Know Thyself - Part II

Well, sorry to leave you hanging in blogging limbo, anxiously awaiting my blogging sequel! But, I‘ve already been accused by some in the blogging community of technically not being a “blogger” because my blogs are “too long” and not frequent enough. So what does that make me? Hmmm. Well, maybe my next blog will be a dissertation of the complexities, etiquette and philosophies of “blogging”. “To Blog, or Not to Blog. That is the Question” “Tonight on Nightline: the blogging question” “Dave’s Top 10 aspects that make a blog”. Where am I going with this? I don’t know, but back to the story.

Well, lunch continued and after a few minutes the pieces of the puzzle began to come together. A few more formalities transpired, and my transforming friend began to share the details of his metamorphosis. It turned out that a few years earlier, he had been in a near fatal car accident. Suffering severe head trauma, irreversible damage had been done which led to a long road of rehab. Basically, he now lived a life of relearning. Relearning how to live. Relearning of who he was. In reality, the man that he once was no longer existed and was replaced by a different person, walking through life in different circumstances and surroundings. Through a near death experience and severe physical trauma, he was reborn in many ways.

I left lunch that day realizing a few things. Most importantly, I realized how significant our decisions are from moment to moment. I spent a lot of time thinking about how our lives can change drastically in the flash of an instant. Whether we like it or not, God has given us a very finite amount of time on this earth. What we do with it is up to us, and our actions can have deeper impacts than we will ever know.

Secondly, I learned that I liked this guy much better now than I did when I was in high school. He was not the cocky and arrogant person that I remembered, but now a down to earth, soft spoken man that I felt very comfortable with. He was humble and seemed at peace with himself and who he had become. He accepted his situation and even seemed to embrace it. And this made me wonder. Perhaps this is who he was always intended to be in the first place. When you think about it, each and every event in our lives is ordained by a loving God that knows exactly what He’s doing. Each event that transpires in our lives happens for a reason, and God uses these events to complete the story that is our lives. The novel may take unexpected turns here and there, but eventually it ends in the exact way it was supposed to end. The way the author intended it to end.

“Know thyself”,is an ancient Greek saying that has been attributed to several philosophers, including Socrates. Although no one knows exactly who penned the phrase, I think the significance of this simple statement is powerful in today’s society. Do you ever wonder who you really are? Do you ever wonder how much of who you think you are, is actually just a façade that you’ve created? Maybe you’ve created it to fit into some mold that your culture dictates? Maybe you’ve created it to fit a mold that your church dictates? Your work? Friends? Maybe you’ve created it to be someone you think you need to be? Not who you were created to be.

It’s vital that we actively and constantly seek who we really are. Who God created us to be. If not, maybe we end up being a character in a story that is desperately trying to get out of the book. The author has control, regardless of what the character wants to do. He may have to deviate from time to time, but ultimately the author takes him through a series of events that get him back to being who is supposed to be in the first place. It might be a near fatal car accident, but the author uses it to convince him of something much greater. Are we really in control? Do we really know who we are? Or are we just out of character?

Proverbs 20:24 puts it like this: “A man's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?”, but before that it says, “The purposes of a man's heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.” “Know Thyself”. Maybe It’s not so much being, rather than accepting. Maybe finding the purposes of one’s life is simply allowing God to guide us and be who He created us to be. If not, it’s kind of like allowing the reader to direct where the story goes and who the character is. How will that end? Or will it ever?

Know thyself.

Know Thyself - Part I

Disclaimer: I feel very uncomfortable writing this blog! I just realized that in order to illustrate this story, I’m going to have to describe someone in a derogatory manner. This really bothers me because it makes me realize how judgmental we are as a culture. Genesis 1:27 says that we were created in God’s image and I believe this unconditionally, but many times appearances dictate how we judge people. Unfortunately, sometimes we view the creation and assume that the creator somehow screwed up. It’s not right and none of us would want to be judged by how we look. But let’s face it, most of us have been conditioned to judge people by our first impressions. And first impressions are usually based on appearances.

A few years ago, I had lunch with a friend of mine from high school. I hadn’t seen him in years, but he looked exactly the same as I remember. Tall, well dressed and with a confident stride, my friend met me at the front of the restaurant with a big smile on his face. We gave each other a big hug with pats on the back, looked each other up and down and exchanged the typical “Man, You look good!” comments. It wasn’t until then that I realized he was accompanied by someone else. This man that I didn’t recognize was stocky, a little overweight and awkward in the way he carried himself. I hate to admit it, but my first thought was, “Where in the world did he find this guy!” He reminded me of a slightly slimmer Del Griffith. You know, John Candy's character in Planes Trains and Automobiles? If not, just Google it and you'll see what I mean. He was goofy looking and had a slow smile on his face. He appeared uncomfortable and kept staring at his feet and gazing at the sky. I guess you can say that he appeared to be a somewhat of a social misfit, and not the kind of guy most people would want to hang around. Again, I hate that I have to describe him this way, but it’s the only way I can illustrate this story with effectiveness.

My friend told me that this guy was a co-worker of his and asked if I would mind if he joined us. I agreed and we made our way inside the restaurant and sat down. My friend made the introductions and I shook our guest's hand. It was then that I recognized his face and realized that I knew this guy from high school almost 20 years before. Or at least I thought I knew him. Here’s what I can remember of this "social misfit": Voted most likely to succeed in high school. Football, baseball and basketball star athlete. Popular. Ladies man. Good looking. Successful. This guy was one of the “in” crowd! He was the guy that other guys wanted to be! He was going places! Scholarships awaited him! “Now, what was your name again?”

“I look a little different than I did in high school, don’t I?” He said with a laugh. OK, how do I respond to that? "No! Not at all! What are you talking about? You look great!" Yeah, right! I think I just laughed as well and quickly changed the subject. But I’m quite sure that the shock on my face was as obvious as the sun in the sky! This was NOT the guy I knew from high school! I'm not talking about mere appearances. The name was the same. The face was the same. But the two images that were now in my mind were completely different. Two different people? Maybe just a coincidence? Come on! What happened here!?

The fact that I am even writing this blog causes me to reflect on how society judges by appearances. Many times, we have already reached our assumptions about someone before we even meet them. Not only do we judge the book by the cover, but we read the last page and draw our own conclusions. Samuel could not understand why God was rejecting Saul and removing him as King of Israel. I mean, here was this tall, handsome, strong and confident looking man! A man’s man! A warrior! A king! But God saw something different. “ Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." (I Samuel 16:7) Interesting concept, huh?

Well, are you wondering why the radical change in my high school friend? What happened next? Do I have your curiosity piqued? Well, I’ll tell you what happened in Part II. Sorry! Too much for one blog!