Reading

Sometimes I don't like reading the Bible. I get busy, there's something good on tv, or my latest excuse, the guitar hero video game. It's not as though I don't have access to a Bible. I think I own four and there's probably at least one copy in most buildings in America. I heard an evangelist tell a story, however, that made me realize how good I have it. When this evangelist was young, he spent time ministering to the people of Vietnam during the war. He had a young interpreter who translated the gospel to anyone that would listen, and the two did much good for the kingdom. When south Vietnam fell, the evangelist had returned to America, but the young interpreter was placed in jail where he was forced to read atheistic books by Carl Marx among others. The brainwashing caused him to doubt the existence of God until one night he told himself that he no longer believed in God and was now an atheist. The next day, the prison guard told the interpreter to clean the latrine, and in the process, he found a piece of paper with what appeared to be English writing. Any English was prohibited so he cleaned the paper and took it back to his cell where he read it after his cellmates went to sleep. This is what it said, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purposes," from Romans chapter 8. He was dumbfounded that God would give him this gift on the day he first professed his disbelief. The young interpreter asked to clean the latrines the next day with hopes of finding more scripture, and he found another page from Romans. This pattern continued for months as the young interpreter used the papers he found as the scripture for his daily devotions. The Bible had been given to one of the guards who was using it for toilet paper, and this young man would clean of the excrement just to read one page. Guitar hero is starting to sound pretty lame.

Identity Crisis

I remember hearing the term "identity crisis" as a kid and wondering what the heck it meant. The psychologist Erikkson said that an identity crisis occurs when something threatens a person's idea of their own sameness. Basically, something happens to a person that threatens how they see themselves. I never really gave it much thought until I came to law school. It was here that I realized that an identity crisis can cause otherwise good people to behave in a way that is completely contrary to their character. There are several examples, but I will stick with sports. In the intramural basketball league of which I took part my first year, there was a fight broken up in all but one game I played in. I was dumbfounded at why people at an exclusively Christian school would behave in such a way, and then it dawned on me. Most of the people here in law school are used to "winning" at things, maybe at everything, and many of them have in their own perception of being "winners." To threaten that is to cause incredible anxiety inside that person which inevitably leads to unsavory results. I saw evidence of this phenomenon in every aspect of life from the classroom to social situations and beyond. I don't have all the answers, but it seems pretty clear in this case. The world will tell you that you aren't important unless you look like A, B, or C, or you can do X, Y, or Z, but those are complete lies that even Christ followers can be sucked into. The truth is, your complete value flows from your identity as a child of God and a friend of Jesus Christ. Nothing else matters. It sounds simple, but apparently difficult to accomplish. The world can be persuasive and it tends to yell at us while Christ prefers to whisper. However, the volume doesn't matter if you only listen to Him.