In My Alternate Life…

Emily likes to play this game where we talk about what we’d be doing in alternate lives.  We went camping this past week, and she asked all of us there what we’d be doing in our alternate lives.  Well as these things go I like to play around with them a bit in my head and think it through a little.

Sometimes there can be a bit of a hesitation to think about such questions because it could be seen as not being content with the life we already have, but I choose to think of it in a different way. Actually when you think about alternate lives it helps us to be creative and often times let’s us see things about ourselves we aren’t always aware of.

I realize I have this deep interest in film.  My initial thought to the question is, “well I think I would  have gone to film school, I would probably be trying to do something with film, whether it was directing or editing short films I think I would’ve like to be an indie filmmaker.???  Maybe I’d even try to work for Wes Anderson.
But then when I think about it more, I dig a little into it, I think that even that feels like a secondary choice, my first choice would be doing something like what I am doing now.  Working on school, studying great thinkers, and trying to make a different in the church has satisfied me.

I’ve been on this path since I was sixteen and felt God call me to the ministry, it’s weird to think about it that way, but I’ve really never strayed from that path even though many things have changed and the way I understand that call has changed the focus of my eyes has always been the same.

So when we play with alternate worlds, we sometimes find that we’re really doing what we like not matter how green that other grass is.  Of course maybe I would have chosen a different course of study, different schools, different locations, but then again when I look back I really think I like it the way it is.

Emily said she realized that every time she thought about her alternate life she always started from California.  She didn’t notice that she was doing that till recently and felt like that was affirmation that we really are happy with where we are and that we followed God to the right place.

How about any of you?  What would you be doing in your alternate life?  Do you find anything helpful in thinking along these lines?