The Source

I was talking to my roommate Alec last night and he proceeded to tell me that he didn't feel like he was ready to be or knew how to be a couple of things. A good son, a good boyfriend (he's single), a good husband, or a good father. I told him that: #1 you only need to worry about one of those right now, and #2 I'm not sure if we ever fully understand to how to be any of those.

          If I asked any of you how to be a good (_______) you would think about it for a bit and then either tell me you were not sure, or you would do your best to answer a question that can't be answered. But just for fun let's look at some of the stereotypical answers. A good son: "Well a good son is respectful to his parents, he stands up for his family and other siblings when they need him, he does his chores without being asked, and he is respectful to his peers." A good boyfriend: "Well a good boyfriend is respectful to his girlfriend, he doesn't put himself in questionable situations with other women, he respects his girlfriends' family and attempts to develop a relationship with them, and he buys things like flowers for his girl every now and then." A good husband: "Well a good husband loves his wife, he protects her and cherishes her, he does not cheat on her, he is the spiritual leader, and he has a good relationship with her family as well." A good father: "Well a good father is a role model for his children, he teaches them values by his actions, he is respectful to their mother, and he spends quality time with them so that they have a good relationship."
Sounds pretty simple doesn't it? Just follow A, B, and C and you've got it made, but we all know that's not how it works. I've been thinking a lot about my life and where I'm headed lately. Like what I'm going to do this next semester and when I leave Egypt and when I leave College. Yesterday in staff meeting my principle put it best, "I sometimes feel like a jackrabbit just sprinting through a big field of tall grass and every now and then I stop, stand up on my hind legs and look around me, just to check where I'm going, where I'm headed, and then I'm back down, running." Everyone knows that when you're so busy that you don't even have time to reflect on what you've done or where you're going, you're going to get lost eventually. But is it possible to reflect so much on what you've done and where you're going that in a sense we become "lost"?

I was walking home from work the other day and as I was walking I decided that I wanted a tangerine. The orchard is pretty bare now since the season is over but I was still able to find one that the harvesters had missed. As I sat in front of my house and ate that tangerine I began to think about how I eat so much more fruit here than I did back in the states. And then I began to remember trips that I had taken to different countries while I was in high school and how excited we all would get if we were able to find fruit just growing there in the wild. And then I began to think why does this fascinate us so much? When I'm at home my Mom just hounds me and my Dad because she buys all this fruit and it takes us forever to eat it and sometimes it goes bad because we don't get to it in time. Why does a tangerine sitting in a bowl not look as good as one sitting in a tree?

Have you ever been to an event that was supposed to be all about God but really wasn't. Maybe it was a concert by some so called "Christian" band that you went to or a speaker that was supposed to speak about God but really didn't. This last summer I volunteered at Heaven Fest. It's a massive outdoor concert where about 20,000 people show up for the day and close to 100 bands just play all day. Now did I enjoy my time, absolutely. Did I feel that God was present in some way or another, yes I did. But I will say it was one of the most unrestful Sabbaths I have ever had. The top bands get up there and they sing about God and they have mostly wholesome lyrics but the way they present it can be tiring. I'm hard pressed to think that I need to head bang and yell and scream at the top of my lungs to worship my God. In fact I think I don't. So in the end it feels a lot more like a secular event than a spiritual one.

When you receive something from the source isn't it always better? When you go to that high mountain spring and drink that fresh water coming right from the source. When you find that fresh fruit growing right on the tree or the vine. When you physically go to that far away place that you've seen in the magazine. When you ask God instead of (_____). There will always be people who think they have the answer. There will always be another Christian band blasting through your ears and there will always be another life book for teens and there will always be another book on dating and there will always be another book on marriage, but there will only ever be one Bible. One God.

Will we ever be the perfect child, spouse, or parent? No we won't. Will we ever know what's going to happen in the future or where we're going to end up? No we won't. But the answer is not to go searching for the answer in music or books. The answer is to be so fully immersed in God that you can't help but be a good child, you can't help but be a good spouse, and you can't help but be a good parent. When you're tapping into the power that is God, you're tapping into the source of life itself. When God is your one reliable source, even when you stumble, you will be at peace with where you are headed. You may not know the future but you can be at peace knowing that you're going in the best possible direction.