Chris Burkmenn's Blog

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...

As I look behind with 26 years behind me and 9,497 days that have passed by. Today is a day that I reflect on the many things that I have in my life, and passed circumstances. This is my life as I have lived it. A view from the journey. My life has been a great ride, and it has been a difficult ride at the same time. I have learned so many valuable life lessons along the way. Live every minute as it was the last one that you have. No one can ever stop you, only you can stop yourself. If it's worth it chase it. Work was not made for the faint at heart. Every time you get knocked down you get back up. When going gets tough the tough get going. When life gets tough remember you are tougher. My life has been a chase, the chasing of my dreams. When I was a young boy I had dreams placed on my heart and I have been going after them ever since. When I turned 21 years old I was able to move to Nashville in the beginning of my ventures. My past has prepared me for this time....

A wise man once said, Martin Luther King Jr. Reading this quote, it helps me quite a bit. When I visualize what is being said, I feel it was reminiscent of what Jesus told us. Love your neighbor as I have loved you. John 13:34 In a world where there seems to be not enough love at times. Where hatred fills the media painting a picture that makes it seem as though all hope is lost. As though we are on a deserted island away from Jesus. When we think about it, we should never feel as though all hope is gone because we are the hope. Jesus did not say that love cannot exist without him on the Earth, He said love your neighbor as I have loved you. Which means that we must live by the example that he set forth. To be the love of the world  through Him. This quote speaks to me so much because at times I can feel as though injustice can over take me or that someone is being rude to me for no reason at all. My first instinct is to throw rudeness right back at them(lets be hones...

It is my true pleasure to bring all of you my #MusicMonday feature today, not only do I have an amazing interview. I get to debut this brand new layout for chrisburkmenn.com. So excited for the new look as well as all the things instore. Enough of that, getting back to todays feature. Nashville is a town full of talent, and hopefuls wanting to make it big. It's where dreams are born and also crushed. Today I am bringing to you a band that has proven that dreams do come true in this city. With a lot of hard work and for them the ride is just beginning to get crazy. With John&Jacob's schedule booking very quickly they still were able to take time and allow me the opportunity to interview them. I ran across their material on Lightning 100 a radio station here in Nashville and instantly fell in love with their song "Be My Girl." The song is so different to what we normally hear on the radio, and I knew when I heard it that this duo was going somewhere. When I...

I am very pleased and excited to share this news with you all!! It is official I will be having a brand new design shortly! Keep checking back!

Well it has been over a week since I last was able to gather my thoughts and put them together to produce something for you all to read. I needed sometime to just focus on the task at hand. #EncouragementWednesday is one of my favorite things to write for you all! It challenges me and makes me find encouragement for myself. It causes me to do some searching in who I am in order to give you the encouragement that you need.  So it can help you face your day. I am writing to you as a testimony of God's faithfulness today. As some of you may remember in May of this year, I left my full time job in order to pursue some new ventures in my life. Taking a step like that didn't hit me until my last day on the job. I had the "This is real life" moment. Especially as I walked out of those doors. After leaving, I began serving full time at Logan's Roadhouse in Cool Springs. It challenges me so much that you probably wouldn't believe it unless you came and worked ...