Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Paul Was In The Slammer

 

This afternoon I, and everyone else in Florida, am waiting for Hurricane Ian to come - and go.  

In Vanessa Echols' book, We're in Heaven, and I Have Some Questions, she profiles the Apostle Paul.

She reminds him, You were beaten, stoned, sent to prison, and shipwrecked at least three times.  And Paul was arrested (or as Vanessa says), You were thrown in the slammer.

Paul wrote several of his books while he was in prison.  This got me to thinking about many of the people who've written great words of wisdom while in prison, how their words have deeply affected my life.  People like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King, Jr.  

But the first person to help me get to the bottom of the question "Why am I here?" was Viktor Frankl.  His book, Man's Search for Meaning, was not written in prison but a short time after he was released from Auschwitz, the Nazi Concentration Camp.

He described why some men and women lived through this atrocity.  They found meaning and purpose.  We, including me,  still chase after material, temporary things, But my search for meaning continues. 

I agree with Dr. Frankl's words:  Our deepest desire is the find meaning and purpose. And I think we here in Florida will have plenty of opportunities to rediscover our our purpose.

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