take care of it. If you don't obey the rules you will still run, but you w

Walking in the journey of my life, I am learning through everything the Lord wants to keep me humble. No matter how much success I may think I am experiencing, He constantly reminds me that nothing I have ever been given was earned in my own strength. I have walked through so pretty amazing opportunities the last 4 years of my life. Starting by stepping out in faith by moving to Nashville, and then most recently leaving my full time job to pursue my dreams of working in the industry. To make ends meet I serve at Logan's Roadhouse. It has been such an extreme blessing, and gives me the opportunity to be very flexible with working in the industry. I am able to have someone cover my shifts or request off if I know a terrific opportunity is coming. That is a true benefit of being a server. It also is a ministry in it's own right, I get to the hands and feet to Jesus. I consider it a great honor. I learn daily that no matter what I go through, people don't care. They wan

Along the journey of your dreams, you will gain little victories that will make it worth every bit of the struggles. For me I had one the other day. Since I have moved to Nashville I have been trying to start a show of my own. The vision for what I wanted to do has stayed true, but small things have changed along the way. I was asked last month to start a webisode with Aud Co Nashville as I have discussed in past posts. The last one we taped was great content, but the video quality was nothing I could use to add to my reel. This past Tuesday September 17th we shot our second "The Chris Burkmenn Experience" with Jenn Bostic. The results blew my mind. Jenn always brings the energy everywhere that she goes. She had just arrived back to the states from the UK. What an amazing trooper she is! Jenn wasn't feeling very well, but she came and helped me anyway. She marched through her performance with flying colors, and met with everyone in a meet and greet with a big smil

As I lay awake in bed with so many racing thoughts in my mind, the only logical thing I could thing to do was write. Lately life has been so crazy, and it's not even always that exciting. I have had so many decisions that need to be made in my life and sometimes I just don't want to make them. In my acting journey I started a new project which came out of nowhere. I work for AudCo Nashville, and we have been trying to get audience to our CMT tapings for quite sometime. People love to meet entertainers. They want to meet artists that have stories to tell, and songs to be heard. They don't really care if there famous, but they love the possibility that they could. Through that need we were able to create a webisode, and I was asked to host it. Which is so funny because in the past when I had great ideas they always seemed to fail, but this was my co-worker Mistys idea. She said that I should host a show and stream it on the internet. I thought WOW! What an incredible

A few week back, I entered an online contest for ABC. It was such a funny thing on how I got the information. My friend facebooked me and said she thought I should enter and gave me the link. I thought, huh why not. So I read over the contest rules and prizes. ABC was giving away a 6 month contract for $10,000 or a year contract with 25,000. I don't know if your an actor, but the possibilities that this opportunity would have were incredible. Just think, a contract with ABC studios. I mean becoming a success isn't a guarantee, but I am certain many doors would open just from signing their contract. The contest was not publicized and it was very low key so the odds of winning were ever in your favor(writing this I intentionally used the Hunger Games made me laugh.) I just truly wanted to win this because it would give me an escape of my current situation. I work at Logan's Roadhouse full time, and let me tell you it is not a very glamorous job. I know many actors can

I have been rejected by casting directors more times that I can count. Feeling defeated from the rejection. Questioning my self worth, and fighting the often challenging weight issue. Truly feeling as though I gave it my all in my audition. Delivering everything I have learned and felt was required. The common phrase "Thank you, but you aren't what we are looking for. Or the "We will call you if we are interested." Those are just two of the common phrases heard from their ever so charming rejections. Each time I have audition I think of the possibilities that could be placed in front of me. I will be able to gain so much work IF I get this part. I remember one time I had a role "guaranteed" I knew all the right people and the person who actually worked for the network told me he had my back. "I will help get you on," he said. I was so confident thinking WOW this is the moment I have been waiting for I know something is coming. Then all for

In a world where we don't like change. A society who cringes over the word "Change." Majority of Americans prefer things to stay the way things are. I myself have the tendency to be against change. I am able to eat the same meal every night, and work at the same job for year all out of the mind of comfortability. Let us challenge and rethink this notion. I need to embrace change more. I need to get so uncomfortable that I don't even know what the usual looks like. As you all have found out by many of my past posts I am a dream chaser. Nothing about chasing a dream is comfortable. We must overcome the fear in our journey. I take on comfortable because it is easy/safe. Nothing about life is suppose to easy. When we get uncomfortable allows God's glory to get us through. Stepping forward in this new season where I am striving to get uncomfortable it can be as easy a my new haircut enough change to mix it up. If I keep going this will become easier and eas

Did you know that is ocean is blue because it’s the color that’s least absorbed by seawater. Most of the time the ocean appears to be blue because this is the color our eyes see. But the ocean can be many other colors depending upon particles in the water, the depth of the water, and the amount of skylight. As well as 71% of the Earth's surface is made up of water. This past weekend I was fortunate enough to spend my vacation at the beach. It inspired me because of it's beauty. There something about the ocean that is majestic. I could stare at the ocean for hours and not grow tired of the sound or the crashing waves. It became hypnotic. My entire visit I kept thinking how amazing it was that the Lord created it. How in awe I was when I sat there and tried to comprehend it. I couldn't help but think of the song "How He Loves us." If Gods grace is an ocean were all sinking. If we truly think deeper into that statement it can be quite intense to think of the

We often times go through life wondering if we matter to anyone. Hoping and yearning to be appreciated for the gifts we have or the talents that we have been given. Aimlessly wandering through this life praying that someone will give us the credit or the attention we desire. I have fallen victim to this mentality. Hoping that someone will tell me how great I am, and how much of a difference I make. Well today I am here to tell you that you matter. You make a difference and the world is a better place because you are in it. Don't fall victim into anyone telling you any differently. Today is your day to take the stand and allow this to be your time. You can impact the world one person at a time. If you give one person each day the attention that you feel you need. If you are craving it then think about the rest of the world feeling the same way. Tell someone you come into contact with today or tomorrow how great they are. How much they matter in this world. I guarantee you th

Dear God, First of all I just want to say that I don't envy your job. I think it is the hardest job ever created. Watching the ones you love make terrible mistakes and still finding it in your heart to love them. Loving them Not for the mistakes they have made, but for who you created them to be. It's amazing to me, thinking of how far you went to show your love, sending your one and only son to die for the sins of the world. That is an incredible sacrifice that I know I don't thank you enough for. Today I am writing you because I like everyone else, just wanted to spend sometime with you and hope you we can talk about your word and how it applies to my life. As you know you have blessed me with so much, and given me the ability to chase my dreams and encourage others along the way. I often think about the people that you have placed in my life, and am in awe at the great gifts they are. My questions is, why do I place my value in what people think of me and not

When I think of what I am trying to do with( CBEX ) the thought of Christopher Columbus comes to mind. "In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue." Think of the faith that took, people most certainly said that he was crazy to go and explore this unknown land. Not even knowing if he would get there or what it might take on the journey to the new land. He pioneered a journey to a place that had only been heard of before, but going to this new land taking only past experiences, and not having any knowledge of the new. Pushing past the negative opinions of others and having full confidence in who he reported to. Leading a team who trusted in Columbus because they had confidence in his leadership and who he reported to. I apply a lot of this logic on my current endeavors into pioneering the unknown. Webshows are a thing of the future, and CBEX is about all of that. We are walking into the unknown, and applying new strategies. Some think we are crazy, and many

I often think if I could go back, what would I tell myself. How would I best equip myself with the knowledge and wisdom to gain in my past years. I wanted to write a letter to myself a year ago giving the best advice I could give my 26 year old self. Dear 26, This year will begin for you as a journey through a time that you will never forget. You will achieve things that you had only dreamed of in the past. It will take require a lot of courage from you, and it will not be comfortable. You will need to push past the adversity. Dreams are a funny thing and can be scary, but what in life isn't scary. After this year you will learn that nothing in life is guaranteed, and everything is worked for. Your year will begin with some incredible experiences, starting with an fantastic trip with some of your best friends to Florida. Spending the weekend in Destin just hanging with people that are there for one reason and one reason only, and that is to "Be Still." Learni

The other day I went running outside. I ran a major highway I live right next to. I started strong, running down the hill at full speed. My tunes blasting in my ear. Grooving to the beat, and I was happy with myself. I then reached my local Kroger and decided it was time to turn around and head back. I was walking to cool down from the first leg of my journey. I then convinced myself at a certain point I would begin running again. I finally reached that point and Wrecking Ball came across my Google player. I remember thinking I am going to run this race. I started gaining speed when all of a sudden from out of no where, this older gentleman came running past me. I thought what the heck, this should not be happening. I am younger and I should be able run faster than him. So I start trying to race this man, thinking I have something to prove. I then, started increasing my speed. Thinking I am going to beat this man. When I started thinking that this often applies to life. We run at