Cory and Topanga...

"Throughout your life, there's gonna be a lot of opportunities that come up. And they're gonna seem great. And they're gonna seem wonderful. And they're gonna seem like they make your life a heck of a lot easier. But you have to walk away. And, you know, at times it's gonna be really difficult to do that. But you have to, because you deserve better." -Eric Matthews, Boy Meets World

"Good is the enemy of great" -Jim Collins

As most know, I am an avid fan of Vanderbilt football. It leaves me with heartbreak a lot, but just like with a pretty girl, I keep running back for more, undeterred by failure.

Vanderbilt's coach James Franklin has a saying. It's become the tagline for his program: "Six seconds at a time." It's really a great motto for a football team. On average, a single play lasts six seconds. So win every play, win every six seconds, without worry of what came before or after. Live in the present, and win that.

But while it's a great symbol for a football program, I'm afraid we've become a six-second society. In a world of instant communication and limitless opportunities, we're living life in snapshots, settling for the crumbs of life to the fullest.

We communicate with one another 140 characters at a time #hashtagproblems. We reduce the campaign for the president of the United States to two 3-second sound clips revolving around Big Bird and "Binders of Women" taken totally out of context for shock value. We live relationships one weekend, one night, at a time. We live for what feels good now and easy answers and quick fixes to profound issues and questions when life is a tangled web of confusion and interwoven parts. We're so busy settling for good that we've forgotten what great even looks like.

One of my favorite shows growing up (and still today to be honest) was Boy Meets World. It was a show that followed Cory Matthews from middle school all the way through college graduation. Like all shows about growing up, it carried the drama and angst of high school and the silly quabbles of teen relationships, but there was also something very true about the show.

Throughout the series, a key theme is Cory's relationship with Topanga, his "soul-mate" for lack of any better word. From the beginning of high school until the end of the show, they are together. And there are twists and turns along the road, but they are the constant, even when something has pulled them apart for one reason or another.

At one point in high school, Cory, his best friend Shawn and his older brother Eric are visiting a college at the beach for a guys' weekend. While there, Cory gets stuck alone with a girl in her dorm room, and to say she was putting the moves on him would be an understatement. At one point she had cornered him on her bed and just as she was going in for the kill, Eric walks through the door. Giving the brothers a moment, the girl takes her laundry downstairs.

Cory ardently tries to convince Eric nothing was going to happen, that he was being pressured into something but that he wouldn't cheat on Topanga. And in a moment of pure wisdom (which was a rarity for him,) Eric looks to him and says something tremendously profound and true:

"Throughout your life, there's gonna be a lot of opportunities that come up. And they're gonna seem great. And they're gonna seem wonderful. And they're gonna seem like they make your life a heck of a lot easier. But you have to walk away. And, you know, at times it's gonna be really difficult to do that. But you have to, because you deserve better."

Life is hard. I'm absolutely convinced that God created us for relationships and companionship, for vulnerability and intimacy. And that's HARD! It's scary. What does our divorce rate say if not that? Every day we're faced with choices, some easier and some harder. Relationships are hard. Life is hard!

I've read the Gospels a few times, and I can't find this place where Jesus says life is easy and we'll have it our way and it will all be smiles and rainbows. At seemingly every turn in fact, he keeps reminding his disciples that it will be hard. "You will be persecuted," he says at one point. "In this world you will have trouble," he adds at another.

But the story of Jesus is the story of a God who entered in to our story, the anger and the pain and the imperfections, and shined a little light and restored it. It's a story of hope! The story of Jesus is at its heart a love story. Not in the same way that The Notebook or Beauty and the Beast is a love story. But it's a story of a God who willingly and without pause jumped into a world he loves that is broken and imperfect in order to redeem it. It's a story of a God who gets his hands dirty because his beloved is worth it!

Following after Jesus isn't easy. But neither is maintaining friendship. Neither is fighting oppression or poverty. Neither is marriage. Neither is loving someone who doesn't love themselves. But just because life's circumstances are hard doesn't mean a quick fix is the solution.

Just because vulnerability is hard doesn't mean we have to settle for texts and "Likes" to supply the lifeblood of friendships. Just because relationships are hard doesn't mean we have to settle for instant, shallow passion that leaves us empty. Just because poverty is hard doesn't mean we can't meet and befriend our brothers and sisters living without a home.

There's a saying that I love: "If it seems too good to be true, it is."

Life to the fullest comes when we take risks, when we are willing to jump without knowing where we'll land. Because nothing great every came without risks, without sweat, without love. Just because it is hard doesn't mean it's not worth it. In fact, it usually means it is! Let's stop settling for six-second moments and start living genuine, great stories.

forever unfinished...