"Jesus doesn't talk about your bucket list"

5.15.2012

Tuesday.

Today I had my usual class load. In Ad design, my Australian food I tried today was called              Mainland on the go. Sam recommended it. He recommended the Extra tasty flavor. I  mean, why would you go for just plain Tasty when you could have Extra Tasty for the same price? It was just some cheese and crackers. But it was delicious. 

I also got some Pods, like I did last week, but these were Honey Comb flavored. I really love just spending time with the 2^nd years. They are so fun and I just love them so much. And I’m pretty sure they like me. I mean, they do call me their favorite American. I get misty eyed when I think about leaving them. :[ 

For here on out, my post gets kind of serious, so if you're not down for serious topics, just leave it at the cheese.

Earlier, in Kimberly’s class we had a guest speaker, Trevor, come in. He talked about consumerism. I felt pretty convicted by the end of class. We talked about how the new trend in consumerism is experiences. Consumerism used to be about who had the most and the best stuff, but now we try to fill out lives with experiences. But it all still comes back to money, because a lot of the experiences that we want to have cost something. 

We also talked about how money distorts the way we see the world and what our values are. Something that we would never do for a dollar all of the sudden seems much more plausible when larger amounts of money are involved. Trevor told a story about a woman who, when offered $10,000 to spend the night with a man, agreed, but then when he changed it to $20 she became offended saying “what kind of woman do you take me for?” to which the man replied “I think we’ve established what kind of woman you are, now we’re just haggling over the price tag,”

We let money say who we are. No matter how hard we try, we will pass judgments, positive or negative, on others based on what they look like, what brands they wear. We judge them based on their stuff. Because we create our identity by the brands that we wear and own, rather than letting our identity come from Jesus.

When we are generous with our money, we are defeating the demon of greed. How often is it mentioned in the bible to give to the poor and how often do we do it? We are so disgustingly rich compared to so many people in the world. Things I live with now that I believe are essential to daily life only came about in the last 10 years. And so many of those things would never be possible in some peoples wildest dreams. But there I am, driving my car, listening to my iPod through my stereo, sipping on my $5.00 Starbucks iced vanilla coffee… like a jerk.

One of the last things that Trevor said that felt like a stab in the heart was:

“Jesus doesn’t talk about your bucket list,”

Ouch. He is right. Jesus does not talk about a bucket list, or achieving experiences. He talks about loving people, and helping the poor. Now can I justify some experience and travel if I think that I may in some way influence or impact others? But what does it mean to have experiences just for the sake of experiences? Is it okay if I balance it out with a certain amount of charity work? But Jesus didn't really talk about living a balanced life, did he? I guess it comes back to value. What do I really value and is it worth what I perceive it to be worth?

Pretty much my mind was blown after the first 20 minutes and I had a lot to digest and process after all of that. I don’t really know what my outlook is going to be when I get home. But if I seem like a completely different person with a completely different outlook on life, don’t be mad, okay?