Survivor

Some days it’s nice to work at the newspaper. Today, we had a special guest: Rupert from Survivor came for an interview with our features reporter Steve Penhollow. Now, I didn’t have a chance to meet Rupert personally, I knew he was coming and I am a huge fan of both him as a person and of the show Survivor. So I told Michelle (who works downstairs) that if she got a chance she should keep an eye out for him since he would be coming by. Sure enough she had not only a chance to meet him, but she was also kind enough to get him to sign an autograph for me.

So there you have it, my little brush with fame.

What is it about famous people that we are so drawn too sometimes? Don’t get me wrong, I totally understand the attaction. I’m a huge FAN BOY. I think I have met every Christian artist that I’ve ever wanted to meet (been mooned by a few as well), met several authors (even got a copy of a booked signed for Dafyd by Stephen R. Lawhead since that’s where I got the idea for his name), met all my favorite comic book artists (even have a signed comic by Drew Hayes [Poison Elves] where I got the idea for Jace’s name). So what is it that draws us to those people, to want to meet them, touch them.. and for some folks more?

Do we feel an artificial connection because they somehow speak to us? Or that some how by having met them or by being friends with them we are some how more worthy than we really are? Man, it’s such an easy trap. I find that sometimes I’m a name dropper. Yeah, I’m friends with Andrew Peterson, I bult websites for Bebo Norman, Essential Records, blah, blah, blah. Big freaking deal! That’s nothing but an attempt to make me some how above the “common” man. In the grand scheme of things, I’m nobody. It doesn’t matter what I have, it doesn’t matter who I know, it doesn’t even matter what I’ve accomplished. What matters in the end is who I am, or rather, who I am becoming.

“The real measure of your wealth is how much you’d be worth if you lost all your money.” – Anonymous

That’s the interesting part about self-worth (and self-esteem for that matter), it can only be determined by one thing… self. It doesn’t matter how much other people say nice (or mean) things about you; it doesn’t matter if they love you or hate you, or even ignore you. It only matters what you think of yourself. At the end of the day, when the lights go out, it doesn’t matter who (or how many) people are lying next to you in bed. In the end you are alone with you. You cannot escape you, there you are ever day. Oh we try to pretend that we are someone else, we try to escape those things that linger in our mind in the darkness, but they are still there and so are we.

We are so uncomfortible in our skins. 90% of us hate how we look, hate our jobs, hate our significant others. We look to the “stars” and we long to reach out to be them, to be like them. Our lives would be so much better if I could just run out tonight, buy a lottery ticket and win that $250 Million dollars. All my problems would be solved, I’d love me, people would love me, and well, I’d be happy.

If money were the key to happiness, then why would so many of the wealthy be alcholics, drug users, abusers of themselves and others. The famous have to hide in their homes for fear of people. The rich are bored with their lives.

So maybe poverty is the key to happiness. Andrew Peterson (see, I almost said, my buddy so that you would all know I talk to him on the cell phone thus making me better than you), wrote a song called, “Land of the Free”. It goes a little something like this:

“We were having this big patriotic service on July 5th of this year, and I was supposed to sing “Here in America” by Rich Mullins, but I wasn’t in the mood to sing a song about how great our country was, so I wrote one about South America instead of North America. It’s kind of a reflection of my thoughts from the Bolivia journal. A song about heaven.

The Land of the Free

(Verse 1)

Little Elba how’s the sun in South America?
does it shine upon the faces of the poor?
do they see in it the brilliance of the place that’s been prepared
and dwell upon the hope of what’s in store?

Or are they just like me?
do they only see
an opportunity
to complain about the heat?

(Verse 2)

Little Elba, how’s the rain in South America?
Does it fall upon the rooftops of the sick?
Do they thank the Lord for coming up with such a great idea
and dream about a place beyond all this?

Or are they just like us?
do they gripe and fuss
about the rain and mud

when they’ve had too much?

(Chorus)

‘Cause I’m just a little jealous
of the nothing that you have
unfettered by the wealth of
a world that we pretend is gonna last
they say God blessed us with plenty
I say you’re blessed with poverty
’cause you never stop to wonder whether
earth is just a little better than
the Land of the Free

(Verse 3)

well, I’m weary of the spoils of my ambition
and I’m shackled by the comfort of my couch
I wish I had the courage to deny these of myself
and start to store my treasure in the clouds

‘Cause this is not my home
I do not belong
where the antelope
and the buffalo roam

(Chorus)

and I’m just a little jealous
of the freedom that you have
unfettered by the wealth of
a world that we pretend is gonna last
they say God blessed us with plenty
I say you’re blessed with poverty
’cause you never stop to wonder whether
earth is just a little better than
the Land of the Free

so I hope you’e safe and dry in South America
’cause I’mfeeling pretty good in Tennessee
may you never be so happy you forget about your home…
Your home in the Land of the Free.”
- From Andrew Peterson’s journal, August 1998

Yet, I look at so many people who are poor, and we’ll they’re pretty unhappy as well.

So how do I do it? How do I achive happiness? What’s the key, what’s the secret? What does all this have to do with Rupert and Andrew Peterson?

In the end, happiness comes from the inside. Until we learn to be happy within ourselves, we cannot be happy in anything. So where does that internal happiness come from? Well the cheesy sounding answer is “From Jesus”. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Jesus isn’t the source of our happiness, far from it. But what does that mean in real life? It means first being honest with yourself about who you are. All your faults, all your short comings, all your sins. Every rotten thing inside you. God already knows it’s there. It’s not as if you can some how hide it from him. All that internal dishonest does is keep that wall built up between you and God.

Take a good long look at yourself. Most likely you won’t be happy with what you find. We’re pretty ugly on the inside. So how does that bring happiness? Because of this truth:

God knows already how ugly we are on the inside and he loves us anyways. No matter how many times I say that to myself, it’s a kick in the pants. Bob, you’re not fooling God. He knows what you *really* think, he *knows* who you really are on the inside, but he still loves you. I was a Christian for years before I figured that out… I mean really figured that out. My opinion of others changed. I no longer had any moral high ground, because inside my thoughts were just as black as their actions might be, I just didn’t have the stupidity (or maybe courage) to act them out. I wasn’t any different than any of them. Well, I was different because God loved me. But ah, there’s the kicker, God loves them too, just as much. I cannot earn God’s love, nor can I loose God’s love. I can only do one of two things: Embrace it, or deny it.

There is a contentness in that state. That state that you are loved, and because you are loved you have worth, and because you have worth you’re going to be alright. No matter what rages on the outside, everything on the inside is okay. And when you get there, to that place… rich, poor, loved by others, hated by others, it doesn’t matter. There is a smile that cannot be removed from your heart. There my friend… there is happiness. And you keep it but pooring that self into others. Its a flowing thing. If you bottle it up, it’ll be come stagnet and the happiness will fade. You have to pour it out, give to others. Give of yourself, of your time, of your money to people around you. Fill them up, so that you yourself might remain full. It is only in that process that we keep that feeling. It is only in giving that we survivor…

In this land of the free, even sometimes the good guy can win. That’s why I like Rupert, he’s a good guy who gives freely of himself and in that he found true happiness. In that happiness, America responded and gave him $1 Million dollars. The first thing he did with that money… he gave it away to others.