Discovering Discipleship with Young Christians

Author: Daniel W. Elliott (Page 1 of 2)

Living Through a Spyglass

There are several tried and true metaphors that try to illustrate how different people view the world. You have rose-colored glasses, living in the rearview mirror, 20/20 vision (which we did not have going into 2020), and hindsight. You could boil them down to mirrors, frames, and lenses. Illustrations help communicate ideas, to view something from a new perspective (like a mirror might do). One of the common warnings is how important it is to live in the present, to not live through your rearview mirror where you’re stuck in the past. Yes, you’re in the present but the focus is on the things that have happened. The good times that happened, the things you wish you could change, the missed opportunities. None of these are bad to reflect on but none of these individually or collectively should be the sole focus. But mirrors aren’t the only things we use to see. What about an older optical device, one that predates cars? Why don’t we hear warnings about living through a spyglass?

We don’t see many people using spyglass in the 21st century but in a bygone era without GPS, cameras, and radio, looking with your eyes was the only way to know where your ship was and where other ships were at. Out at sea, when the ship’s captain wanted to know if the land was near, he had someone in the crow’s nest scanning the horizon with a spyglass and check. (Using the spyglass backward the first time is optional but is sometimes used for humorous effect.) In an age without today’s technology, a spyglass was a valuable tool because the human eye is only so good, and a spyglass helped you see further away.

But how does a spyglass illustrate a way of living? Well, if driving using the rearview mirror is being stuck in the past, and looking around with your own naked eye is living in the moment, then I’d say that living through a spyglass is being fixated on what’s up ahead. It’s when you’re too focused on the future.

I don’t think it’s hard to get stuck living through a spyglass. Dissatisfaction with the present reality of the water around you makes the sight of land, even the thought of it, seem so tantalizing. You want to be on that land, when you have that relationship, that job, that house, that car or gadget. Satisfaction. The captain at sea for weeks on end yearns for land, the soul adrift longs for a more fulfilling future. Plans are made. You want to see the future, what lies ahead, so you dream of what the future holds by looking through a spyglass.

But just like the illustration of trying to drive a car forward by looking backward in the rearview mirror is likely to result in disaster and the reality of living in the past results in missing what’s happening in the present, getting stuck living through the spyglass of the future makes it hard to maneuver up close in the present. You have a great view of what things might look like miles ahead when you get there (if things don’t change by then), but what about that other ship that’s just to starboard? You’ve got no idea it’s there. You’re so focused on such a small part of the horizon, way off in the future. Because you’re so focused on the things you could do years from now, the people you’ll be around, the stuff you’ll have, or the things you could do, you miss the people around you and the things that you can do right now you.

Imagine trying to pilot a ship through a narrow strait. The water is choppy, there are rocks below the surface, the wind is blowing, and it’s raining. And instead of looking at your ship, where you are, you’re looking through a spyglass at the port you can’t wait to dock at. Odds are, you’ll never make it (at least, not on your ship). You’re likely to run around on the rocks and lose your ship.

Is using a spyglass a bad idea? Nope. It’s a useful tool that allows you to see things in the distance, but it’s not a good tool for up close. In tight quarters with bad weather? Eh, probably a good idea just to use it once and a while. It’s useful to check to make sure you’ve still got the right heading, but not for navigating dangerous waters that are close at hand. Pay the most attention to the rocks you need to avoid, and then you’ll get closer to port naturally.

The same in life. Looking ahead to the future is not bad. Making sure your life is heading where you want is smart, as is making sure you’re heading to the waypoints that will get you there. Having a mission and vision to aim for (your heading) with goals mapped out to get you there (your waypoints) is wise. But thinking about the destination without looking around you at where you are won’t end well. Imagine using binoculars while driving a car. It’ll go about as well as driving by the rearview mirror.

A spyglass is a useful tool, just like the rearview mirror. But that isn’t the main way to look around, it’s just a supplemental tool. They aren’t glasses.

So, raise a spyglass to the future and glance backward in the rearview mirror, but don’t get stuck looking through them for too long. Live in the present so you can one day stand on the spot that you once looked at through your spyglass.

There are several tried and true metaphors that try to illustrate how different people view the world. You have rose-colored glasses, living in the rearview mirror, 20/20 vision (which we did not have going into 2020), and hindsight. You could boil them down to mirrors, frames, and lenses. Illustrations help communicate ideas, to view something from a new perspective (like a mirror might do). One of the common warnings is how important it is to live in the present, to not live through your rearview mirror where you’re stuck in the past. Yes, you’re in the present but the focus is on the things that have happened. The good times that happened, the things you wish you could change, the missed opportunities. None of these are bad to reflect on but none of these individually or collectively should be the sole focus. But mirrors aren’t the only things we use to see. What about an older optical device, one that predates cars? Why don’t we hear warnings about living through a spyglass?

We don’t see many people using spyglass in the 21st century but in a bygone era without GPS, cameras, and radio, looking with your eyes was the only way to know where your ship was and where other ships were at. Out at sea, when the ship’s captain wanted to know if the land was near, he had someone in the crow’s nest scanning the horizon with a spyglass and check. (Using the spyglass backward the first time is optional but is sometimes used for humorous effect.) In an age without today’s technology, a spyglass was a valuable tool because the human eye is only so good, and a spyglass helped you see further away.

But how does a spyglass illustrate a way of living? Well, if driving using the rearview mirror is being stuck in the past, and looking around with your own naked eye is living in the moment, then I’d say that living through a spyglass is being fixated on what’s up ahead. It’s when you’re too focused on the future.

I don’t think it’s hard to get stuck living through a spyglass. Dissatisfaction with the present reality of the water around you makes the sight of land, even the thought of it, seem so tantalizing. You want to be on that land, when you have that relationship, that job, that house, that car or gadget. Satisfaction. The captain at sea for weeks on end yearns for land, the soul adrift longs for a more fulfilling future. Plans are made. You want to see the future, what lies ahead, so you dream of what the future holds by looking through a spyglass.

But just like the illustration of trying to drive a car forward by looking backward in the rearview mirror is likely to result in disaster and the reality of living in the past results in missing what’s happening in the present, getting stuck living through the spyglass of the future makes it hard to maneuver up close in the present. You have a great view of what things might look like miles ahead when you get there (if things don’t change by then), but what about that other ship that’s just to starboard? You’ve got no idea it’s there. You’re so focused on such a small part of the horizon, way off in the future. Because you’re so focused on the things you could do years from now, the people you’ll be around, the stuff you’ll have, or the things you could do, you miss the people around you and the things that you can do right now you.

Imagine trying to pilot a ship through a narrow strait. The water is choppy, there are rocks below the surface, the wind is blowing, and it’s raining. And instead of looking at your ship, where you are, you’re looking through a spyglass at the port you can’t wait to dock at. Odds are, you’ll never make it (at least, not on your ship). You’re likely to run around on the rocks and lose your ship.

Is using a spyglass a bad idea? Nope. It’s a useful tool that allows you to see things in the distance, but it’s not a good tool for up close. In tight quarters with bad weather? Eh, probably a good idea just to use it once and a while. It’s useful to check to make sure you’ve still got the right heading, but not for navigating dangerous waters that are close at hand. Pay the most attention to the rocks you need to avoid, and then you’ll get closer to port naturally.

The same in life. Looking ahead to the future is not bad. Making sure your life is heading where you want is smart, as is making sure you’re heading to the waypoints that will get you there. Having a mission and vision to aim for (your heading) with goals mapped out to get you there (your waypoints) is wise. But thinking about the destination without looking around you at where you are won’t end well. Imagine using binoculars while driving a car. It’ll go about as well as driving by the rearview mirror.

A spyglass is a useful tool, just like the rearview mirror. But that isn’t the main way to look around, it’s just a supplemental tool. They aren’t glasses.

So, raise a spyglass to the future and glance backward in the rearview mirror, but don’t get stuck looking through them for too long. Live in the present so you can one day stand on the spot that you once looked at through your spyglass.

Why Devotions Aren’t Homework

Recently the youth group I serve in started sending home daily devotions that correspond with the curriculum we use. Immediately after the youth pastor announced this, a few youths exclaimed, “you’re giving us homework!?” That night I took a brief moment to explain why it was a good thing. Since then, I’ve thought about it more, and this open letter is the result. I know it won’t be directly beneficial to you if you don’t attend my youth group, but hopefully it can still explain why it’s important to know God more and encourage you to spend time getting to know him.


Dear Youth,

I know you probably don’t find the daily devotions we send you home with each week exciting. Maybe you don’t have any interest in them; maybe you think they’re boring. Especially since we want you to bring them back in to see if you did them. Maybe you think it’s too similar to homework.

I can imagine that you want to be done with school for the day when you get home, but you still have homework to do. Then you come to youth group. You get to see your friends and chill while hearing what the Bible says.

Then we give you “homework.” Not cool, right? I promise we don’t want to make your life miserable. Just the opposite! We want your life to be full of joy. In John 15:11, Jesus said, “I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” The way to have a life full of joy is to know God! We know him by listening to what he tells us through his word. If we listen to him and obey his word, we naturally grow closer to him.

Why Does Our Youth Group Have “Homework”?

For the same reason that school has homework: so you can learn. But homework from school is just learning about the world God made without saying anything much about God directly. Compared to that, the “homework” from Youth is directly about God. (It might be different for you if you go to a Christian school or if you’re homeschooled.)

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Wasted Selfies and Pointless Bible Reading

Can you remember how many selfies have you taken in your life? Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands?

Here’s a challenge: how many of them do you remember right now?

I bet it’s not many.

I have over 60,000 digital images in my photo library (not many are selfies, though).1 As long as I have a general idea of when the picture was taken, I can find it. But I don’t always remember the picture correctly.

For example, the other day I (temporarily) colored my hair blue for Crazy Hair Night at AWANA. I shared a picture with some of my online friends, and some of them wanted to see pictures of the other times I’ve colored my hair. So, I told them that the first time I colored my hair I had orange polka dots. I went on a hunt to find those old photos. It took a bit, but I found them.

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#NotMyValentine​

I enjoy making jokes or puns out of current events, trends, and hashtags (so long as the subject isn’t too touchy, and I feel like doing so). For example, the other day I had some fun with the #FakeLoveFacts hashtag on Twitter while it was trending (Here are some examples). So, naturally, the thought occurred to me that I could take the popular #notMyPresident hashtag and repurpose it for Valentines Day.

But then I had a thought. As a Christian, Valentines Day is my holiday. (And no, this is not a corny reference to Psalm 118:24. But the thought did cross my mind.)

Yes, I am single. But I still think that Valentine’s Day is for me. It’s for you as well, regardless if you are single, in a relationship, or if you are crushing on someone and have the perfect ship name and wedding colors picked out.

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Happy Birthday!

This blog is a year old today! Or something like that, because I think the date got messed up on that post. Somehow. But I think January 1st is a great birthday for a blog, so I’m going to go with that.

Anyway, I’m sorry that nothing else came of this blog last year. Hopefully I’ll do something with this blog this year, but we’ll see. I mostly wanted to to get a post in today

Beauty in Beginnings

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1 ESV)

When God created the world, he set a precedent that man has followed ever since. While man may try to match the glory of God’s creation, man can never create something from nothing. Nevertheless, man keeps on creating. Paintings, sculptures, stories, dances, poetry, movies, and TV shows. These are just a few types of creations in the field of art, to say nothing of the creating and discovery that occurs in science and other more technical fields.

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