What makes you come alive?

Towards the end of Sex at Dawn (I have a note that says "page 291," but D has my copy right now so I can't check), Ryan and Jetha tell the story of a man they call Phil. Phil was married; Phil had an affair; Phil's marriage came caving in around his head. Untold destruction. A very bad scene. And Phil was upset. He didn't hate his wife. He didn't want to lose the marriage. But he had not been able to keep from having the affair. What he said about it (as near as I can quote without the book handy) was that the affair "made him come alive again." He had not realized how dead his life had gotten until his affair made everything bloom and blossom for him again. And he craved that coming alive so much that he couldn't stop himself.

When I read those words, I couldn't help but think of another post, a little over a year ago, where I quoted John Eldredge from his book Wild at Heart, saying, "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

Really? So what the world needs is more adultery? Maybe so -- sometimes it sounds like Ryan and Jetha are making exactly that case -- but I think Eldredge would be shocked to hear it. (If you check out his website, their current mission is fighting to save marriages.)

You know, when I first heard of Eldredge -- when a friend of mine first passed me a copy of Wild at Heart -- I found him exciting to read, absolutely thrilling, one of the best things to happen to the all-too-tepidly-communicated Christian message in decades. Looking over his website just now (as I went to find the links I have embedded here) I remember why I felt that way. Only, ... is he really telling me that I'll have a better, fuller, more joyous life yoked to Wife than I could have exulting with D? I'll have to think about that.


Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.