Good News Tucson - A Family Values Publication

Living Vicariously

Vicarious - experienced thru another by imagining. Voyeur - someone who is fascinated with, or persistently observes, distressing, sordid, or scandalous topics or events.

My old friend John is one of those loony tune sports fanatics. We all know them. The thing that makes John a bit unique within the breed is that he is all about one team and one sport - Ohio State Football…always has been, probably always will be. You might think it difficult to remain engaged in football outside of the 6 months of the season (including pre & post, of course), but not John. He hasn't taken a vacation in 20 years that was not somehow associated with OSU football…and don't even ask about his home décor…every room, every imaginable item…if it ain't OSU, he doesn't want it!

Most of us camouflage our vicarious lives much more thoroughly than the proverbial couch potato or someone like John. Our ability to remain insanely busy needs not much explanation, whether it be getting on the plane each week to conquer the next business deal, needing a GPS to get the right child to the right places after school each day, or contemplating going back to school (again) to get ahead… enables us to fool ourselves into believing we are doing good and leading exciting lives.

Would the reality TV show that documented your daily routine of life be mostly about you a) watching other people's lives, b) the flurry of daily activity that now defines who you are, c) those brief periods of silence that you try to avoid at all costs, or d) never participating in a reality TV show because you feel so sad for the people who watch them!

What is the value of the life I live? I lived…so what? Is it really just about passively deciding to get thru the day as painlessly as possible? Is it to immerse myself in the self-deception of a voyeur to avoid the apathy of my own life, or perhaps to escape the reality that the organization I just left never missed a beat after "depending" on me for 5 years!

Are we really afraid that we aren't significant or valued? We must fulfill the need to know we are significant and it takes a huge force to derail that pursuit. That force is the fear of discovering that we really aren't significant. If we stop the pursuit, frozen by fear, we fail, and believe the lie. The fear-driven life is not static. It is a decaying, degenerative existence that degrades to a level of comfort, routine, and complacency that looks very acceptable… from the outside. Ultimately, a life spent avoiding, deflecting or denying this pursuit ends in death.

You have to ask, pursue, struggle with, agonize over, and take a risk to find God. His covenant promise to you is that He will answer and show you the glorious truth of how loved and significant you are to Him.

Mike is one of the Associate Pastors at Casas Church, is a graduate business school instructor, and still actively works with companies to develop their organizations after 15 years in management with a Fortune 100 company. Mike can be reached at mikeh@casaschurch.org or www.casastv.com