Enjoy Him Forever

As part of the ongoing quest to find God's purposes in my life (short-term and long-term), I recently happened upon an internal struggle that kept me puzzled for some time, which a dear friend was able to shed some new light on.

I grew up Presbyterian, and the Presbyterians love the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Westminster Shorter Catechism very dearly. I myself ascribe to many parts of both documents, including the first question of the Shorter Catechism:

Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

This provides some of the basis for the idea which reformed folks hold (and myself as well) that there is no separation between the sacred and the secular (excepting of course, the sinful) - that man is not called only to certain "holy" endeavors, but to glorify and enjoy God in every work he does. In this sense (well, in every sense) the theologian is no more holy, no more following the will of God, than the plumber, provided each enjoys and glorifies God in his/her work.

I have been contemplating the implications these ideas have for my life for, well, almost my whole life. I accepted and believed them early on, but lately I have been in some doubt about them. I look around myself and see such pain and agony, such suffering in the world and I turn a skeptical eye toward my own work. Do I enjoy it? Yes. Do I do it to the glory of God? I try. But at the end of the day what good comes of it? There's no way around it, I spend the majority of my waking hours accomplishing tasks that do nothing to help the needy, the poor, the sick, the hungry, the lost, the hopeless, those in anguish. Sure, there's something to be said for generating revenue that stimulates the weak local economy. But still.

I find deeper questions within myself. How can I live so comfortably when others are in such need? How can I stand before God one day and present a life in which I was given so much and yet gave so little to those who needed it? These are basic questions. But they are only common because they have difficult-to-find answers.

I can't go so far as to reject the Catechism. I had resolved that perhaps the Catechism is true, but for me, I'd rather just ignore it and decide that for my life serving God means doing something that directly helps someone (pastor, missionary, policeman, fireman, nurse, soup kitchen operator) or some lucrative occupation which provides me with the funds to do one of these things (what I believe I'm doing now).

This brings me to a conversation I had with the thoughtful Winn Collier. I told him what I've said here, and his response clicked a switch in my mind which put the whole discussion in a completely different light.

Winn said that just because the Catechism states that the theologian is no more holy than the plumber does not mean that the plumber and the theologian would remain equally holy if they were to switch places. If the theologian were to become a plumber (or vice versa), he would not bring glory to God because he would not be following the plan that God has for him.

Get this. The Catechism does not say that you are free to do whatever life's work you choose, and so long as you enjoy it and bring glory to God in it, you will be following the chief end of man. What it says is you must do the life's work that God has planned for you, and if that's being a plumber, so be it. Because God has called you to it, it is holy work.

WELL OF COURSE THAT'S WHAT IT MEANS. Honestly I felt a little embarrassed a few days later when this all sunk in and I realized that this truth was something I've known for quite some time. My favorite quote is G. K. Chesterton's "The trouble with the world is me," which I'll elaborate more on later but basically expresses the idea that it's not our job to solve the world's problems or find and carry out whatever job we think the world needs done most, but to find God's plan for our lives and do it to his glory. I knew this.

Good grief, I'm trying to make progress here.

So in the end I'm back to the difficult (but more rewarding) task of setting aside theological puzzles like this one and getting down to the real work of knowing God. Of finding what his heart holds for my life.

The really unsurprising thing is this may be the most common theme in my life - searching after theological truths instead of pursuing relationship. Searching for knowledge of God rather than knowing him. I'm sure I will be here again. I've been here before. This is one of those lessons I learn over and over.

So, until next time...

A Little Help

So as you may or may not know, my wife is an incredible photographer, and she's currently working to become even better.

I've been tasked with creating a website for her photography. As you also may or may not know, Erin and I are terrible at naming things - we haven't been able to come up with anything. So I thought who better to ask than our friendly neighborhood internet? It worked great for naming our cat!

Here are the requirements for the name:

1. It needs to be professional - something she can give to people who could be potential clients.
2. It (or a reasonable abbreviation) needs to be short - erinscottphotography.com is too long.
3. It (or a reasonable abbreviation) needs to be available in ".com". In my experience, anything else (.org, .net, etc.) just gets forgotten. If you want to check availability, you can do so here.

So if you would like to help a brother and sister out, please comment away.

The Onion: Number Of Acceptable Things Candidate Can Say Now Down To Four

Number Of Acceptable Things Candidates Can Say Now Down To Four

NEW YORK—After Sen. Barack Obama's comments last week about what he typically eats for dinner were criticized by Sen. Hillary Clinton as being offensive to both herself and the American voters, the number of acceptable phrases presidential candidates can now say are officially down to four. "At the beginning of 2007 there were 38 things candidates could mention in public that wouldn't be considered damaging to their campaigns, but now they are mostly limited to 'Thank you all for coming,' and 'God bless America,'" ABC News chief Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos said on Sunday's episode of This Week. "There would still be five phrases available to the candidates if the Obama camp hadn't accused Clinton of saying 'Glad to be here' with a little tinge of sarcasm during a stump speech in North Carolina." As of press time, the two additional phrases still considered appropriate for candidates are the often-quoted "These pancakes are great," and "Death to the infidels."

Haircut

The local blogosphere that I read has recently included some insightful and beautiful essays on the triumph and tragedy of a simple act that is too often overlooked: the haircut.

Interestingly, these essays were written by women. For some odd reason, women seem to connect with the re-birthing experience that is a new haircut more than men. Why this is so is a mystery. Certainly women connect with beauty in different ways than men, and this could be the answer. But I am here to offer another viewpoint.

Men don't connect with haircuts because they get their hair cut at stupid places.

I have long been a patron of Clemson's most popular haircut establishment, Great Clips. There is only one thing that keeps me coming to this place. With a coupon procured from the local Ingles or Bi Lo, I can get a haircut for the splendid price of $7.99, plus tax and tip. Done. I'm sold.

Unfortunately there are really no other reasons to frequent Great Clips. The wait is usually long. I have had to walk through at least an inch of hair many times to get to my chair. The employees rather obviously dislike each other, and often me. And the service is, well, hit and miss - with an extra dose of miss.

E.G. my last haircut:


Please note the nice sloping hairline in the front, the spacious clearances above the ears, and of course the convenient triangle to keep the hair off my temples. To be fair, I think the description I gave the hairdresser was "like it is only shorter."

On the other hand, a Great Clips hairdresser once told me (in the strictest confidence) that the primary skill taught in Great Clips cosmetic school is safety. It's much more important that I not get impaled with scissors than get a good haircut. Of course I agree. After finding this out, I go into my Great Clips salon each time with the same expectations that the Great Clips brass has for its employees - not to bleed.

I know there are solutions. But none of them cost $7.99, and none of them have that exciting gamble (I'd say it's about a one in five) that this time it might turn out! Sure, I get what I pay for, but I pay so little.

So I take it back. Maybe men do connect with their haircuts. The exciting game of chance, the thrill of a good deal, the perseverance through mounds of discarded hair, disgruntled hairdressers, and treacherous scissor/razor slices to reach the counter and pay no more than what your terrible haircut was worth. It's an adventure, now that I think about it. An epic. A fight all good men must fight. All great men. At Great Clips.

Onward!