What to build a life on?

I watched a news conference with Rick Pitino this morning. If you don’t know who Rick Pitino is: he is the head basketball coach for the University of Louisville. He is prominent in his profession and has been successful in winning wherever he has been.

Here’s the situation Rick finds himself. Over a year ago Rick Pitino made the choice to have sex with a woman. Did I mention he was married and the woman he had sex with was not his wife? He did this more than one time and was even brazen enough to do it in the bathroom of a restaurant. Time passed and the woman blackmailed Rick demanding money. He said no to her demands and she claimed he raped her.

Fast forward to the past couple days. The media has reported on the story in very brash terms naming people places and dates. The news conference saw Rick lashing out at reporters for, well, reporting on the news of the case. Where Rick was coming from was a place of being beside himself because of what he described as his family going through ‘pure hell’ the past few months. This ‘pure hell’ escalated over the past couple days as the case received more airtime.

What I don’t understand is why Rick is trying to blame others for the emotional condition of his family. IF Rick would have kept his pants zipped his family would probably not be in the emotional state it is currently.

What has the world come to when a man can have sex with a woman who is not his wife, be blackmailed, accused of rape and then blame the media for the condition his family finds itself?

Rick, how is this anyone else’s fault but your own?

For the rest of us this should serve notice to take responsibility for our choices. If we have a moral, ethical or spiritual failure (all three of which are sin) there are consequences. For those of us who claim to follow Christ there is forgiveness of sin. That is something to build a life on.

Is happiness the end goal in life?

If you’ve read my through many of my blog posts you probably have noticed a theme. I like to look at two topics; positions or words that may seem to be the same but could be vastly different. Today is no different. I hear a lot of people talk about happiness as though it was the utlimate goal in life. And while that might be what people really truly want, they are not going to find it. Maybe it’s splitting hairs and I am being presumptive but happiness is not what you are looking for. Nor is happiness what your friends, family, coworkers or neighbors are searching out in life.

Happiness as defined by webster is a : a state of well-being and contentment; b : a pleasurable or satisfying experience.

Happiness is temporary, fleeting, passing, fading, short-termed etc. It is not something that lasts beyond the moment we are in. It is an emotion and for us as humans emotions betray us. We are ecstatic one moment and in ‘the dumps’ a few minutes later. We truly are fickle beings.

Really, happiness feeds our ego. Happiness is ripe with selfishness. Not always, but most of the time. If you stop to think about the emotion of happiness it is always dictated by our perception of what is going on. If we approve we are happy. If we disapprove or are disappointed by an outcome we have other emotions.

Happiness is strictly based on the experience of the moment and if we choose to live only in the moment, by the moment then our life will be a Jeckyll & Hyde existence. Up and down.

As humans we need something more to anchor our life to. We need something that goes beyond the emotions of the here and now. When a friend or loved one passes away we aren’t happy. When our favorite sports team loses we are not happy. And if we live for happiness we will be disappointed much of life.

Where does this leave us? For me I’ve tried to live my life with joy. Unfortunately joy and happiness tend to be used synonymously. But joy is much different. Joy is: a source or cause of delight (webster).

Joy comes from something beyond ourselves. Joy comes from knowing whether the day is good or bad (basis of happiness) we can live a life full. Joy comes from knowing a Truth that goes beyond ourselves, it is a basis for life.

For me joy comes from my Lord Jesus Christ. I hold Jesus to be Truth. I believe he is the source of my joy. Knowing that my life is grounded in something or I should say someone other than myself, who I believe created me is knowing that my life has greater purpose. I am not bound to the everday happenings of the world. I don’t have to live on the wave of emotion looking for the next ‘it’ that will bring me happiness. Why because I believe in someone greater than myself.

You might be saying to yourself “I have belief in someone other than yourself (government, spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, family etc).”

Here’s the problem: All of these are human and will let you down. There is not one human being alive today that will always choose right. There is not one organization or government that is reliable every day. Only a belief in God can bring the stability of true joy.

Does that mean I can’t experience happiness? No. I still experience the ups and downs of life BUT it doesn’t affect me in the long term. I am happy when my four year old learns to write a new letter of the alphabet. I am happy that my nine year old daughter finally rode her big bike and liked it. I was sad when our bunny rabbit was accidentaly crushed and killed. I was sad to hear that a woman had jumped off the I5 bridge last night. But none of these guide my life. Because I choose to live out of the joy Jesus Christ gives rather than the emotion of the day.

a new leprosy?

I recently read Shane Claiborne’s book The Irresistable Revolution. In his book he describes his time working with Mother Theresa in Calcutta. One of the areas he worked in specifically was the leper colony. Leprosy is a skin disease usually equated with outcasts of long ago civilizations. In reality it is very real today in mostly impoverished countries.

But, as Claiborne asserts, maybe there is a new leprosy among us. You see leprosy causes numbness of the skin and while leprosy is not prevalent (if it exists at all) in the United States as a physical malady, maybe it exists in another form. With the wealth this nation has it is easy to become numb in many other areas as Claiborne notes: “people who had forgotten how to feel, to laugh, to cry, a land haunted by numbness.”

Is this true? Are there people who have forgotten how to show emotion or empathy? Read any newspaper from across the country and you’ll find it to be true. Headlines of violent crimes that make no sense. Headlines of students attacking other students because of clothing or jewelry. Headlines of lavish wealth near abject poverty. These are not uncommon headlines. I realize these are extreme cases and not everyone is like this…or are we? In the instant gratification and wealthy society we have created it has become apparent we only care about one person; ourselves.

We have become numb to the plight of others around the world, around the U.S., around the state and around the corner. From the rape epidemic in the Congo to the people living in their cars in your neighborhood; it is apparent we don’t seem to care about others unless we are inconvenienced or it has to do with our spending power.

As the world shrinks through technology we become more aware of what is going on around the globe and across the street. The problem comes when we don’t care enough to do anything about it. Sure we might write a check and put it in the mail monthly or drop our spare change in the red buckets around Christmas time. If we have a little extra money we can buy a toy and drop it off somewhere so we don’t have to be bothered with delivering the gift(s) to the home ourselves or finding out what could truly be of use for the family. This makes us feel good. Keep everything at a distance – emotionally and physically.

We don’t feel anymore. We don’t really understand what hard times are. It’s true we are in an economically hard time right now but deciding whether to buy generic brand groceries and eat out a couple times that month or name brand food and not eat out does not constitute hard times! Deciding between premium gasoline or regular does not mean times are hard.

Unfortunately there is a cure for this disease. The cure is Jesus Christ. Follow him, desire what he desires and you feel emotion like you never thought possible. You see people in a whole new light. Your heart breaks over the family getting out of a van because they have no home. Compassion for a young man or woman with a furrowed brow trying to make it through the day when home life sucks. Pity for the person stumbling out of a liquor store attempting to drown his past.

This is what the numbness keeps us from and Jesus can cure the anesthetization of our souls. Jesus charged the church with spreading the cure, to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. The problem is the church is full of people sick with the new leprosy too and they don’t realize they have it.

The church is full of people who claim to follow one hour a week to live fully for Jesus but pass homeless people after leaving church without giving them a second thought. Christians say they want their hearts to break for the marginalized in society and build a mission trip one week a year to help the homeless and the hungry (which is better than nothing; I just wish it was more of a lifestyle than a church program).

It has to break the heart of Jesus to know that we think he died so we can live privileged lives while so many are on the streets hungry, cold, on the fringes of society. That’s where the church was formed but that’s not where it’s at today…unless it’s a mission trip.

Instead of going on a mission trip, live the mission 51 weeks a year and take a week of vacation. I mean it. What if you Jesus really meant for Christians to look for an opportunity to feed someone outside our family on a weekly basis or better yet, twice a week? What if Jesus really wanted you to spend time caring for the sick, personally. What if Jesus really meant for us to care for orphans (yes they still exist in the United States. You can adopt any one of many children without a permanent home) and widows (probably on your street or inside the church where you sit an hour a week). What if the church quit fleeing to the suburbs to hide and started moving to the fringe parts of society? What if Christians realized that living like Jesus was their job, your occupation happens to be the mission field and your paycheck are resources you are trusted to give away?

What if Christians realized there is a new leprosy and we are the infected?