Author: pcarter3

I'm a student at the University of South Carolina, majoring in Managerial Science. I love God, people, dogs, good books, exercise, and high quality food.

Living Recklessly

High Steppin' by The Avett Brothers single art

“Well then you ought to sleep well, ’cause there’s hope for sure.” – The Avett Brothers

I’ve always believed that life is both far too short not to take chances as well as the perfect length to live fully and beautifully. It’s a crazy thing, really, the way people insist on avoiding the risks that make life worth living in the name of caution.

Of course, if you don’t study hard and get a useful degree, and then use that useful degree to get a stable 9-5 job, and then use that stable 9-5 job to raise a reasonable family, you could be seen as ‘irresponsible’ or ‘immature,’ and I couldn’t possibly imagine anything worse than that. Don’t get me wrong: there’s a lot of beauty in simplicity and if that’s you and you’re enjoying your life, I’m truly happy for you.

However, what if college feels like a waste of time to you? What if having a job where you’re expected to show up from 9-5 every week day without exception sounds like prison (yes, I know it’s technically voluntary, but you get my point)? What if you want to raise a family that lives for adventure rather than good grades and financial stability?

Are those people doomed to a life of frustrating monotony and disappointment? Is there only one way to be successful? Is God’s purpose for our life solely for us to be conventionally ‘responsible’? Or is there more than all that?

Well, as a college student without much life experience, I can’t say I know the answer for sure; but I intend to find out. My main goals in life are to love God and love others, but my secondary goal in life is to enjoy it. I believe the best way to live is with a whole lot of joy, a healthy dose of daring, and absolutely no semblance of a plan.

Which brings us back to the quote with which I started: no matter who you are, where you live, what you have, or what is going on in your life, when your head hits the pillow at night there is always hope for the next day. Just because you’ve been stuck in a rut for the last 20 years doesn’t mean you have to be stuck for the next 20. It’s all up to you whether or not you make the most of the time ahead of you.

No matter how many airtight plans you’ve made, the future is just a massive question mark and it’s up for grabs. Personally, I would rather look back on life knowing that I did my best to make the most of it every day. Stay tuned to find out how it goes!

It’s Just Life

The New Girl crew

“You’ve gotta lighten up, Jess. It’s just life.” – Joan Day

This line has been running through my head all day. In case you didn’t recognize it (you didn’t), it’s from New Girl, a.k.a the greatest TV show in existence. As a good Christian man, I cannot in good conscience suggest that you watch this show–but as a person who greatly enjoys good comedy and beautiful stories of love and friendship, I cannot recommend this TV show highly enough.

At this point, Jessica Day (the main character) has been pouring out her heart to her mother (Joan) about the broken relationship of her parents and what it might mean for her own life. She was clearly very upset and worried about her future as well as that of her parents. And rather than Joan telling Jess that she would be better than herself, or reassuring her that her life would turn out much better than Jess was imagining, Joan instead tells her daughter to lighten up, because “it’s just life.”

I’ve been worrying a lot lately. And by lately, I mean for the past two years. Now you may have just read that and thought, two years is nothing, try 20 you child. And you may have a valid point; but know that this was a significant time in my life because for all of my memory leading up to the past couple years I was such a carefree person that that my recent experience has been shell shocking. Also . . . it’s not a competition.

Exactly what I’ve been worrying about isn’t the most important thing–what’s important is that everybody has things to worry about, no matter how seemingly insignificant they might be. The things I worry about generally involve relationships (or lack of them), and fears of being alone or unloved–the things you worry about may be completely different, like whether you’ll be able to pay your rent this month, whether you’re going to fail your exam tomorrow, whether you’ll survive the cancer from which you’re suffering, or whether your loved one will ever make it back from overseas.

Worry and stress can take over our lives, and it’s amazing how easy it is to let it in. If we’re not actively seeking to find joy in every moment, we can find ourselves wasting all of our time worrying about what our lives will look like tomorrow, next month, in a few years–you get the point. And one of the most important truths in life is that tomorrow never comes. You will never get to the vague idea of the ‘future’ inside your head because there will always be another thing to worry about.

Don’t let it happen. Listen up: you’re not going to be here very long. Think about how much life you’ve lived up to this point, and then think about how many years you might have left. It doesn’t seem like much, does it? You could spend that time you have left worrying about how many people love you, how much money you make, or what you’ve accomplished; or you could enjoy every moment, every day, for all the time you have left, exactly for what it is: a gift.

Of course, I would never trivialize the terrible effect that some experiences have on peoples’ lives. There is always a time and place for mourning. Pain happens. Loss happens. Death happens. The key is the way in which we respond to it.

You may not be as popular as your friends, you may not be as rich as your boss, and you may make huge, life-altering mistakes on a weekly basis. But we all have one thing in common; and that is that we are all uniquely and unfathomably loved and cared for by a God that is greater than every problem we will ever face in life. Whatever happens between now and the end of your time here will pale in comparison to eternity in heaven.

So move on. Try again. Enjoy this crazy, fantastic, broken roller-caster of an experience we call life. Your problems aren’t as big as you think they are. And above all, remember this:

You’ve gotta lighten up, bud. It’s just life.

Fantasy as a Shadow of Heaven

“One day, you will be old enough to start reading fairytales again.” – C.S. Lewis

I know, I know, another C.S. Lewis quote. I promise this is not a C.S. Lewis blog, he just happened to have the best quote relating to what I wanted to write about. Also, I have been reading way too much of his writing lately (if that’s even possible).

The thing is, I think the fairytales and fantasy stories that many adults view as childish are perhaps much more meaningful than most grown-ups care to imagine. While these stories may not be realistic at the moment, they have many important implications and helpful applications to our lives.

The other day I considered a strange question: Why can’t we fly? Obviously, I do not mean this in the scientific sense. I know the physical reasons why we can’t fly. But if you ask people what one ability they would choose to have if they could choose any, most will answer with ‘flying’ (or, if you’re a bit creepier, invisibility). It would be incredible to experience the feeling of gliding through the sky, completely in control, with nothing supporting you.

So why did God make us with that desire when we’re so frustratingly unable to achieve it?

Similarly, we have all read or heard stories of fantastic worlds, places with elves, dwarfs, and hobbits, people with the ability to perform magic with wands, people who ride on dragons, and houses that are home to centaurs and fairies. These stories capture our hearts and minds. When we hear these kinds of stories, we like to imagine ourselves living in these worlds. We attempt to recreate these worlds in real life and immerse ourselves in them, because we long for something beyond the ordinary.

Why, then, did God create us to desire fantasy when we are confined to the typical?

I could be completely off base with this, but I like to think I’m at least close to the truth: what if our fantasy is a shadow of heaven? What if, in our renewed bodies, we are able to soar through the clouds without an airplane? What if our desire for the fantastic is actually a desire for the new heavens and the new earth?

Now, don’t get me wrong. As 1 Corinthians 2:9 says, “But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.”” I am not trying to predict literally what God has in store for us. No man can do that. But God could very well have put these incredible images and fantasies in our heads to give us a taste of what heaven will be like.

Several years ago I had a pastor (I think his name is Josh Anderson) who gave the most memorable sermon I have ever heard. It was one of the most unorthodox, yet also one of the most beautiful. It mainly concerned what heaven might be like, and he posed the question: won’t we get bored if we go on living for eternity? What will we do?

His response was that he does not know what heaven will be like, but he knows that we will not be bored. We will have eternity not only to praise and give glory to God, but also to spend time doing whatever we like–have you ever wanted to paint like Da Vinci? Well, you may not have his natural talent, but a thousand years of practice might be just as good. Have you ever wished you could play the piano like Mozart? You could probably learn to do that, too.

But I think we could take it just a step further. Have you ever wanted to explore Mars? Have you ever wondered what incredible mysteries other galaxies might contain? Have you ever considered what it might be like to make objects move just by saying a word? One day you might do just that and so much more. The possibilities are endless, but I believe the desire is there for a reason. This might be the stuff of fairytales, but it might also be the stuff of heaven.

“How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?”

Orual and Psyche

Spoiler alert: if you have not yet read Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis and you do not want to hear second-hand about his beautifully written musings, then you might want to go read that first. Till We Have Faces is a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche by one of the greatest minds of the 20th century.

The book is split into two parts. Part one takes up the bulk of the book and tells the story of Cupid and Psyche from the perspective of Psyche’s sister, Orual. Orual’s purpose in writing the book is to put forth her accusation against the gods. The accusation revolves largely around their stealing Psyche from her, but at the heart of it is this: that the gods cannot expect people to trust in them, to have faith and follow them, when they never reveal themselves openly to us.

Part two finds Orual being brought before a holy court to read her complaint against the gods. She pours her heart out about how unfair the gods have been to her, and at the end of her rather impressive monologue, the judge asks, “Are you answered?”, and Orual replies, “Yes.”

The first time I read it, I was dumbfounded. Up until that point, I had thought Orual’s accusation had been pretty reasonable. The gods, after all, had not really been clear with her. From Orual’s perspective, that is actually what had caused much of the pain and sorrow in her life. If the gods had just revealed themselves and spoken plainly to her from the beginning, her life and Psyche’s would have been much easier. How could the gods just expect Orual to have blind faith in them without sufficient evidence?

This is a very relatable topic for both Christians and non-Christians alike. How many times have we despaired at how much simpler life would be if God would just walk down from heaven and say, “Here I am, y’all!” (God is definitely southern, by the way.) How many times have we thought, God, if you could just turn this water to wine for me right now, I would believe in you for the rest of my life. (No, just me?)

Well, you get the idea anyway. Why does God not just give us signs? If He wants us to believe in Him, it would be pretty easy to just show us He’s there, right? Maybe you’ve read through the New Testament before and thought that those people had it pretty easy because Jesus did all His miracles right in front of them. Maybe you thought that if you lived in that time then you could have true faith, because you would get to witness it first hand.

Like Orual, we have been lying to ourselves. We have never said what we truly mean. We have never been honest with God about our actual motives. Why should God answer the meaningless prattle that we often present to Him until we really get to the center of our hearts? Even more, why should God allow us to answer Him with the same? It is not until we get to the center of our souls and speak truthfully that we find the answer. Until then, we are faceless–and “how can [God] meet us face to face till we have faces?”

I think if we were to be brought before God for judgement today, there is not a single person in all the world who would accuse God of not making Himself plain enough. A famous atheist named Bertrand Russell once said that if he met God when he died, he would demand to know why God gave such insufficient evidence for His existence. I’m sure there are many others who also feel this way.

Don’t be fooled. God is a merciful God, but we will not be able to out-debate Him when the time comes. Do you think you are the first to have thought to ask why He doesn’t outright show Himself? Do you think that He does not have an answer? I would argue that we already know the answer, but most of us refuse to see it.

Once we come face to face with God, when we are forced to say what we truly mean, we will realize that all our qualms and all our doubts and all our questions were merely babble and fluff. We will look inside and find that the answer was there all along. At that moment we will finally, truly have faces.