Well, the season finale of Numb3rs just finished and I think it also just took the leap to the top of my favorite shows on TV.  The issues they deal with and the way they approach those issues hits like West Wing did at its height.  Gone are the easy answers and witty jokes that highlight most prime time TV.  The last few weeks of the show have dealt with everything from feelings of personal inadequacy, to loyalty to friends and family, to the meaning of life.  But they don’t deal with those things in academic or philosophical settings but rather in real life settings.  Characters being faced with death and questioning why they do what they do, why they get up in the morning, and wondering what their own lives will amount to in the end.  I always feel kind of cheesy and melodramatic to talk about it but I often think about many of the same questions.  Whether it is because I’m interested in history or because my parents often help people deal with end of life issues and questions, I know how short a time we are on this planet and how important it is to be good stewards of the time we do have.  It is difficult to be an age and have a job that seems to be so inconsequential in the greater scheme of things but at the same time realize that every day of our life is one day less to make a difference.  I trust that God is using me to build His Kingdom but it is hard to see how my roll in the registration office solves what is going on in Darfur or Palestine or even parts of the US.  The world is broken and dying and I live a life of affluence and comfort.  I can trust that every night when I go to bed, I will wake up to a well paying job and three meals a day.  I watched The Day After Tomorrow yesterday on FOX and as much as it is an alarmist summer blockbuster, it speaks the truth about the fragility of our way of life and how much we take for granted.  So many of the things that we think are problems in our daily life, burned coffee or a bad commute, are nothing compared to people in the favellas of Brazil or the locked down center of Baghdad who wake up each morning wondering if this is the day when they get hit by a stray bullet or caught in a car bomb blast.  One of my favorite movie lines of all time comes from the movie Dogma when Ben Affleck (yes, he of Jersey Girl and Gilli fame) is ranting about how humans don’t deserve God’s Grace because it is so freely given and so widely rejected.  We spend so much time praying for our wants and “needs” that we often forget to simply thank God for the incredible privilege of a life in the shadow of his Son.

Filed under: life by Jonathan Assink