The Extremes

The reality shows are cloning themselves.  They are about everything and they are everywhere!!

Sometimes the ads for them is all I need to know that the life chosen by some stalwart sorts is not for me.

Take the swamp folk.  Probably right at the top of my list of places I would not want to live.  My take on it would be that everything is always wet or damp, that mold is everywhere, and that there are snakes and bugs that no one would want to encounter.  And that you can't go much of anywhere except in a small boat that would seem to afford very little protection from the alligators, snakes, or other creatures that are about.

The Alaskans have to be admired for their tenacity, but I would not want to live in Alaska.  My take on this existence is that most of the time you are cold or worrying about how cold it is going to get and also concerned about the amount of food you have stored -- a constant mental and physical battle for survival.  In Alaska your ability to get here and there is dependent most of the year by having a running vehicle that can buzz through the snow.  Although some of the people on the one show seem to do very little of that and are more dependent on their snowshoe-clad feet. 

Last night watching American Pickers (which is a really good show) made me realize that I would not ever want storage buildings full of uncataloged junk from floor to ceiling.  Things like old doors and frames, rotted wood, old car parts, and cardboard boxes of more junk.  It just seems wasteful and a burden for a person to carry.  Not only that, but it would seem that the folks who go to these extremes are weighted down by their insatiable appetites to find more junk.  After a while it is a toss-up as to whether the junk owns them or they own the junk.

I suppose that what makes life interesting for one person is a curse for another.  And those who choose to live in the extremes make life a little more interesting for those of us who don't.  The more important aspect of it is that you find God.

Jesus went to the desert and stayed for more than a month in order to pray.  He was tempted in every category by the devil who so cunningly used Jesus' hunger and thirst as his weapons.  The desert represents wasteland, the most uninhabitable of all climates perhaps on the face of the earth.  And in this environment stripped of all of the comforts and distractions of life, Jesus prepared Himself for what was to come and gave notice to the devil that He would not bend.

Jesus went to the mountain and spoke to the people about the kingdom of God.  His voice echoed off the ancient rocks as he told about how blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for the peacemakers, for those in sorrow, for the poor in spirit. 

Jesus went to sea in a boat with his disciples, the legendary Sea of Galilee where storms would crop up without notice.  That day a storm came and tossed the boat about, and his disciples feared for their lives.  But Jesus calmed the seas and awed these men who thought they knew Jesus, but had only started finding out about our Lord and themselves.

Jesus went to Jerusalem, teeming with life and noise, a far cry from the small towns of Nazareth and Bethlehem.  He went there to challenge the Jewish hierarchy who had elevated themselves too much and had lost their humility.  Jesus went there to have his last meal with His disciples, knowing full well that one of them would betray Him.

From the mountains to the sea to the desert, Jesus moved about in a deliberate way toward fulfilling the will of His Father and toward offering us eternal life.  A humble man who no matter where He went left an indelible mark on those who met Him.  For He said that we ought give our lives rather than save or conserve them.  He said to trust Him.  He taught us to pray.

The reality of Jesus' life is far more compelling than any reality show, isn't it?