Thousand meetings . . . post-script

First of all, allenq wins the prize for the word frightened. I had already thought of feedback. For what it's worth, delightful and prerequisite also qualify. Of course there are probably more, but I suspect not that many. When you look at the alphabet, there are only a few realistic strings of letters in which to find such words. For instance, I doubt there are any English words that contain u, v, w, x, y, and z. I usually get to a point of diminishing returns and decide to move on to new game.

What has always intrigued me over the course of these "thousand meetings" is that, without fail, there are some attendees who are wholeheartedly not bored. I look at such people and marvel how they can be so passionate about something, when I am often bored to tears about the same thing.

To me, this highlights a very important idea. That is, the opposite of boredom is passion. Passion is doing something that you don't want to stop doing--kind of like when you are reading a real "page turner" of a book and can't put it down, even to eat or sleep. Doing something that is your passion gives a sense of exhilaration and satisfaction that you don't find in other endeavors in life. I have a great deal of respect for those who are passionate about what they do, even if it is in an area that I do not find particularly interesting.

This is also why I am so thankful that God has given me a passion in life. As my profile states, I have a passion for studying and teaching the Bible. And when I say "passion," I mean exactly that. It is the first thing in my life that I have ever done that is akin to that "page turner" of a book. I want to keep studying and teaching the Bible all the time, and it never, ever gets boring. To me, this is just one indicator that I am "doing the right thing" by pursuing a seminary degree and a career in teaching theological studies. I may not get there until I am fifty (or older), but it is my passion.