Editorial
Front Page - Friday, January 28, 2011
Are we there yet?
The purpose of life
Jay Edwards
On Monday night I attended a class in the “Perspectives Study Program” at The Summit Church in North Little Rock. Perspectives is a ministry of the U.S. Center for World Mission.
For those of you not familiar with them, the opening description on their Web site reads – “Since 1974, more than 80,000 believers in North America have experienced the Perspectives course. In 15 lessons, you’ll engage with a range of dynamic speakers, weekly readings and a study that will help you dig even deeper.”
Our church hosted one a few years ago that I passed on, mainly because the classes are every Monday night for three hours and last 15 weeks. When it concluded I had people telling me it had literally changed their life. I remember thinking to myself, ‘I wouldn’t mind changing my life, at least parts of it anyway.’ So Kathy and I decided to attend the first night and make our decision after that on whether we wanted to sign up.
But then Monday night came and it was time to go. I had worked my usual eight hours and was tired. It was cold and damp outside, one well suited for a couch, basketball game and a fire. Kathy had made dinner and when we finished I began scheming on how to get out of the class. Finally as she walked by me in the den, getting ready to go, I said, “Three hours is a long time.”
“Come on, you need to get out of your comfort zone,” was her reply.
“But it’s comfortable there,” I muttered.
We arrived and got out of the car. It was very foggy and would be even worse when we got out. After meeting some people and going through an icebreaker exercise, we took our seats and the directional pastor of Summit, Bill Elliff
was introduced.
He began with a story that Mike Royko, the late columnist of the Chicago Tribune had written. It was about a man named Bill Mallory, who decided one day that he needed to find the purpose of life. So he bought a plane ticket to India, hoping surely that his answer lie there.
But Bill didn’t find what he was searching for in India and so he came home. Then one day he was at a Chevron gas station when he noticed a sign on the wall that read, “As you travel, ask us.” So he walked up to the counter, pointed at the sign and asked the attendant, “Can you tell me the purpose of life?”
“Sorry but I’m new here,” was the reply.
Bill’s search continued and every time he pulled into a Chevron station, he would look to the sign and say, “I’m a traveler. I’d like to ask you a question. What is the purpose of life?”
Another attendant said, “I don’t remember anything in the manual about that.” From one he got, “I’m not much for church myself, sir.” Then there was the guy who gave him a leering look and a wink, but Bill didn’t think that was the answer he was looking for either. Most of the attendants presented with Bill’s important question just stared blankly back at him. But he kept trying.
Then one day Bill got a phone call from someone in Chevron Customer Relations who said, “We understand you’ve been asking our dealers questions and getting unsatisfactory answers.”
“That’s right,” Bill said. “Do you know the purpose of life?”
“No, but I suggest that you write out your question and send it to our corporate headquarters with a self-addressed stamped envelope.”
So Bill got a piece of paper and a pen and wrote out – What is the purpose of life? and mailed it to Chevron.
A couple of weeks later, the envelope was returned. Was this finally the answer Bill had traveled around the world to find? Probably it was not, unless the purpose of life is an application for a Chevron credit card.
The pastor, Bill Eliff concluded by telling us, “If you want to know the purpose of life, you’re not going to find it in a gas station. You’re not going to find it on a talk show. You’re not going to find it in a self-help book. You’re not going to find it at some seminar. If you want to know the purpose of life, you have to either talk to the One who created you, or look in the owner’s manual.”
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Fitness guru Jack Lalanne, who died this week at the age of 96, found some purpose to his life in exercise. Among his many feats of strength, Lalanne once swam a mile from the Queen’s Way Bridge in the Long Beach Harbor to the Queen Mary, while towing 70 rowboats. He was 70 years old at the time.
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