Stop Feeding Your Ography

I grew up in the Sierra Nevada mountains, near Yosemite National Park. All of the adjectives that come to mind are 100% true. It is an incredible place. it is also incredibly far away from any major cities (and no, Fresno does not count as a major city). We used to call San Francisco “The City” because it was only 4 hours away.

As a young boy, my favorite baseball team was the Los Angeles Dodgers, however because we were so far away from Chavez Ravine, there was never a convenient opportunity for us to go see a game, until Mr. Flanagan happened. Mr. Flanagan was the head coach for our rival Little League team, the Oakhurst Oaks. The Oaks beat us for the Mountain Area Little League Championship every year. Mr. Flanagan however was from Los Angeles and our families struck up a relationship as Dodger fans… we came to find out laster that he also had a share of a season ticket package with a group of friends.

It was after one of our championship game losses that he offered us his tickets. To say that I was overjoyed would be an understatement. I was so excited that I don’t remember anything about the 7 plus hour drive in my dad’s work truck, which had a bench, vinyl seat (and no air conditioning of course), however it did have a pretty cool hydraulic function that turned it from your normal 1 ton pickup into a dump truck. Nothing like 3 guys and 7 hours driving to a Dodger game in a dump truck…

When we got to the stadium, we discovered that our seats were behind home plate, three rows from the field. It was an incredible day. Before the game I saw Vin Scully in his announcer’s both, had a world famous Farmer John’s Dodger Dog, and I even got Fernando Valenzuela’s autograph. The game was just as memorable, while Fernando didn’t pitch well, Darryl Strawberry hit a home run and David Cone (the pitcher for the Mets) hit a Pedro Guerrero. Guerrero then threw his bat at Cone and started a benches clearing brawl.

First Dodger game, three rows from the field, Fernando’s autograph, Vin Scully, Dodger Dogs, Fernando pitching, a home run, a beaning, a brawl… It could not ever get better than this!

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine went to Africa on a mission trip. They were in the county of Malawi visiting an orphanage. Overwhelmed by the beautiful and joy filled kids they met his team wanted to do something special for them. As they mulled over how to bless these kids, one guy in the group decided that they should load up all the kids on a bus and take them to the nearest town and buy them ice cream. These kids had never had anything like this and it would be so fun to watch them experience something new and delicious. The group leader presented the idea to the director of the orphanage, guaranteeing that they would cover the costs of the bus and the ice cream. The director was touched at the offer but politely refused. The group leader pressed the issue and was again kindly redirected. Later that day a third attempt was made to convince the director to let the kids go to ice cream.

At this point the director became angry and indignant at the short sightedness and arrogance of his visitors. “Why would you want to let the children experience something that they will never be able to have again? Why would you create a need where there wasn’t a need? A desire where there wasn’t a desire? Why would you want to rub these children’s poverty in their faces in order for you to feel good about yourselves?”

We all understand what pornography is (thank you U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart for your relatable definition “I know it when I see it”). However the danger is not just what pornography is, but what it does. It creates a desire for something that cannot be obtained. A desire where desire didn’t previously exist; a perceived need where there wasn’t a need. A lack of contentment where there had previously been content.

For the rest of my childhood, every baseball game was compared to that first Dodger game. You could call it Box-Seatography. The ice cream to the orphans could have become SaltandStrawography.

We Americans are a funny lot. We are masters at creating a desire for things that we don’t have. We are masters at creating master degrees designed to teach others how to create want and desire for products we don’t have and often times cannot afford (we call it “Marketing”). We ask companies to send us catalogues of things we cannot afford that make us wish our houses or wardrobes or bodies or lifestyle looked like someone else’s houses or wardrobes or bodies or lifestyle.

PotteryBarnography.

Anthropologieograhy.

RestorationHardwareography.
SkyMallography (Ok… you are right, no one really wants that stuff).

What is your Ography?

Would you better appreciate what the Lord has blessed you with if you stopped wanting things you didn’t have? Would you enjoy your family more? Would you be more content with your life? Would you have a greater level of commitment to your family?

We do the same thing in our spiritual lives. We listen to preachers and teachers on the radio or on podcasts that speak more eloquently or intellectually than our pastor. We say that “we get more out of their messages”, that they “teach us more” about the Bible, that they are “funnier”, “more clever”, have “more vision”. We use Christiany terms like “bring the word” and become paleo-crossfit-Christians as we love heavy teaching full of “meat”. If “I am ever in ___________ city on vacation, I am totally going to __________‘s church”. Pastorography.

Would you appreciate your pastor more if you stopped listening to other pastors? Would you listen differently at church on Sunday? Would you be more content with your church and what the Lord was doing in your congregation? Would you have a greater level of commitment to your church?

The author of the book of Hebrews reminds us that a byproduct of contentment is a lack of fear. In verses 5 and 6 of chapter 13 the writer says “be content with what you have, for he [Jesus] has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”“

What if we did something crazy…

What if we stopped doing one thing that fed our Ography this week (without replacing that time with another Ography). If we believe what the writer of Hebrews say, our confidence in Jesus will increase, our contentment will grow, and our fears will retreat. And while the effects might not be overnight, over time we will be changed and others will know it when they see it.