Longing for Something Different

This past year has seemed especially difficult. Natural disasters, international tensions, shootings, bombings, all on top of our personal hardships that wear us down repetitively. And while it seems like this year has been particularly difficult, which I believe it has been, these hardships have always been a component of the story-line.

Just a couple weeks ago we remembered the terrible event 12 years ago, that shook our nation and demonstrated just how evil man can be and just how much pain a people can endure. And this isn't by any means the lone instance of this. Just think back to history class when we learned of all of the suffering that has occurred in the history of mankind, let alone just in the past century.

Oppressive leaders, sex-trafficking, child abuse, poverty, racism, hunger, disease and illness, war, genocide, slavery, domestic violence.... Our news is saturated with hard times, sad stories of pain, and the cruel actions of so many people. But is this new? Has there ever been a peaceful time? A time without pain, or hardship, or suffering? A time where everyone treated everyone else with complete respect and received the same?

It seems like a lofty thing for us to ask of humanity (this whole peace and love thing), and yet isn't that what we hope for? Why do we feel as if the world should be different if this is all we've experienced? Hardships, pain, and turmoil is "normal", the only thing we've known, and yet we long for something different. It's like desiring apple pie when you haven't tasted apples or pie before.

So have you personally ever noticed this gap? Have you longed for a better world despite the repetitive failure of our circumstances to even come close to meeting that expectation. If many people desire an ideal world, which I believe many of us do, it says a lot about who we are. Exhausted, we may start to give up hope, but even if we start to accept the status quo, the reality is we still preferred something else. We crave something this world isn't offering.

So is this "better world" attainable? Is there a legitimate hope that exists for something different than the status quo? And if so, what do we rest our hope in?

Those are the big questions.

I'm going to offer my worldview and I would encourage you to keep reading, and join the conversation.

It was when I saw how messed up this world is, the pain we all endure, my own shortcomings in being a "good" person, and the trouble and hardships I've caused others, that I first realized the gap between what I longed for in the world and reality.

I believe that this gap can only be crossed with the help of Jesus Christ, who came and lived a perfect life, and sacrificed himself through death on a cross. God loved us enough to come down as a man, weak, tempted, beaten, mocked, and killed. He suffered like us. He shared in the hardships just so we could know him and know that He loved us and was willing to die for us. He died as an atonement for the mess that exists in our lives that has caused the turmoil and miseries of this world.

Even since Jesus' death and resurrection, his commandments to love one another and make disciples, has pushed the church into the next chapter of His story-line: to work on restoring this world to how it's supposed to be. A perfect community with God and one another, and without pain, hardship, suffering, or death. And he promised he would come again to restore this world completely, ridding it of all of its shortcomings.


A peaceful world is what we long for. On our own, we haven't been able to fix it, but God has entered our story, shared in our suffering, and has offered hope for a better world and a better life for those who follow. He has been, is, and will continue to be working to fix this world. It's a story that fits what can be observed about this world. It's a story that offers hope in the midst of sadness and despair. It's a story that if true, changes everything.

These struggles we go through are real. The pain is real. But there's hope given that says it's only temporary and that it will be dwarfed by the happiness and fulfillment of what's to come. I long for the day, when I experience something different. Much, much, much different.

4 Common Misconceptions About Eternal Life

Despite growing up going to church, I never really understood eternal life. I was fine with the idea of being surprised at life's end as to whether or not heaven exists. I mean I've been a "pretty good" person so I'll live life and then confront whatever may be next when it's in front of me. But for those who enjoy asking tough questions and looking for answers, or what constitutes to some people as intellectuals, society's common depiction of heaven can be troubling.

But this depiction that is commonly pondered on is based off of incorrect conceptions about what eternal life really is, and I think these same misconceptions prevent so many from understanding Christianity and what it's purpose is. I want to discuss 4 of the misconceptions I personally had that, when found to be incorrect, changed my view on the faith entirely. I love thinking through deep stuff like this and I hope you enjoy and take something from some of my thoughts from the past couple months.

1. Eternal Life is Simply Living Forever.

I'm a drummer and my family would tell you that I never stop drumming on something at all times. The steering wheel during drives to and from work, the kitchen table during dinner, railings go up and down the stairs... You get the picture. But the idea of doing something, heck even drumming, forever seems well... pretty boring.

In the same way, I had always found the idea of heaven to be well.... boring. Heaven was a bunch of people, clothed in white, in the clouds, behind those pearly gates, playing harps and singing hymns together forever and ever. On and on... and on........ and you get the picture...

This life looked so much more fun than heaven did, and therefore heaven deserved to take the backseat in priorities to my own life here. Living forever might be fun for a few months, I guess years if you keep meeting new people, but after a while... yawn...

But this belief that it's simply living forever, strips "eternal life" of it's greatest characteristic. In the Gospel John, Jesus states,

"... I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
                                                                                                             - John 10:10 -

He doesn't state that he has come so they may live forever. He states that they may have life, and have it to the full.

When we say eternal life, so much pivots around both of these words:  Eternal and Life.

Life is something that is quantifiable. One can have a lot of life, while another can have very little, seemingly dead. Often we look at it as unchangeable and that we're each given one and it's a life regardless of how it's lived. I would argue that we can have an abundance or scarcity of life.

Think about it. Two drivers on the road are both cut off by an aggressive driver. One of them reacts by flipping off the guy who cut him off and lets this detract from the rest of his day and makes him miserable with other people. The second driver, who realizes the insignificance of what has been done to him, realizing he's okay and didn't crash, and doesn't let it affect his life and relationships with others. This is definitely an extremely simplified situation but hopefully it helps illustrate the point.

And Eternal. While we often associate this with unlimited time, it actually is meant to quantify the amount of life that is offered to us. Think of never ending life being represented by an infinitely long string along a timeline. What real eternal life is that same string of infinite length, but also with an infinite thickness. It's about experiencing an infinite quality and quantity of life forever.

I think we can all say this world is difficult and trying. Multiple shootings, natural disasters, and heart-wrenching stories have occupied our news, especially this past year it seems. Living forever doesn't really fix that, but an abundance of "life", now that sounds enticing and worth looking for.

2. Eternal Life Starts at Death

The light. The moment when we pass from this world and continue on to whatever comes next. A man stands there (I guess this is God) and he determines whether or not you get eternal life and go to heaven, or go to hell. This is the common perception of when eternal life begins.

Growing up, I saw a huge disconnect between this life and this supposed eternal life. It seemed like it was simply a hope for people that needed lemonade in a world that was handing them a ton of lemons. This life seemed "fine" in many respects, and it was difficult to buy into the belief that we would live an entire life here, have it end, and then start another like this one never happened. And when things seem disconnected, one has a legitimate reason to question them. But I think it's the fault of our culture's oversimplification of eternal life that has led to this disconnect.

C.S. Lewis' book The Great Divorce I believe paints a better picture of when eternal life starts, or better yet, when the progression for it starts. He throughout his book emphasizes that right now, in this life, on a daily basis we can either gain life or lose it. Jesus said that he came so that may have life and have it to the full, which means that it wasn't here before. Power, riches, beauty, sex, relationships, and titles have all been pursued by man as a way of achieving fulfillment, and yet time and time again we have seen how they have failed to fill the void in the individual that longs for purpose and significance and often left them a more deteriorated and lost individual. Christ showed us how to live a full life and then provided the forgiveness, mercy, and sacrifice to enable us to have it.

So in a world that tries to continuously feed us lies about what will make us happy and give us a worthwhile life, I would argue there is only one way to a fullness of life. It starts here and now, not after death.

3. Eternal Life Can Be Earned.

God opens the books and weighs the scales to see how much good and how much bad we've done. It's simple and it's fair. Like karma, if you do good things, good things happen to you like receiving eternal life. If you do bad things bad things happen to you, you're going to hell. It's balanced and just.

But when you realize you're not as good as you thought before, you start to give more thought to what the whole point of this life is. Could I even earn eternal life if I tried? And what does eternal life look like?

How could an imperfect person be in the presence of a perfect God? If I've made but one mistake, how could I possibly be fit for heaven?

"For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
                                                                                                       - Romans 6:23 -

God doesn't want to judge and keep people out of heaven. He wants to be with us and doesn't want us to experience death.

The ultimate way to demonstrate ones love for someone, would be to give up one's life for that person to save them, right? A close family member or a significant other is about to walk in front of a speeding vehicle and you dive in and push them out of the way taking the punishment.

Simply put. That's what Jesus did when he died on the cross. Sin earns death, and death is the absence of life. This world will wear us down if you don't have anything that's able to fill you up and give you life. He took the sins that deserve death from those who believe in who he claimed to be, and gives the eternal life he had to those same individuals. It was a demonstration of love. It was God showing just how much he loved mankind and how much he wanted us to be with him. We don't earn eternal life, it's a gift from God, sitting in front of us waiting to be opened.

4. Heaven's Boring

A cartoon version of heaven may work for children but as an adult, I refuse to believe such a childish idea. As I hit my teenage years, I really had a hard time accepting heaven when it was often portrayed like fantasy. As much as I wanted to believe it because my church, and family believed it, I couldn't myself. It wasn't until I realized how unlike those typical depictions heaven really was, that I actually committed to believing in it. I'd like to briefly describe as best as I can what I think heaven will really look like. This are small glimpses into what I believe is impossible for us to completely explain or grasp.

Community. First off heaven is a community that is built on 100% pure relationships. Look at the elements of two or three of your best relationships in life. Think about some of the intimacy, trust, and love that is experienced in these. Now imagine that this exists between everyone, where there is no fighting between individuals, there is no sadness or hurt feelings, and everyone can find pure joy in everyone else.

Freedom. It's a life away from so many of the things that restrict life like listed before. The pursuit of money, power, glory, and pleasure are all intrinsically valueless, and heaven provides fulfillment and frees the individual to satisfy the hunger and thirst for pure life that they long for.

Transformation. It's not just about living forever. It's much more about becoming more of who we were intended to be. Imagine a life without guilt, without disappointment in yourself because God has helped you reach the pinnacle where you no longer hurt others.

We often look externally, to possessions and experiences, for excitement and fail to see all the opportunity within the individual and especially within relationships to experience excitement. I think heaven presents a beautiful environment for us to experience those jaw dropping experiences but most importantly within perfect relationships and as the people we were intended to be, pure and without sin. Thanks for reading!

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."
                                                                                                          - Matthew 7:7-8 -

Changing for Better or for Worse?

Well these past four years sure did go by fast, and upon reflection it's amazing how much I believe I've changed since my freshman year. I can remember auditioning for the Blue Band and then thinking that so much of my self-worth was riding on that result. I remember  planning to pursue engineering because I enjoyed the subject, but also because I wanted to live comfortably and this occupation would give me the money to do so. I remember thinking that wearing your dorm key on a lanyard was cool. I couldn't have been more wrong on all three (especially that last one).

We are constantly changing. Day-to-day we may seem the same person, but really reflect over the past few years or even months and I'm sure there's something that has changed in your personality, your temperance, your desires, or your dreams. To believe that we are unchanging, that we can't grow and develop or diminish and decay, can be dangerous. The truth is, we are taking one of those two paths in almost every situation. So are you changing for better or for worse?

First, what are you working towards? What is culminating goal that you have set for yourself? Your final destination dictates the trajectory that you will try to take and therefore should be given much thought. The thing to watch for though is that in pursuit of this goal, does it cause you as a person to grow or deteriorate? Pursuit of happiness, a common goal for people, could lead to the compro In the grand scheme of life though, lanyards are of much less importance than things like relationships and our contributions to our community. The goal you have makes you more aware of the progress or the retrogression you make over time.

Second, what setting are you putting yourself in? A plant placed in fertile soil with plenty of nutrients will often thrive more successfully than when it's planted in a bunch of rocks. Are you surrounding yourself with groups that instill good values and support for you? I wrote a post before called "The Rule of Five" which talks about this exact topic. The people we surround ourselves with will have a big impact on who we change into.

Lastly, what attitude do you have regarding change? In Luke 18, Jesus tells a parable about the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. They both go into the temple to pray. The Pharisee was prideful and lists off all of the great things he does and then lists the ways that he is better than the Tax Collector. But the Tax Collector simply humbles himself and asks for mercy. Humility leads to positive change because it allows us to recognize our shortcomings instead of keeping them in the dark. We can always find worse actions of others to compare ourselves to. If we use these actions to justify our actions ourselves entirely we're in trouble.

This world is changing, and watching the news lately I have been deeply saddened by just how much more pain, violence, deceit, and discouragement there has been lately. We all contribute to how this world changes, for better or for worse and we probably contribute more bad than often we would like to admit. So let's do our best with what we have because we could always use more people consciously trying to change for the better.

Unanswered Questions

People act weird sometimes... I mean, isn't it strange some of the habits we have? All of the tendencies and social norms that we adopt as we age. They are natural reactions that are cued by scenarios that we are presented everyday and they are almost all dictated by what society as a whole has deemed "correct" or "wrong."

Andrew Hales has a whole YouTube channel dedicated to forcing these awkward situations. Here's a great video of him putting people in one of his socially awkward situations.

As much as I love the awkwardness of seeing how people react to Andrew trying to hold their hand in this video, I think we can easily observe these strange tendencies in an "unfabricated" setting. The typical classroom situation where the teacher asks, "Does anyone have any questions?" is my favorite. The teacher opens the discussion to anyone in the class to speak up, and students with questions look around unable to get themselves to just raise their hand. Students turn their heads side-to-side, avoiding eye contact with the teacher, and hoping someone will ask their same question so they can get the answer without all the attention of the class. Embarrassed about not knowing everything, we are afraid of just the thought of asking a question. 

Two years ago, two big life questions were constantly on my mind.

1. What is my purpose in this life?

And, 

2. Why is it that no matter how hard I try, I can't be as good of a person as I feel I should be?

Up to this point, I had refused to address deep questions like this, unable to quote-on-quote "raise my hand" in life, and I enjoyed the simple life where I acted like I knew all the answers afraid to come across as not knowing. But then I realized, if I don't ask I'll never know. Something has to be true. There must be an answer, whether I ask the question or not, and I want to know it.

But who do you ask to answer these questions? And if many people claim no one can know the answers to these questions, why ask at all? Sticking with the classroom scenario, if in the classroom the answer to a question could determine whether or not you pass or fail the course would you ask it?

I ran into students at Penn State who lived with a purpose, and seemed to be living a good life and wanting to know what made them different I spent time with them and learned from them. I asked questions. The answer to those two questions came from people I barely knew explaining the story of Christ to me.

This is still the only answer that appropriately answers all of my questions about humanity, this world, our past, our purpose, and what our future will look like. For the first time ever I was in a classroom where I wanted to ask the teacher every question I had and could come up with. And every step of the way that teacher has followed through on answering those questions, because I asked Him.

We all have questions, and there are answers to those questions whether we ask for them or not. And by no means have I had all of mine answered. But in times of doubt He has "conveniently" had me read the stories of Gideon, David, and Thomas, who doubted the existence or plans of God also. Yet God/Jesus was patient with them and helped them step-by-step in overcoming these questions and doubts. He's not expecting us to understand everything right away. He wants us to ask questions about Him and His purpose for this world and watch as our questions get answered.

I still don't have all the answers, but I had found where I could get them from and I have never felt more fulfilled than in these moments when I learn from Him. Every day that I spend time reading His Word more truths become visible and present. I believe we all have those moments where truths about this world "resonate."

Andrew and some of the individuals in that video embraced the awkwardness and some didn't. I find the ones who play along or have fun remarks afterwards are more enjoyable to watch than those who are annoyed. Are you willing to embrace going against the social norm of staying quiet?

Are you willing to ask questions? Are you willing to ask the tough questions? To come across as the person who maybe doesn't know everything? Because that may be the most freeing decision you ever make in your life. It was for me.

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."

                                                                                                     - Matthew 7:7-8 -

Relatability

It's been about nine months since I started this blog, and I have yet to write about my initial vision for these posts. What is "The Modern Shepherd?" I mean, I titled my whole blog after this, and to this date I have yet to really touch on its meaning. Modern.... meaning contemporary, or current. And shepherd... a job that symbolizes leadership and is about as "un-modern" of an occupation as it gets. I wanted to create a blog that presented ideas about what attributes would make the ideal leader but for a year I've been silent on this probably because I was trying to figure out for myself what a leader does, or is.

Maybe it's not really a particular skill-set that one can acquire that makes a leader. It's a mind-set and a particular heart that will make someone successful. I believe that we are all called to be leaders in particular situations and in particular times. The questions we should be asking are "When and where will this opportunity present itself?" and "Will I be ready?"

These past two presidential elections, the term "relatable" has been thrown around more than I can recall in previous elections. Of course, I was much younger and less invested in them, but in a time of economic-turmoil and great struggles, the magnitude of the candidates' relatability has taken precedence. How can an individual who never experienced scarcity and the day-to-day struggles of so many Americans properly lead this country filled with people living in those exact conditions? Or from the "glass is half-full" perspective, wouldn't a leader who has been through these same struggles understand us and what we need more?

I am not trying to state that one party is greater than another, or one individual is greater than the other. On a side note, I would say that government is much more complex than appealing to the needs of one group and therefore relatability is not the sole reason for choosing a particular party or individual. But, rather this illustrates how we all look to a leader who understands us. We all want to be led by someone who shares in our pain, joy, struggles, and victories. We all believe in this ideal leader who completely understands us. We all believe in the Modern Shepherd.

It's about being the leader you want others to be. Makes sense and it seems simple enough. Yet oftentimes, I find myself falling short here. Share in the happiness and struggles of the lives of your peers. Like a shepherd, be in the same field as your sheep. In each individual case this will look differently because the leadership itself looks different. Some environments are more formal than others. Some groups are larger than others and thus present you with more people to lead and invest in. Sometimes leadership is an informal relationship like being the friend or stronghold when a loved one is lost or life gets difficult. But no matter the scenario, there is a way to be relatable, engaging, in touch, and invested in others.

By no means am I good at being relatable. In the repetitive grind of school and extracurricular activities it is difficult to find the time to invest in others and just spend time with them. But I wonder what the world would look like if we all invested in others like this. What if we all were Modern Shepherds constantly looking out for those we lead?

As a wrap-up, four men experienced over 4 weeks what the lives of millions of Haitians had been for months at this point, in an attempt to understand how they can best help them. I think this captures relatability in its purest sense and sheds light on what leadership like this can do for others as well as ourselves.

The Danger of Relativity

I thought taking philosophy during my last semester was going to be a fun and "eye-opening" class that would be great to end college with. But early in the semester I am realizing that it wasn't exactly what I expected.

Fun at times, but often frustrating, this class has opened my eyes. Everything is relative in this class. Everyone's beliefs belong to them, and there is neither truth nor falsehood. These class discussions were going nowhere because the barrier of relative truth stands in the way.

Like everyone it seems these days, at first it seemed there was no better forum to spew out my annoyance and opinions than Facebook and I posted this:

"Philosophy - the art of asking questions without ever having the intention of answering them, and rejecting all notions of truth to avoid the feeling of needing to change ourselves or our society"

I removed it quickly because I realized that it wasn't completely true, and that it shouldn't be true. We can look at philosophy and find the answers to our questions. Sometimes the truth doesn't feel so good, and that's where this class has been stopping. What's the point of searching for an answer if we shy away from anything that might say we were initially wrong?


We were discussing Ralph Waldo Emerson's work entitled "Circles."

His argument is that because nature is constantly evolving and because our actions seek to "outdo" previous actions that there can be no universal truth, because the truth of reality is consistently changing. That for every circle drawn, every horizon we see, we are able to draw another circle outside of it or go beyond that horizon. We are essentially limitless.

His discussion of growth and development is clearly a part of life, and it is engrained into every aspect of the world. We live in a world that has a story to it. It is progressing. It has a plot line. So I agree with his idea of pursuing excellence and development but there are two problems I find in his conclusion.

 

1. Just because the world is changing does not mean that there is no existence of an overarching truth.

 

2. And just because growth is not limited in certain aspects of our life, does not mean that we have no limitations.

Here's an illustration of that first point. A doctor is diagnosing a patient. Given the symptoms, the doctor is able to bring down the possible source or cause of illness down to 10 possibilities. Even though the doctor is not completely sure at first which of these 10 are in fact the true source of sickness, we cannot conclude that nothing is causing an illness. We can't state that because we don't know, that nobody knows or that there isn't a true illness causing it. Our perception and knowledge have no influence on truth.

Or take this example. One thousand years ago, if I had two rocks and a friend gave me two more rocks, I would have four rocks. The same would be true today, ten thousand years ago, and ten thousand years in the future.

And if someone were to state that I in fact had five rocks and not four, would we conclude that because we can't agree that therefore to me it is four rocks and to him it is five? Would we say the number of rocks is relative? Or would we say that it is impossible to know the truth because there are conflicting perspectives?

There are laws and facts that do in fact stay true throughout time and so to say everything is relative is to not address the point that there is some storyline that is existent in this universe. Whether or not it is a good or bad story is another discussion.

And despite the fact that everyone's carrying cell phones, driving cars, flying across the globe, and are more immersed in a technology-driven world, have we really changed over time?

Have we changed? Shootings and wars still occur. People steal and people lie just like they did centuries ago. We stab the backs of others, we look out for number one despite the small internal urge that throughout time has told us to care for others and to be above these temptations and poor moral decisions.

To answer the second point, the shortcomings of man's ability to abide its own moral code is a circle we can't break out of and that we clearly have limitations on.

Until we acknowledge our own boundaries and limitations, we will continue to accept the notion that truth is relative. And as long as we believe this statement, that essentially states that you don't have to and shouldn't align yourself with anything that may suggest that we change. And the big danger of relativity is that we may just be missing out on hearing the truth.

The Chief Good

Inspired by Ethics by Aristotle.

It still hasn't hit that I'm about to start my final semester here at Penn State. And the crazy thing is that there is still an unsettled feeling about the next step. But do we ever feel completely comfortable about what life brings next? Going from middle school to high school. The transition to college. Taking on a first full-time job. Switching jobs or moving. Marrying and having kids. I haven't personally gone through all of these, but I believe I can say that at each turn in life, there are questions to be answered, doors to be opened, and big decisions to be made.

And as I look back, these past four years are culminating with this next step in life; leaving the "bubble" that is State College, to go into the "real world". All of the classwork, internships, and research has been directed toward this next step. Upon reflection, I can say that my life these past several years has primarily revolved around this pursuit of a career I desire. But how much of my life should revolve around this? What am I striving for? And should I go through life simply taking it year by year with the end goal being the desired next step?

It's officially 2013. And many take time at the beginning of each year to make resolutions or changes to themselves to make a stride toward a better future. But how deep are they typically? Usually they rarely get past the level of "I plan to remove Twinkies from diet" or "I plan to run a half marathon this year as a goal for getting in shape". My point is not to diminish the importance of these changes but to suggest there are potential changes with very great importance.

Have you ever sat back and thought about what it was you were working towards in life? What would make you life complete? What would make your life worthwhile? Is it happiness? Is it success? Money? A relationship? A nice house?

Why does the pursuit of this deserve the investment of your life?


The Chief Good; an idea proposed by Aristotle, is the focal point of all of our effort, energy, time, and resources. That our entire lives revolve around this one thing that we are striving for. The Chief Good has to be the root of our pursuit. Therefore "happiness" cannot be a Chief Good because it relies on something(s) to provide happiness. The Chief Good is not vague but very specific.

Personally, I believe my Chief Good has been security. Risk rarely could be justified in my life, and taking chances was never something I was comfortable with. I wanted a job that would produce financial stability so that I wouldn't have to worry about my level of comfort. I didn't want to have to worry or be reliant on anyone else. Simply put, I wanted a smooth-sailing life. During these past couple years, I realized just how self-centered that was and that that's not how life is meant to be lived.

And I'm making a conscious effort to try to change it. After much thought and reflection, I personally could find only one Chief Good in life that was a clear direction for me, and would provide pure completeness. I've realized that God is the center of everything and that I want to glorify Him in response to the the mercy He's demonstrated for me. And other chapters of life fit into this greater storyline. At the end of my life, "completeness" will come from investing myself in ways that aligns with God's plan for this earth and my life.

So what's your Chief Good? What resolution have you made or are you going to make in 2013 and the rest of your years beyond? In the rush of life, sometimes a step back to see where we are going is needed. I hope you find that break early this year. Happy New Year everyone! I wish you all a very fulfilling 2013.