The late baseball great Yogi Berra comically said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Although he was giving directions to his house at the time, we can relate these words of wisdom to our question, "Why are we here?"
Why Are We Here? A True Story
As we begin our journey together, I want to tell you a true story to set the stage for our "Why Are We Here?" faith and life series. In 2001, a colleague and I were having coffee, pondering the mysteries of life. Dr. Randy Brown was a professor in the special education department (he still is), and I was a counselor education professor at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, Texas.Â
As with most ponderings between teaching, research, and service duties, we commonly asked each other the "hard" question, "Why are we here?" The proverbial fork in the road may lead us down a straight and narrow Christian path one day and a winding mystical path the next. There were existential and nihilistic paths to explore, some leading to nothingness. No matter where the fork in the road led our discussion, it was always meaningful and enlightening. There were no "wrong" paths in our search for answers to life's challenging questions.Â
The paths we took became paradoxical. That is, the more philosophical the path, the easier the answer. Existentialists had their answers like the Nihilists had theirs. The same was true of religiosity, with its dogmatic, knee-jerk, Pavlovian responses. We quickly answered the question because we could follow the philosophical or religious script. The problem is that most intellectual or religious answers are theoretical rather than practical. Let's use another "Yogism" to reinforce the point:Â
Whether you are a baseball player, as Yogi Berra was, or whatever you do, you recognize that theory and practice aren't always aligned.Â
So, Randy and I reframed the question from theoretical to practical. The practical question was, "Why are we here teaching and learning with our special education and counselor education graduate students?" I encourage you to see parallels in your own life. Â
Here is a partial list of why we and our graduate students must be in class. As with all brainstorming, the most obvious answers come first:
Professors receive a salary to teach their students
Graduate students pay tuition to learn from their professors
Graduate students' grades may be tied to points related to attendance
Learning comes from an interaction between students and professors
Students and professors begin to form lifelong relationships
High-stakes test (National, State, University, etc.) performance positively correlates with "attendance."
Graduate students need to be there to graduate, get a job, or advance in their current job
People may actually expect the learner to have knowledge, awareness, and skills for effective practice
These reasons may be sufficient for some people to answer the question, "Why are we here?"Â
Why Are We Here? Divine Appointments
However, we still needed the special ingredient, the secret sauce, that transforms bland student-professor interactions into spicy, life-transforming adventures! Â
And then, after another cup of coffee, the light shone in the darkness! The missing ingredient was "magic." That is why we all needed to be in class. At some point, magic was going to happen. The magic could come from the professor, but more likely, it would come from a graduate student or an interaction effect, a synchronicity of engaged minds, hearts, and spirits.Â
If you weren't there, you would miss the magic. You couldn't do an extra-credit assignment to make up for the missed class; you missed the magic. Consider this:Â
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river, and he is not the same man." Heraclitus
We collectively needed to be there because magic would happen... sometimes. Not every class session, but occasionally, something would transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. It was as if something transcendent to all of us was responsible for the shift in purpose from simple to profound. The magic happening was God showing up as a Divine appointment with the class of ordinary people going about life.
Why Are We Here? Concluding Thoughts
You may wonder why I told you a true story from my life in 2001. In 2001, I was a seeker of God but a nominal Christian. I wasn't going to church. I hadn't even read the entire Bible. I was a cold Christian, not even lukewarm. But God has a way of changing minds, hearts, and spirits, as I would later discover. Thus, if you are seeking an elusive God, stick with us here at The Bible Briefs! And think about what God said through the prophet Jeremiah:
"Call to Me and I will answer you, and tell you great and hidden things that you have not known" Jeremiah 33:3 (ESV).
So, as we kick off this website, ask yourself why we are here? As in my career as a university professor, I know why I am here as an early retiree. I believe God is scheduling Divine Appointments that include you, me, and others. Whether here, interacting on The Bible Briefs website, or elsewhere, we don't want to miss the "magic." It is a bridge from theory into practice and faith into purposeful life with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I'm looking forward to this shared journey with you! May God bless you abundantly and beyond your wildest dreams.
In the next post in this series, I'd like to discuss the purpose with you. As you ponder today's question, "Why are we here?" add the next one, "What is our purpose?" Do a brainstorming session for both questions, share your thoughts in the comments below, or contact me with any wonderings you may have.