I have two comments that I hope will serve as a preemptive outlet for my sarcasm (having been encouraged by the sarcastic, cynical tone of the book's introduction):
1. "ansewr" is spelled a-n-s-w-e-r
2. at 6:21 in the morning, you can spell it however you want...
Now, to get down to business and comment on the reading itself... If you're still with me, “bravo.”
A: It seems almost inappropriate to answer a question which is prompted by the declarative "the quest is more important than the answer", and I have to say I think it is best answered by giving you some insight into my own quest for answers...
When I was in 7th grade, one of my closest friends committed suicide. It was something that happen unexpectedly, and to say that it was traumatic is more than an understatement.
Not long after his death, my mother resigned her position at our church as the "Children's Ministry Coordinator", after some strong persuasion to do so by the higher ups.
Around the time that my friend decided that his pain was greater than the pain he would cause, and my church left me with the impression that we were no longer part of the "family", my parents got divorced and my father moved out. Our relationship was never strong (he is my adopted father - my biological father was never in my life...it's a long, complex story I'll tell you all about sometime if you ask), and his moving out made it all the weaker. In short, it dwindled away to nothing at all, leaving me jaded, and feeling more alone than ever.
You're probably reading (if you're still reading), thinking "Why is he telling us this?"
Let me explain to you why...
All three of these events left me asking one very difficult question: Why do the people that are supposed to love me prove that they don't?
I understand that this is a blanket statement, and that there were some people who still showed me love in a very real way, but believe me when I tell you that through high school, it wasn't the love - but the lack thereof that I felt.
When I asked myself this question, I came up with an answer that seemed to make perfect sense: "You aren't worth their love."
When someone is 14,15,16,17... and feels like they aren't worth being loved, they look for it in all sorts of places.
I'm not going to give you my whole life story, but I'm here to tell you that the most significant, life-altering, impacting moments of my entire life are directly resultant from this one question. I asked myself, God, friends, family, and everyone I met - though I've never spoken the words aloud.
When I finally heard the truthful answer, I had spent years searching for it. I had changed in so many ways I can't begin to describe them all. Though it all, the people who actually loved me - who proved me wrong in my understanding of why I felt so alone - those people saved me.
The journey made me who I am. The question sent me on that journey, and allowed me to make myself vulnerable enough to people around me that God could come through in a very real way.
QUESTion... Allow yourself to quest. Search. Seek. ASK. When you find the answer, you'll be glad you didn't settle for the first answer. If I had, I'd still be a scared little kid wondering why no one loved me...
People need to tak the question jouney to find the answers. The journey to find the answer is more important then just being told the right awnswers. people need to think for them selves
Wow, Seth. Thanks so much for sharing.. I agree with everything you too have said. So I guess I'll just go ahead and state it in my own way. I think that the quest for the answer is more important than the answer itself because the quest adds so much more meaning to the answer. Say I were to ask the question: What should I do with my life? (Of course, I've asked this question several times.) If I simply got the answer, then I would have lost out on so much of the journey, the opportunities to be confused and frustrated and scared... the opportunities to put my trust in God. I know what I'm doing with my life at this moment, but ten years ago I was a little nine year old who wanted to be an archaeologist or a ballerina or an actress... I never dreamed about youth ministry. I never thought I'd be here at MVNU. As a nine year old, I asked the question: What should I do with my life? If someone had told me "You're going to go to college at MVNU and study youth ministry", then I would have missed out on so many experiences that were so vital to my character now. Therefore, I think that the journey is so much more important. Yeah, that about sums things up.
the best thing i can think of to compare this to is a math equation. You can know the answer but if you don't know the steps to get to the answer what good does it do you? You have learned nothing. We could know the answers to things in life but if we do not understand the quest that we went on to get there it does us no good. It is in the quest that we do all of our growing. Honestly, i can think of few times where i have actually found a specific "answer." I feel like the quest itself is the answer.
As we go through life things change everyday. The people around us change, the world changes, and each individual changes. So wouldn't the answers be changing everyday too? It is just the process of going through the journey that gives us what we call "answers."
So i guess i feel that the quest is more important than the answer because that is where we learn and grow and that it, the quest, could quite possibly be the answer.
I really enjoyed the introduction to this book. And, I don't think that is a statement I have ever made before. Usually, an introduction will give a background that is boring and long and tedious to read. I can already tell that I like this author, and that I am going to like how he presents his ideas.
I agree completely with Seth's comments (in agreement with the author) about the journey to answering a questions being far more important in many cases than finding the actual answer. When we find the answer, we stop searching until another question surfaces. And unless the answer to the question was absolutely revelational, we can feel empty and lost.
It's the journey that counts.
I've learned that lately even when God reveals an answer to me before the journey has begun, the journey is still so much more important than the answer. However, just a few months ago, I tried to convince myself that the journey was not important, and I went through so much discontent about it.
Here's my story: I know my calling. God has called me to youth ministry--but more directly He has called me to minister to youth in the music world. I am highly involved with a local Christian band and their ministry and I know that God has called me into that full-time after I am finished with school. So, I have my answer--at least for my calling.
In December, I was driving to a Wal-Mart 4 exits down the highway in the middle of a blizzard. I was by myself, and quite scared when it got to the point that I could not see the brake lights of a car 20 feet in front of me. I eventually pulled over because I couldn't go any further in those conditions.
I started to realize that the situation in that blizzard described a lot of my life at the moment. I knew where I was going. My final destination was Wal-Mart--no doubt about it. In my life, I know I am called to full-time ministry with this band. But in the blizzard, the journey was difficult. The problem wasn't knowing where I was headed, but rather how I was going to get there safely. And that's how my life felt as well. I know where I am going, but there are so many questions between now and then about how I am going to get there.
And just like in the blizzard, there are days that I question whether or not I will ever make it to the end. And I learned to slow down and trust God in that blizzard. and I'm trying to learn to slow down and trust Him with my life.
So, I do know the answer, or the final place of my journey (in a more short-term sense. I mean, God can move me at any time. It’s not like this calling will be for my entire life) but if I didn’t go through this journey, how would I trust? How would I learn how to be most effective? I need to go through everything that will happen from now until then because it matters as much—if not more—as what Go will have me do.
The journey is most definitely important. And I hate not knowing where it will go. It frustrates me to not be able to see how to get there. But, that is where faith kicks in. In my frustration, I wrote a cry out to God, and I want to share some of it with you guys:
Oh, God what if the ocean doesn’t send another tide? And what if the stars burn out tonight? I don’t think that I’m ready to trust You. To be honest, I’M TERRIFIED. … But the steady repeat of breaking waves, And constant reminders in stars as we gaze Will bring me close to You, Though I have lost the will to go on with what I don’t know.
Even when I'm not sure, God's got it all under control. Sorry for this being so long, but I really felt like this was something I could respond to. Thanks for reading all the way through.
Thanks for sharing, everybody - wow, the stories that have already been shared on here!
The thing that just kept coming to my mind in thinking about this question is our idea of faith. After all, we serve a God that tells us that the answers don't always come easy. In fact, sometimes the answers don't come at all. Look at something like the Trinity - God knows that our tiny little brains can't comprehend the complexity and majesty of the Godhead. But yet we have journeyed together, if you will, for centuries trying to find the answer to this question about God.
We as Americans (or more likely, humans) place a lot of importance on finding the answers. People say, "Solve this equation?" or "When was the Declaration of Independence signed?" or "What can we do to make this ministry work?" or "What are you going to do after college?" That last one always gets me. I'm not even 20 years old, but I feel like everyone thinks I should have the rest of my life figured out.
But I don't wanna limit God like that. Who am I to tell him that I'm going to be a children's pastor for 10 years and then do graduate work and then blah blah blah. The QUESTion is more important than the answer. So when I ask God, "What do you want me to do?," I'm ok with just waiting and letting him lead me when and where he wants.
That's what makes being a Christian so exciting :)
First, I must say that I agree with everyone so far and that it is great to hear some more of everybody's story.
For me the quest for the answer is more important than finding the answer because it gives you the opportunity to grow and become a better person.
As I am on my quest for what I am supposed to do with my life I have come across many opportunities to help me in that process. These opportunities have helped me grow in my understanding of ministry, teens, children, and myself. By knowing that the journey is more important than the answer helps me to look at my experinces and have them develope me into the person that I am and need to be.
One thing that I believe supports this is from our reading. The author makes the point that relying on references can only go so far. To me, if we do not allow teens to have experiences that have meaning then we are not helping them grow and learn like they should. But do not get me wrong, I think that references can help when our creative side of us is not working. But relying on referneces can become a crutch.
So, the quest is more important than the answer because it is the experinces through the journey that shape us, not the answer that we are seeking.
Thank you all for telling your stories. As we can see through these stories and through how we live our lives, questions are more important and worth more than the answers to those questions.
When my mom was pregnant, she had a miscarriage with my twin. My parents were not afraid to tell me about my lost sibling. Since, I was young I have been asking, "why am I here and she is not? What is God's plan and will for me? Am I fulfilling God's longing for me?" As we see through everyone's call and stories, we are all asking the same questions.
If we knew the answer to these questions, we would not keep searching. Searching is the key.
When we come to answers or what we think is an answer, we should not simply be happy with the answer. Things change, situations are different. The author of the book talked about how answers will not be the same for us. We all ask the same questions, but we all come to different answers and keep asking the same questions.
I pretty much agree with everyone in the fact that you really need to experience the journey itself. I believe that the quest is necessary for the answer.
The first thing i thought of when i started to think about this topic is fear of the future. Alot of times are future can be so unclear. We always say, man i just wish i would know or i wish God would make clear to me what i was doing right now. Thinking about such things like my future job, future wife, future family, etc. Has anyone ever asked you the question, "If you could know what was going to happen in the future would you want to know?" At first i think my gut instinct would be yes, cuz then it would seem that life would be less stressful if i knew things like that. But then soon after,i would start to wonder how i got to that place. It would completely change how i thought. It would comlpletely erase all my challenging times to get to where i felt God might want me to be.
I too believe the journey or the quest is necessary to find the answer.
Dido to what everyone has stated so far: the experience of the journey is what counts.
Something that stands out to me is that in our journey to search for the answer, the answer may be something that is continually changing. At point we may think we have it, while at another time we realized we were wrong and at that point we think we have it. I love how seth told his story and described the long process in his life of finding the answer he was looking for. At times we may think we'll never find what it is we are searching for, but it is a personal decision to accept that searching for the right answer doesn't always come immediately, it is a process.
God is always there with us in this process, as He promised us in Jeremiah 29:13 ----- "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
First off, I didn't know much of what Seth had shared and I would like to say that I am amazed that from what I see, Seth came out of all that being the great guy that I see him as. Now that I have written that four line sentence out, I can begin with the question. Why is the quest for an answer better than the answer itself? My answer is simple, an answer doesn't mean much until you have found it to be true yourself. For example, a child learns best that the stove is hot when that child touches the stove. Another example is that we all know that E=MC^2. We have all heard it and have a vague idea as to what it means, but I doubt that any one of us understands that fully. Mainly we have never struggled through the scientific and mathematical principles to appreciate and understand how we can measure energy. For the main question of why is the journey better than the answer, I would go farther to say that often we don't even find the answer. I will never know why God choose this time and this place for my existence fully, but upon exploring who I am and how I fit it, I can then understand the new concept of how can I be the most impactful to this time and place rather than wondering why.
Okay well everybody seems to agree and I am going to as well haha...I too believe that the quest is way more important than the answer.
In my experience in life my father has also let me down. After coming out in a family meeting and telling us all that he had been having an afair with the woman who played the piano for him in the choir for 2 years it shook me (This all coming out one day before my 18th B-day). When after "working" on his marriage with my mom for 2 and 1/2 weeks after the fact and quiting really shook me.
After this all happened all of the answers that I had broke down into nothing but what seemed like bowl crap lies. I do believe that the quest is more important than already having the answers. In my experience I had good answers but when my father who had given me the answers had turned out to not stay true to the answers in life that he gave me I was left with nothing.
My faith was rocked big time. When you are given the answers with out working for them and not going on that quest then you are basing what you know on the knowledge of the one who gave you the answer. My faith was rocked bc my dad's faith was what gave me answers and what i based my faith on. but after the divorce i went on a quest to find out the answers to what I believe and Why I believe it.
Being able to know the detail and process to the answers is what the quest does...Carolyn had a great example with the math thing...you may have the answer but everyone needs to know how you came to that, thats why we must go on the quest. The quest is the answer.
The stories you all shared are incredible. I am so glad that the text began with such a profound statement.
I have never quite looked at the search for answers in such a way. From what I have read and contemplated this week, I have concluded that true answers stem from relational experiences rather than from bits and pieces of organized information. instead of searching for the easiest way to find the answer, we should make every inquisitive thought a challenge to explore ourselves and our relationships in search of the answer we have been looking for. I think after we are frightened by the journey our "quest" for truth may take us on. After we shake off our fear, we may be able to embrace the quest, and in return we will find the true, in-depth answers we have been searching for.
In my life, I was raised from in the typical Christian home, and the expectations were always extremely high. One of those expectations was to go to a Nazarene school, and get a degree in ministry. I agreed ever so enthusiastically because that life had been all that I had known. I think I fell into a "calling" because my parents desired that calling upon my life. I however, had not a clue what God was saying to me.
This sent me down a road of confusion, and self-discovery. I was finally in college and able to make my own decisions. I just wanted to know what God would have for me in this journey called life. I wasn't satisfied with the complacency of a "parental calling". This began my "quest" for answers. In the beginning it started out sincere. I was utterly confused, and wanted desperate relief from the confusion. It didn't take long for me to begin running from God. He had not answered my question fast enough to please me, so I was going to find a direction on my own. (Btw, that's never a safe road to travel) Spring semester last year, my life took a 180 turn from a quiet Christian girl, to a life of deceit, rebellion, and hatred. I was discontent with myself, with God, and with life altogether. I wanted to run away from MVNU as fast as I could, because it was here where the misery began. Little did I know what the coming weeks would hold for me on my "quest".
While spending a month in Quito, Ecuador, I saw God for who He was, and for the first time in my life, I independently chose to seek His will for my life. It was almost as if someone banged a frying pan across my head. The answer was so simple, so evident. All that time, while I was running, the answer had been right in front of me, but my eyes were too muddy to see the truth.
I believe God allowed me to run for a while, kind of like we let a dog run for a while till his chain runs out of slack. I learned so much about who I was, and who God has designed me to be, and it was because of the "quest" God allowed me to take.
Even now I look back at that experience and I see the change in me, and I praise God for the rough times, because with out those times I can say I would not be the person I am today. :)
The journey is more important than the answer because you learn much, much more on the journey than you ever would from the answer.
For example, the answer is trust God.
The journey to get there is much longer and more complicated. It involves the death of a friend, divorce, getting kicked out of school for grades, and falling into a deep depression. Infinitely more was learned on the journey than was learned from the answer.
I have two comments that I hope will serve as a preemptive outlet for my sarcasm (having been encouraged by the sarcastic, cynical tone of the book's introduction):
ReplyDelete1. "ansewr" is spelled a-n-s-w-e-r
2. at 6:21 in the morning, you can spell it however you want...
Now, to get down to business and comment on the reading itself... If you're still with me, “bravo.”
A: It seems almost inappropriate to answer a question which is prompted by the declarative "the quest is more important than the answer", and I have to say I think it is best answered by giving you some insight into my own quest for answers...
When I was in 7th grade, one of my closest friends committed suicide. It was something that happen unexpectedly, and to say that it was traumatic is more than an understatement.
Not long after his death, my mother resigned her position at our church as the "Children's Ministry Coordinator", after some strong persuasion to do so by the higher ups.
Around the time that my friend decided that his pain was greater than the pain he would cause, and my church left me with the impression that we were no longer part of the "family", my parents got divorced and my father moved out. Our relationship was never strong (he is my adopted father - my biological father was never in my life...it's a long, complex story I'll tell you all about sometime if you ask), and his moving out made it all the weaker. In short, it dwindled away to nothing at all, leaving me jaded, and feeling more alone than ever.
You're probably reading (if you're still reading), thinking "Why is he telling us this?"
Let me explain to you why...
All three of these events left me asking one very difficult question: Why do the people that are supposed to love me prove that they don't?
I understand that this is a blanket statement, and that there were some people who still showed me love in a very real way, but believe me when I tell you that through high school, it wasn't the love - but the lack thereof that I felt.
When I asked myself this question, I came up with an answer that seemed to make perfect sense: "You aren't worth their love."
When someone is 14,15,16,17... and feels like they aren't worth being loved, they look for it in all sorts of places.
I'm not going to give you my whole life story, but I'm here to tell you that the most significant, life-altering, impacting moments of my entire life are directly resultant from this one question. I asked myself, God, friends, family, and everyone I met - though I've never spoken the words aloud.
When I finally heard the truthful answer, I had spent years searching for it. I had changed in so many ways I can't begin to describe them all. Though it all, the people who actually loved me - who proved me wrong in my understanding of why I felt so alone - those people saved me.
The journey made me who I am. The question sent me on that journey, and allowed me to make myself vulnerable enough to people around me that God could come through in a very real way.
QUESTion... Allow yourself to quest. Search. Seek. ASK. When you find the answer, you'll be glad you didn't settle for the first answer. If I had, I'd still be a scared little kid wondering why no one loved me...
People need to tak the question jouney to find the answers. The journey to find the answer is more important then just being told the right awnswers. people need to think for them selves
ReplyDeleteWow, Seth. Thanks so much for sharing..
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you too have said. So I guess I'll just go ahead and state it in my own way.
I think that the quest for the answer is more important than the answer itself because the quest adds so much more meaning to the answer. Say I were to ask the question: What should I do with my life? (Of course, I've asked this question several times.) If I simply got the answer, then I would have lost out on so much of the journey, the opportunities to be confused and frustrated and scared... the opportunities to put my trust in God. I know what I'm doing with my life at this moment, but ten years ago I was a little nine year old who wanted to be an archaeologist or a ballerina or an actress... I never dreamed about youth ministry. I never thought I'd be here at MVNU. As a nine year old, I asked the question: What should I do with my life? If someone had told me "You're going to go to college at MVNU and study youth ministry", then I would have missed out on so many experiences that were so vital to my character now.
Therefore, I think that the journey is so much more important. Yeah, that about sums things up.
the best thing i can think of to compare this to is a math equation. You can know the answer but if you don't know the steps to get to the answer what good does it do you? You have learned nothing. We could know the answers to things in life but if we do not understand the quest that we went on to get there it does us no good. It is in the quest that we do all of our growing. Honestly, i can think of few times where i have actually found a specific "answer." I feel like the quest itself is the answer.
ReplyDeleteAs we go through life things change everyday. The people around us change, the world changes, and each individual changes. So wouldn't the answers be changing everyday too? It is just the process of going through the journey that gives us what we call "answers."
So i guess i feel that the quest is more important than the answer because that is where we learn and grow and that it, the quest, could quite possibly be the answer.
good comparison.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the introduction to this book. And, I don't think that is a statement I have ever made before. Usually, an introduction will give a background that is boring and long and tedious to read. I can already tell that I like this author, and that I am going to like how he presents his ideas.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with Seth's comments (in agreement with the author) about the journey to answering a questions being far more important in many cases than finding the actual answer. When we find the answer, we stop searching until another question surfaces. And unless the answer to the question was absolutely revelational, we can feel empty and lost.
It's the journey that counts.
I've learned that lately even when God reveals an answer to me before the journey has begun, the journey is still so much more important than the answer. However, just a few months ago, I tried to convince myself that the journey was not important, and I went through so much discontent about it.
Here's my story:
I know my calling. God has called me to youth ministry--but more directly He has called me to minister to youth in the music world. I am highly involved with a local Christian band and their ministry and I know that God has called me into that full-time after I am finished with school. So, I have my answer--at least for my calling.
In December, I was driving to a Wal-Mart 4 exits down the highway in the middle of a blizzard. I was by myself, and quite scared when it got to the point that I could not see the brake lights of a car 20 feet in front of me. I eventually pulled over because I couldn't go any further in those conditions.
I started to realize that the situation in that blizzard described a lot of my life at the moment. I knew where I was going. My final destination was Wal-Mart--no doubt about it. In my life, I know I am called to full-time ministry with this band. But in the blizzard, the journey was difficult. The problem wasn't knowing where I was headed, but rather how I was going to get there safely. And that's how my life felt as well. I know where I am going, but there are so many questions between now and then about how I am going to get there.
And just like in the blizzard, there are days that I question whether or not I will ever make it to the end. And I learned to slow down and trust God in that blizzard. and I'm trying to learn to slow down and trust Him with my life.
So, I do know the answer, or the final place of my journey (in a more short-term sense. I mean, God can move me at any time. It’s not like this calling will be for my entire life) but if I didn’t go through this journey, how would I trust? How would I learn how to be most effective? I need to go through everything that will happen from now until then because it matters as much—if not more—as what Go will have me do.
The journey is most definitely important. And I hate not knowing where it will go. It frustrates me to not be able to see how to get there. But, that is where faith kicks in. In my frustration, I wrote a cry out to God, and I want to share some of it with you guys:
Oh, God what if the ocean doesn’t send another tide?
And what if the stars burn out tonight?
I don’t think that I’m ready to trust You.
To be honest, I’M TERRIFIED.
…
But the steady repeat of breaking waves,
And constant reminders in stars as we gaze
Will bring me close to You,
Though I have lost the will to go on with what I don’t know.
Even when I'm not sure, God's got it all under control. Sorry for this being so long, but I really felt like this was something I could respond to. Thanks for reading all the way through.
Thanks for sharing, everybody - wow, the stories that have already been shared on here!
ReplyDeleteThe thing that just kept coming to my mind in thinking about this question is our idea of faith. After all, we serve a God that tells us that the answers don't always come easy. In fact, sometimes the answers don't come at all. Look at something like the Trinity - God knows that our tiny little brains can't comprehend the complexity and majesty of the Godhead. But yet we have journeyed together, if you will, for centuries trying to find the answer to this question about God.
We as Americans (or more likely, humans) place a lot of importance on finding the answers. People say, "Solve this equation?" or "When was the Declaration of Independence signed?" or "What can we do to make this ministry work?" or "What are you going to do after college?" That last one always gets me. I'm not even 20 years old, but I feel like everyone thinks I should have the rest of my life figured out.
But I don't wanna limit God like that. Who am I to tell him that I'm going to be a children's pastor for 10 years and then do graduate work and then blah blah blah. The QUESTion is more important than the answer. So when I ask God, "What do you want me to do?," I'm ok with just waiting and letting him lead me when and where he wants.
That's what makes being a Christian so exciting :)
First, I must say that I agree with everyone so far and that it is great to hear some more of everybody's story.
ReplyDeleteFor me the quest for the answer is more important than finding the answer because it gives you the opportunity to grow and become a better person.
As I am on my quest for what I am supposed to do with my life I have come across many opportunities to help me in that process. These opportunities have helped me grow in my understanding of ministry, teens, children, and myself. By knowing that the journey is more important than the answer helps me to look at my experinces and have them develope me into the person that I am and need to be.
One thing that I believe supports this is from our reading. The author makes the point that relying on references can only go so far. To me, if we do not allow teens to have experiences that have meaning then we are not helping them grow and learn like they should. But do not get me wrong, I think that references can help when our creative side of us is not working. But relying on referneces can become a crutch.
So, the quest is more important than the answer because it is the experinces through the journey that shape us, not the answer that we are seeking.
Thank you all for telling your stories. As we can see through these stories and through how we live our lives, questions are more important and worth more than the answers to those questions.
ReplyDeleteWhen my mom was pregnant, she had a miscarriage with my twin. My parents were not afraid to tell me about my lost sibling. Since, I was young I have been asking, "why am I here and she is not? What is God's plan and will for me? Am I fulfilling God's longing for me?" As we see through everyone's call and stories, we are all asking the same questions.
If we knew the answer to these questions, we would not keep searching. Searching is the key.
When we come to answers or what we think is an answer, we should not simply be happy with the answer. Things change, situations are different. The author of the book talked about how answers will not be the same for us. We all ask the same questions, but we all come to different answers and keep asking the same questions.
I pretty much agree with everyone in the fact that you really need to experience the journey itself. I believe that the quest is necessary for the answer.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing i thought of when i started to think about this topic is fear of the future. Alot of times are future can be so unclear. We always say, man i just wish i would know or i wish God would make clear to me what i was doing right now. Thinking about such things like my future job, future wife, future family, etc.
Has anyone ever asked you the question, "If you could know what was going to happen in the future would you want to know?" At first i think my gut instinct would be yes, cuz then it would seem that life would be less stressful if i knew things like that. But then soon after,i would start to wonder how i got to that place. It would completely change how i thought. It would comlpletely erase all my challenging times to get to where i felt God might want me to be.
I too believe the journey or the quest is necessary to find the answer.
Dido to what everyone has stated so far: the experience of the journey is what counts.
ReplyDeleteSomething that stands out to me is that in our journey to search for the answer, the answer may be something that is continually changing. At point we may think we have it, while at another time we realized we were wrong and at that point we think we have it. I love how seth told his story and described the long process in his life of finding the answer he was looking for. At times we may think we'll never find what it is we are searching for, but it is a personal decision to accept that searching for the right answer doesn't always come immediately, it is a process.
God is always there with us in this process, as He promised us in Jeremiah 29:13 -----
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
First off, I didn't know much of what Seth had shared and I would like to say that I am amazed that from what I see, Seth came out of all that being the great guy that I see him as. Now that I have written that four line sentence out, I can begin with the question. Why is the quest for an answer better than the answer itself?
ReplyDeleteMy answer is simple, an answer doesn't mean much until you have found it to be true yourself. For example, a child learns best that the stove is hot when that child touches the stove. Another example is that we all know that E=MC^2. We have all heard it and have a vague idea as to what it means, but I doubt that any one of us understands that fully. Mainly we have never struggled through the scientific and mathematical principles to appreciate and understand how we can measure energy.
For the main question of why is the journey better than the answer, I would go farther to say that often we don't even find the answer. I will never know why God choose this time and this place for my existence fully, but upon exploring who I am and how I fit it, I can then understand the new concept of how can I be the most impactful to this time and place rather than wondering why.
Okay well everybody seems to agree and I am going to as well haha...I too believe that the quest is way more important than the answer.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience in life my father has also let me down. After coming out in a family meeting and telling us all that he had been having an afair with the woman who played the piano for him in the choir for 2 years it shook me (This all coming out one day before my 18th B-day). When after "working" on his marriage with my mom for 2 and 1/2 weeks after the fact and quiting really shook me.
After this all happened all of the answers that I had broke down into nothing but what seemed like bowl crap lies. I do believe that the quest is more important than already having the answers. In my experience I had good answers but when my father who had given me the answers had turned out to not stay true to the answers in life that he gave me I was left with nothing.
My faith was rocked big time. When you are given the answers with out working for them and not going on that quest then you are basing what you know on the knowledge of the one who gave you the answer. My faith was rocked bc my dad's faith was what gave me answers and what i based my faith on. but after the divorce i went on a quest to find out the answers to what I believe and Why I believe it.
Being able to know the detail and process to the answers is what the quest does...Carolyn had a great example with the math thing...you may have the answer but everyone needs to know how you came to that, thats why we must go on the quest. The quest is the answer.
The stories you all shared are incredible. I am so glad that the text began with such a profound statement.
ReplyDeleteI have never quite looked at the search for answers in such a way. From what I have read and contemplated this week, I have concluded that true answers stem from relational experiences rather than from bits and pieces of organized information. instead of searching for the easiest way to find the answer, we should make every inquisitive thought a challenge to explore ourselves and our relationships in search of the answer we have been looking for. I think after we are frightened by the journey our "quest" for truth may take us on. After we shake off our fear, we may be able to embrace the quest, and in return we will find the true, in-depth answers we have been searching for.
In my life, I was raised from in the typical Christian home, and the expectations were always extremely high. One of those expectations was to go to a Nazarene school, and get a degree in ministry. I agreed ever so enthusiastically because that life had been all that I had known. I think I fell into a "calling" because my parents desired that calling upon my life. I however, had not a clue what God was saying to me.
This sent me down a road of confusion, and self-discovery. I was finally in college and able to make my own decisions. I just wanted to know what God would have for me in this journey called life. I wasn't satisfied with the complacency of a "parental calling". This began my "quest" for answers. In the beginning it started out sincere. I was utterly confused, and wanted desperate relief from the confusion. It didn't take long for me to begin running from God. He had not answered my question fast enough to please me, so I was going to find a direction on my own. (Btw, that's never a safe road to travel)
Spring semester last year, my life took a 180 turn from a quiet Christian girl, to a life of deceit, rebellion, and hatred. I was discontent with myself, with God, and with life altogether. I wanted to run away from MVNU as fast as I could, because it was here where the misery began.
Little did I know what the coming weeks would hold for me on my "quest".
While spending a month in Quito, Ecuador, I saw God for who He was, and for the first time in my life, I independently chose to seek His will for my life. It was almost as if someone banged a frying pan across my head. The answer was so simple, so evident. All that time, while I was running, the answer had been right in front of me, but my eyes were too muddy to see the truth.
I believe God allowed me to run for a while, kind of like we let a dog run for a while till his chain runs out of slack. I learned so much about who I was, and who God has designed me to be, and it was because of the "quest" God allowed me to take.
Even now I look back at that experience and I see the change in me, and I praise God for the rough times, because with out those times I can say I would not be the person I am today. :)
So yeah, coming into this late...
ReplyDeleteDitto to what everyone said thus far.
The journey is more important than the answer because you learn much, much more on the journey than you ever would from the answer.
For example, the answer is trust God.
The journey to get there is much longer and more complicated. It involves the death of a friend, divorce, getting kicked out of school for grades, and falling into a deep depression. Infinitely more was learned on the journey than was learned from the answer.