Unique Meaning ("Man's Search For Meaning" pt. 2)

As human beings we are on a continual search for puropse and "the meaning of life". Victor Frankl writes that in one's pursuit of an over-arching meaning of life on a grand scale, we miss the meaning that is found in the day to day, hour to hour.

"What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment...Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone's task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it."

When the fullness of what Frankl writes hits us, we will find great tragedy and loss with those who "wander" this life. For it is not merely "their loss", but ours...the community's loss of a unique contribution in which they were designed to make.

It becomes all of our responsibility to foster within our self, but even more, one another, the pursuit of that uniqueness, that in the discovery of that meaning "whole" might greatly benefit.

Kawasaki Kids

Cultivators of Dignity

Our greatest call is to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbor as our self...the two are inseparable. Our lives should reflect and impart to others that they are intricately made in the image of the Creator...they are of worth because they are image bearers of God.

Our history of humanity has been plagued by severe lapses in our God given command. Out of our xenophobia we have turned to defending "self" and terrorizing the "other". The benefit of this exchange has been (and always will be) "self" (identity is protected, safety guarded), at the expense of the "other" (now entrenched in worthlessness and fear). This is a win-lose scenario (win for "self", lose for "other").

This "win", however, is short sighted. True wholeness comes not when one person, or a particular people group are lifted up over and against another, but when all people stand in solidarity with one another. Our distinctive as kingdom people is not compatible with the self preservation model of our culture. The metaphors our Savior gives us (take up your cross, wash one another's feet, save his life will lose it) point us in a direction of selflessness, service, and sacrifice.

This is "our" call; all of us. In the hope that in it and through it, identity, worth, and dignity would be found for all people.

To What End? (Love Is An Orientation pt. 4)

Part of re-framing the relationship between the Evangelical community and the Gay/Lesbian community requires a dismantling of the following question:

What goal are we (the Evangelical community) trying to accomplish with them (the Gay/Lesbian community)?

This question generates all sorts of answers from: "Helping them see their sin so they can remain celibate" to "Seeing them healed of their same-sex attraction so they can enter into a heterosexual relationship".

This question is poorly framed for the following reasons:

1. Instead of looking for common ground it further divides people into categories of "us" vs. "them" .

2. The question assumes that it is "our" job to "fix" another human being and in doing so we presuppose our relationship over and against the work of God in the life of another individual.

3. It creates a hierarchy of relationship; making a mutually benefiting relationship extremely difficult.

Conversation with those in the Gay/Lesbian community needs to happen in a manner free from agenda. When we approach people with an agenda we error in trying to conform them into our image. Agenda is one-sided. Agenda is different than intentionality. Intentionality suggests a deliberate, "careful" approach; one which allows people to share with a patient, gracious, intentional love. In doing so space is created for God to transform each one of us in his image. We need to be intentional.

In speaking of God's transforming work in our lives, I am not suggesting we are working toward some type of "de-gay-i-fi-cation" (see the movie Saved for reference) for our gay brothers and sisters. Instead we are elevating the conversation from a focus of sexuality to focus on identity and intimacy.

"What then is the goal?" That all of us would grow in an intimate relationship with the God who loves us so deeply that he expressed through his son Jesus; that as we grow more intimate with the Creator we would pursue his kingdom, continually (never claiming to have arrived), casting off all other things that promise intimacy, identity, and self-worth.

May we focus on loving God and loving people, and trust God to work in God's way and in God's time.

Luke's Frog

Tuning Out TV

My family canceled cable TV at the first of the year. We did this because we noticed that the TV was becoming an easy default when there was "nothing to do". Our kids would watch it any chance they had (after homework was finished of course) and Misty and I would channel surf just to "see what's on".

The TV in our home was like the snack cupboard in the kitchen, you're not really hungry, but when you walk by it you are bound to eat something. Our family "ate" a lot of TV.

So we made the decision to get rid of cable TV (our objective was to get rid of "useless" channels, cut some excess spending, and stay connected through the free TV aired by the major networks). Down-grading would be easy, after all, we would still get local channels right?....nope. Rabbit ears were useless in trying to tune in our favorite network shows.

So here our 50 inch plasma sits...virtually useless since January 1, anxiously awaiting those few moments it gets to fulfill its calling through the Wii or a DVD (those elements aren't off limits...just monitored for time).

I remember when Misty and I first told the kids we were canceling cable TV; they cried...yeah, really (Sponge Bob junkies going through withdrawal). We missed elements of it as well (no more Today Show with coffee in the morning and no more LOST in HD).

Yet since we've tuned out TV we've noticed several things change in our daily living: our kids no longer beg us for the "latest and greatest" that is advertised to children a zillion times a day, we spend more time reading and playing together as a family, and we find ourselves going to bed getting up earlier (giving us a more productive day).

There may come a time when we decide to re-connect our cable TV, but for now we are enjoying being tuned out to TV and tuned in to family.

What are other "snack cupboards" we should try and limit in our life?

Meaning and Suffering ("Man's Search For Meaning" pt. 1)

"Man's Search For Meaning" is Victor Frankl's most notable published work. In the 1958 book Dr. Frankl recounts his experience lived out in the Nazi concentration camps from September 25, 1942-April 27, 1945. While there are several vivid stories of life (if one could call it that) in the concentration camp (stories of excruciating labor, humiliation, and beatings) the focus of the book is to point beyond the suffering in such a way as to find meaning.



Frankl writes on the use of suffering: "I consider it a dangerous misconception of mental hygiene to assume that what man needs in the first place is equilibrium or, as it is called in biology, 'homeostasis,' i.e., a tensionless state. What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.



We are taught to avoid suffering at all costs...it is the American way. Yet is is the American pursuit of comfort and ease (pursuit of the "tensionless state") that does little to develop a greater sense of purpose within our own human existence. Although not always welcomed, it is through suffering, pressure, and trial that one's meaning can truly develop and strengthen.