Hello all. It has been a long time since I posted. I am updating this site to compliment my YouTube Channel
EXCUSES OR REASONS?
What’s your excuse?
Let’s be honest—we all have them. For different situations, different seasons, different fears. But today I want to talk about something specific: excuses versus reasons.
My name is Bob, and this is Common Man Faith—a place where I share my faith, music, and sometimes just some honest rambling.
This one’s a little more personal. I want to talk about the excuses that kept me from starting this channel…and the much bigger excuses that once kept me from making a spiritual decision.
Excuses Are Easy
Let’s start small.
It took me over a year to finally pull the trigger and start a YouTube channel and return to this site.. I thought about it constantly—and talked myself out of it constantly.
My setup isn’t appealing.
Ugly wall. Bad colors.
I don’t have good gear.
I don’t have anything worth saying.
I’m not good at this stuff.
And on and on it went.
But here’s the truth.
This isn’t a professional studio—but with a little effort, I can make it work. Put the camera where you can’t see the ugly stuff. Shoot at the right time of day so the window light is manageable and even helps. I added a couple inexpensive lights from Amazon. Helpful, but not required.
Gear?
I already had a laptop and a phone—so I already had a camera and a microphone. That is what you need for a YouTube channel. You don’t even need both.
I already owned an interface for my guitar and a better mic.
That interface came with a full-featured DAW—for free.
I had a webcam that I used for work calls.
OBS is free video software.
DaVinci Resolve is free editing software.
So no—gear wasn’t a reason.
It was just an excuse.
Something to say?
I’ve written songs.
I have a faith story.
Turns out… I do have something to say.
So what actually stopped me?
Fear.
Fear of not being good enough. Or as good as others
Fear of looking foolish.
Fear of negative comments.
Fear of learning new skills.
Fear of being seen.
Fear of being vulnerable.
Once I was honest with myself, every excuse fell apart. Not one of them was a legitimate reason.
And that’s how Common Man Guitar was born.
Bigger Excuses
Now let’s talk about something more personal—faith. Specifically, biblical Christianity.
I wasn’t raised in a Christian home. We weren’t hostile to faith—it just wasn’t a thing. AS children my parents saw no need to have my brother or I baptized, no Sunday school, no catechism or confirmation classes. Good moral home, but God simply wasn’t part of the conversation.
I was a Boy Scout, so I respected religion in theory. The Scout promise said reverence was important. If other people needed it, fine. I was a “good person.” That felt sufficient.
By high school, I was drinking, getting high, and deeply into rock and roll. Music—and especially the guitar—became my religion.
Around 1980, my parents were in a serious car accident. They walked away with only scratches and bruises. I attributed it to being in a 71 Chevelle. Those cars were built with steel and metal and the telephone pole was no match for that car.
My mom believed God had a reason for protecting them. She talked to a friend, visited a church, talked with the pastor and she got saved.
My dad started helping out using his electronics background. Eventually, he attended events, got saved himself, and went all in—studying to be an elder, teaching Sunday school, and eventually entering the pastorate.
Meanwhile, my partying escalated. Friends joked that I’d be “next to get saved.” I resisted hard.
But I did attend a men’s conference with the guys from my parents’ church. TO be nice to my parents.
And it wrecked my stereotypes.
These weren’t weak, passive men. They were mechanics, hunters, businessmen, athletes—real men, unafraid to be masculine, but also unafraid to be honest. Not the arrogant, abusive caricature
When the pastor, Brooke Solberg, gave the invitation, my right hand started to go up.
My left hand grabbed it—and I literally sat on my hands.
No way.
No way I was signing up for that.
No way I was facing my friends.
When Excuses Collapse
Eventually, my dad was installed as an elder, and I attended the ceremony. I started showing up on Sunday nights. Be a good son. And one night, the pastor—who was already a familiar face in our house—asked if he could talk with me.
I had my excuses locked and loaded.
I’ll lose my friends.
I’ll have to quit drinking and partying.
I’ll have to give up rock and roll for hymns and “kumbaya.”
I’ll have to cut my hair.
Change how I dress.
Change everything.
But as we talked, those excuses started falling apart.
If they’re really my friends, they won’t care.
Giving up drunkenness and substance abuse isn’t a loss.
I can still make music.
Who cares about my hair or my jeans?
Here’s the realization that hit me:
I didn’t have a single legitimate reason.
I couldn’t say I’d examined Christianity and proven it false.
I couldn’t say Jesus wasn’t real.
I couldn’t say the Bible was wrong.
All I had were opinions, assumptions, and fear.
Fear of what people would think.
Fear of giving up what I thought was fun.
Fear of losing control—of autonomy, of doing what I want to o not want some God or church or book says I should do.
When my beliefs clashed with God’s, I assumed I was right… without evidence.
So I surendered
Then the pastor showed me John 15:16:
“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit…”
And suddenly, everything clicked.
Looking Back
I remember my Boy Scout days. We were at a leadership weekend at Camp Lenape in NJ. And each troop had responsibility for a different part of the weekend. My troop was assigned to the Sunday church service, and I had to lead it. A guy who maybe went to Sunday School once and one funeral had to lead a church service. And all I had for a reference was the Scout handbook. I don’t remember what I did but I did it.
I remembered a girl in high school telling me how Jesus could wash away my sin—cast it as far as the east is from the west.
But I am young and have a life of rock and roll fun ahead of me.
I remembered finding a “Jesus Loves You” sign drawn in dirt after a fishing trip, with a Creation Festival flyer left in my car. So Christians do have music with guitars and drums. I did not go
The men’s conference.
Then three weeks before my fathers elder installation ceremony, in my 20’s getting chicken pox—three weeks quarantined in a house full of Bibles and Christian books.
All of it leading to that night in my parents’ living room.
And all my excuses crumbling under the weight of reality.
So… What About You?
That’s what excuses do.
They feel solid—until you examine them.
Most of the time, they’re just assumptions with no real evidence behind them.
So what excuses are you holding onto?
Maybe it’s starting a YouTube channel.
Asking someone out.
Learning an instrument.
Making a needed change.
Or maybe it’s Christianity itself.
Isaiah 1 says, “Come now, let us reason together.”
Not assume.
Not react emotionally.
Reason.
Evaluate.
Consider the facts.
Question honestly.
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But more than that—leave a comment.
Let’s reason together.
What excuses are holding you back from taking the first step?
Not every step. Just the first one.
And remember:
Create. Don’t Copy.
Common Man Faith 