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April 26, 2005
A Departure
Usually I turn to the comfort of technology and the relative anonymity of the internet as a place of virtual residence when I find the offerings of the physical realm to be unsatisfactory. This website, in fact, is an organic outgrowth of my most recent escapes and serves as the stage on which I display those few things over which I can exert control: my opinions, cultural reflections, all manner of ranting etc. Lately, however, life has been simply magnificent and I have been content to masticate on those everyday, rather mundane, occurrences that occur with frequency in white suburbia sans feeling the need to document them.
For those of you who don't know me or haven't taken the time to read my various essays on _respondcreate_ it may come as a bit of a shock that I am a fully committed follower of Christ. Not that I have denounced my faith in any of my posts but I haven't been exactly forthright about the whole affair. This apparent avoidance of the topic stems not from shame but rather in my aforementioned affection for pontification on all things geek, with this site being my only viable forum for this type of discourse. Any novelty associated with the dissection of video game design and/or my rampant love for house music soon wears off to the layman, or more specifically laywoman. That is why I avoid both (1) E-Harmony as a viable outlet for meeting women and (2) the practice of bringing up why Nintendo's outlook on multiplayer gaming is the puss-filled pox upon their otherwise sound business model on any sort of romantic excursion. I have partitions in my life, built solely from the stones and mortar of experience, and thus far they have served me well.
Last night I had a wonderful conversation with my good friend Monique (seriously, go read) about contentment and the multifarious things in life we hope will bring it. When one decides to join 'Club Christ' a key part of the welcome packet is the assumption that your reason for becoming a member was because of your complete inability to find utopia apart from Jesus. Yet, most responsible Christians quickly forgo their daily search for him in order to seek after success and acquire wealth despite the fact that we have been warned of the aforementioned treasures being susceptible to both moths and rust.
When I finally surrendered the reigns of my existence/oh-so-idolized future and began treating them as utterly insignificant, the joy and contentment I experienced was as unexpected as it was magnificent. Calvin's father once quipped, 'They say that on your death bed you'll never wish you spent more time at the office,' and I decided to take his wisdom at face value.
If I choose to adopt the teachings of Jesus as my own and claim to have an intense love for Him, it only makes sense to begin a concerted effort of putting them into practice. If I do not, the blame rests solely on myself for my inability to both hear his voice and see the works of his hands, not on a claim that He is neither speaking nor acting. Our Lord needs but one action from us in order for Him to have license to freely work within our lives: absolute and unconditional surrender of self.
So far this approach has served me well and I encourage anyone else to do the same.
Posted by Jon at April 26, 2005 11:59 PM