WHAT YOU TALKIN' 'BOUT, WILLIS?

Hey, be sure and check out that doc's website. He's got a sweet race car. I guess he can afford a bot that sends out comments to blogs that mention LASIK. Or slave labor.

First off, I'd rather leave a legacy before a legend. A legend is like hearsay of who somebody was--it gets twisted as the years go by. Legacy is actually what you pass on\leave with others after you.

Do you realize how much time we spend on meaningless things? Then I ask you, what is meaningful? And don't you know (whether we own up to it or not) that we are already doing what is meaningful to us? If everything we do wasn't already meaningful to us, we wouldn't do it.

Let me elaborate: we may have the desire to write a novel or go mountain biking or whatever. I'm not saying the desire is not there. I'm simply saying the desire to spend time with stuff like comedy television, oddities found on the internet, and whatever other hobbies we have is greater than our desire for the other things we hold a loftier opinion of (like writing a novel or going mountain biking). Again I ask, what is meaningful to you? I agree with Dale, your life doesn't have to be a picturesque model of how it should be done, but I think one condemns himself by not acheiving the very things he holds high. It's like stopping halfway up Mt. Everest--what's the point? That which you first deem honorable and worthy of your blood, sweat and tears, and then spend your life trying to acheive--THIS is your personal legacy. If that means helping someone else in need and not another soul on the planet knows about it--so be it. But be it also that you pass that character on to others or your legacy indeed becomes legend. Woe to the poor soul who never stops to determine that which is worthy of strife--even to the point of death. For he who has found his life will lose it, and he who gives it all up for a worthy cause (Christ) will find it (Matt. 10:39).

Finally, let me reiterate that there is only one genuine high and lofty prize that we all strive to achieve (Phil 3:14) and it's not that our desires are too strong that we cannot break bad habits, but that our desires are too weak to measure up to the worth that is found in truly knowing the Son--that's why we have grace--Words from the great theologian Jonathan Edwards. Look him up.

The word "legend" definitely brings to mind something grand and unusual, but success & purpose don't come from something just because it's big & strange. Goodness and purpose should be enough to fulfill anyone. The dream could be to live quietly with a family while helping your neighbors. Then again, it could also be travelling to Timbuktu and becoming the next Timbuktu-ian pop star. It seems like St. Augustine talked about how things aren't inherently good or evil - it's the purpose or drive behind it. Working in the TV Studio and spoiling Jackson can definitely be done in a God-glorifying way. Too many people agree with Jim Morrison's idea that our life is only worthwhile if someone would want to make a movie about it.