Expectations vs. reality

Forty years have passed since the United States landed a man on the moon during the summer of 1969.

Forty years since astronaut Neil Armstrong dropped the three and a half feet from the bottom rung of the ladder on the lunar vehicle and planted the first footprints permanently in the dust of our closest neighbor.

Forty years since those immortal words were uttered: “That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.”

I always thought he should have said, “That’s one small step for a man,” thinking it made better sense. But, I was 18 at the time, so what did I know?

What I did know, as I watched the lunar landing on my parents’ black and white television, was that this was the beginning of travel to the planets, the stars, and beyond. I knew, and expected, that 40 years into the future, we would have colonies on the moon, stations on Mars, and would be reaching beyond the solar system.

Yet here we are, and with the exception of unmanned exploration and a few shuttle and space station missions, we are far from achieving what we all believed would be achieved.

The reality is that those expectations were achieved only in the films and writings of science fiction. For the most part, we are still, and are likely to remain in the near future, earth-bound.

There is often a disconnect between expectations and reality. Every young couple that walks the aisle expects to live happily ever after.

The reality is that half of those unions will end in divorce and a fair percentage of those who remain wed will settle into a relationship that is not quite what they envisioned on that memorable day.

Young men and women who graduate from high school do so with lofty expectations. Graduation speakers will hold out the promise of greatness and will challenge the newly liberated to excel and to dream.

Most, however, will live lives that are simply “normal.” Young people who enter a profession will face disillusionment, discouragement, boredom, weariness, and cynicism as expectation bumps up against reality.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. How we handle the reality, when the expectations fall short, is of supreme importance.

Life is difficult. There are unexpected pot holes and unforeseen obstacles as we journey on the road from inexperienced youth into middle age and beyond. How we navigate the road matters greatly.

Sooner or later, young marrieds will have a disagreement that will escalate into a quarrel that will blossom into a full-fledged fight. That is simply reality and those who cling to their fairy tale concepts of relationships are likely doomed to failure.

Young pastors, full of idealism and zeal for God and His Kingdom — God’s “knights,” if you will — will encounter “dragons” in their churches who will thwart and oppose them at every turn. How they respond will determine whether they become holy or embittered.

Police officers who join the “thin blue line” often do so because they expect to make a difference in their communities, yet the reality is that, for every criminal taken off the streets, more arise to take their place. And so it goes.

Most of life, for most of the people, is “ordinary.” There is, however, something noble about “ordinary.” People who go to work, raise their children, pay their taxes, volunteer as coaches, sit in the PTA meetings, go to church, vote, mow their lawns, and pay their bills are noble people.

People who care for their aging parents, for a sick spouse, or a handicapped child are heroic. Ordinary, perhaps, but noble and heroic all the same.

They have determined that life is to be lived in the reality of what is instead of what they wish it to be.

This, ironically, is true greatness — dealing with the unexpected and the ordinary. It is to boldly go where many have gone before. It is to encounter the familiar world and to seek out life as it comes — and to take our quiet, often obscure, place in history.

Even Neil Armstrong, who turns 70 on Aug. 5, is living the reality of an ordinary quiet life somewhere in Ohio.

[Father David Epps is the founding pastor of Christ the King Church, 4881 Hwy. 34 E., Sharpsburg, GA 30277, between Peachtree City and Newnan. Services are held Sundays at 8:30 and 10 a.m. He serves as a bishop to the Diocese of the Mid-South and is also the mission pastor of Christ the King Church in Champaign, IL. He may be contacted at frepps@ctkcec.org.]

Possibility vs Reality

Submitted by Evil Elvis on Fri, 06/19/2009 - 5:54pm.

A man asked his son if he knew the difference between possibility and reality. The son said he wasn't sure. The father said, "go to your mother and ask her if she'd sleep with Brad Pitt for one million dollars." The son looked confused. The father then instructed the son to ask the same question of his sister and brother, then return the next day and discuss the results.

The son went to his mother and asked if she would sleep with Brad Pitt for one million dollars. His mother thought of how much the money would help their family and said she would do it. Then the young man posed the same question to his sister. "Brad Pitt?" she said, "I'd sleep with him for free ... the million dollars would be icing on the cake!" Finally, the boy asked his brother. After much soul searching, the brother's want of the million dollars won out and he, too, said he would sleep with Brad Pitt.

Upon presenting his findings the next day, the son was again asked if he knew possibility from reality. "It's a possibility we are sitting on three million dollars, dad," he said, "but in reality, we're living with two sluts and a homo."

Feel free to borrow from this on any given Sunday, Father.

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Winner!!

Submitted by NUK_1 on Fri, 06/19/2009 - 7:36pm.

LMAO.

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