Phillip A. Bishop, Kinesiology
University of Alabama
“ We are not human beings having a spiritual experience,
we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
As I write these first few lines, I am sitting in a professional academic meeting. The moderator has just spent some time listing the academic awards of the person who will then introduce the session speaker. So that list of awards is followed by an even longer list of the awards won by the speaker. No matter how many times I have heard these lists, I always find the introductions at these meetings somewhat disconcerting. I hear the impressive record of accomplishments of these academic stars and compare my accomplishments to theirs… and always suffer in comparison.
I think to myself, maybe if I focused a bit more on research and grant proposals, maybe if I worked a bit later each day, maybe if I quit doing some of the stuff I do, and did other stuff… This typically takes me from disconcerted to mildly depressed. Fortunately, that leads me to meditate a bit on why I do what I do, and don’t do some other things.
My First Calling
One of the things I realize, for the 20th or 30th time, is that I have a higher calling than academia. Eventually I recall that my first calling is an ambassador for Christ.
I confess that I find it a very great challenge to “Set my affection on things above, not on things on the earth. (Col 3:2)” After all, I am surrounded by earth, not by the things above. As a faculty member I have tremendous opportunities. I find myself seriously distracted by increasing research, speaking, and consulting opportunities. I have an extremely nice life here on earth, why be concerned about heaven?
But, God has helped me out here. I am a physiologist, so I get to study the human body. One curious aspect of physiology I have noted in others, though not in myself, is that we get older. Though we can’t explain why, our maximal heart rate declines every year after about age 30, along with muscle mass, strength, and work capacity. I run slower every year. I lose a bit more hair. My beard gets whiter.
A few years ago, I was nominated for the highest teaching award at my university. After a long optimistic wait, I was passed over. I went from being secure, confident, and even proud to being shaken, disappointed, and humbled. It took a while and the fellowship of my Christian family at home and at the University to get beyond the disappointment. Eventually they managed to penetrate my defenses and remind me that this is not my home, and these aren’t the awards I really seek.
I Am Only Passing Through
So every time I see myself in the mirror, God reminds me that I am only passing through this world, I am not a permanent resident. God uses many metaphors to remind us of this, with my favorite being, “What is man, but a vapor that existeth for a while, and then passes away.”
So what awards would I like to see projected up on the screen. It’d be nice to win the American College of Sports Medicine citation award, but there’s not much chance of that. No, I think I’d rather shoot a bit higher anyway. I guess, it may not sound like much but at the end of my career, I’d like to win this award:
“Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” (Mat 25:21)
© 2008 Phillip A Bishop Used by permission of Faculty Commons