I was kind of upset with him. Enough that I drove over to his house and we calmly talked things over. I sent him a text about two weeks in advance so that my opponent could fit the necessary half hour in on his busy calendar. Screaming wasn’t necessary. I didn’t even get stressed about it either, he was just talking crap and needed to stop. It was that simple. Now we’re best friends forever… we just smile and wave when we see each other at social events- there’s absolutely no need to get all sorts of lovey and spend too much time with each other.
That kind of story doesn’t work for Hollywood. Frankly, it doesn’t do much for anyone because it’s tame. Yes, there’s conflict, but it isn’t anything worth writing about. Even on this blog. I need a real brawl, not just a disagreement. I require a kidnapped girlfriend, fighting and enough blood to make Kill Bill look like the Power Rangers or something ridiculously G-rated like that. My fights need to have epic proportions. Mostly so I can tell stories about them later and let the world know how they changed me.
Without Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter wouldn’t have been the chosen one.
Romeo and Juliet would have just been another emo couple if their families didn’t hate each other.
Batman, Superman, The Incredibles, and every other super hero ever mentioned never would have risen to the occasion if there wasn’t crime.
Oprah wouldn’t be every woman’s hero if she wasn’t perpetually single and permanently on a diet.
I’m not a dualist. Good is always good, even without the presence of evil, but at the same time, I understand that conflict causes growth and change. We don’t need all the badness the world has to offer, but even the idiots that we encounter every now and again provide us with an opportunity to become better people. Or worse ones, because what matters in a contention-induced battle is what we do with our differences. Fights start because one or all of the humans involved sucks, so we should understand that and see what we need to change when we’re bickering with someone else. Unless it’s all their fault, which really could be the case. When that happens, we can only pray that God shows them how stupid they are, right? And it’s always the other person, not us… so I guess we can blow off everything I just wrote….
My faith in God doesn’t need any other human to complete it. With that in mind, I could live out my Jesus-centered existence in a social vacuum- without another person around to bother it. But God didn’t make us like that- He created communal creatures who want to be around each other, even if we do make those who have to deal with us a little crazy.
I suppose I could sum it up like this: My flaws aren’t only areas where I can improve, but they give you something to work with too. Here’s to becoming better people… let’s fight.
I love the idea that Oprah’s diet is her own personal Voldemort.
But you are really onto something here. We are a society that uses conflict and competition to move forward. Maybe that’s the way all human societies work, maybe it’s just us.
If it is part of our human identity to compete, how can we do so in a healthy way?
“Oprah’s diet is her own personal Voldemort” You win for my favorite comment of all time. Seriously. We’re friends for life now.
“conflict causes growth and change”
What a mouthful and it needs to be a heartful.
The old saying “No pain, no gain,” comes to mind.
A seed doesn’t sprout unless it changes radically from what it was.
A child has growing pains – physical, emotional, and spiritual.
In medicine, surgery can often mean the difference between life and death.
In relationships, we mature more with a discussion of our differences than of our similarities.
A pond without conflict/change becomes stagnant.
To move forward in the ‘fresh newness of life”, we need “conflict (because it) causes growth and change”
You nailed it. I don’t think we need to be picking fights or hunting for pain, but when we know what to do with it, we do well!
Ninja roundhouse kick to the face!
Oh, were we not supposed to do that?! My bad! =P
I’ve heard it said (but I can’t remember by who, so it might as well take credit for it, right?) that if we as Christians and especially as men, don’t have an enemy to fight, we end up fighting each other. There’s just something about overcoming conflict, being engaged in an epic battle with swords, lightsabers, or whatever your choice of weapon, that fires us up. It’s why we need to make sure we are fighting the real enemy, and not each other.
With that said…Ninja star to the shoulder.
You know I won’t hesitate to kill you 🙂
!!!
I agree. There would be nothing worth reading and nothing worth writing without conflict.
It’s true. We need something to fight in movies, books, television… life is a little different, but still…
Great post, I’ve told a few sporting competitors over the years, “Without each other there is no us.” Similarly, Muhammed Ali wouldn’t be who he is without Joe Frazier. If Pharaoh would have said, “Sure”! -“Anything you want”! There wouldn’t have been a huge need for God. I also have to give you some credit, here a while back we didn’t exactly see eye to eye on a particular subject and you allowed me to express myself and responded much the way you did in this post. That is rare for us “Christians.”
Nice job.
Love it. Thanks Jake.
After seeing your Very-Much-Later.com side window sticker on your car for the past few weeks, I decided to finally check it out. Nothing like a drizzly night to read about fights and the end of the world.
Your writing is fabulous, Jake! Thank you for using your gift to share thought-provoking, God-stirring sentences. As iron sharpens iron, our differences do change us to become more like Christ…if we let them. That said – here’s a verbal “shove” and if words are required…I’ll try to use a Colombian accent ; )
Thanks friend! I certainly try! I was actually hoping you’d be willing to write about some of your stories from Burma once in a while… I think they’d add something completely different and people would love to hear them!!! What do you think?
I would love to!
Fact- The green power ranger from back in their glory days is now this HUGE MMA fighter that fights for Jesus
Other Fact- Oprah is not my hero
People can fight for Jesus? Elaborate.
He has a company that’s called Jesus didn’t tap out. Or just Jesus didn’t tap. He uses his gift of beating the crap out of people to glorify God’s name.
Jesus didn’t tap out. Wonderful. I hope that this human and I become friends someday.
Yeah man. Let’s fight. I totally laughed when I read the whole Oprah being perpetually single. Dude that nailed it.
She’s a great lady, but she certainly has her own opponents, doesn’t she?