Searching

I was reading my wonderfully brilliant Entertainment Weekly when I came upon an article about Tom Shadyac. Tom directed such films Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Bruce Almighty, among others. He recently made a documentary about his search for enlightenment. He sold his mansion bought a trailer, got rid of his fancy cars, private jets in his search for more. He talked to philosophers, doctors, therapists, physicists, clergymen, and other like men and women. At one point in the documentary, Tom is hooked up via electrodes to yogurt. You know because we're all connected to each other.

As I read the article, I thought about another celebrity who was searching for meaning. Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of TLC was making her own documentary at the time of her death about her search for meaning. In Lisa's documentary, she was somewhere in South America with her entourage absorbing the teachings of some spiritual guru. And during her off times from the guru, Lisa spoke about her childhood about the grandmother who took her and her siblings to church every Sunday and then immediately took back the church clothes after service because grandma paid for them. Oh charity does begin at home. The rapper/singer spoke about numerology, ghosts, and all sorts of other false religions. It was so clear to see, like Tom, Lisa knew there was more to this life than living and dying, but sadly she couldn't hear Jesus knocking at the door of her heart.

While in South America, she accidentally hit a little boy who ran into the middle of the road to fetch his ball. As she spoke about the accident and the boy's subsequent death, she mentioned his last name was Lopez which was pronounced the same way as her last name Lopes and how she believed death was after her but this time got this little, innocent boy instead. How my heart broke at this woman, this mother, who was so desperately searching for truth and had no idea she was searching for God.

The video camera was recording as she was talking to her friends and then suddenly the screen went black. I rewound the show (I love Tivo) because I couldn't figure out what happened, then it dawned on me. This was where she died. I had literally just watched the last few seconds of her life. She tried to get around a car on a two way highway and ran into a truck coming in the opposite direction. If I remember correctly, Lisa died instantly and her passengers had varying degrees of injuries but survived. In this foreign land, her quest for the truth ended abruptly and sadly she never seemingly discovered the Truth.

I hope Tom learns and accepts the Truth before he dies. And I pray for my children, my niece and nephews, my loved ones that they all come to know Christ for themselves, have a personal relationship with Him. That when they become aware there is more to this life, that their search is as simple as "Jesus, please come in."

But there's more to this life
Than living and dying
More than just trying to make it through the day
More to this life
More than these eyes alone can see
There's more than this life alone can be

So where do we start
To find every part
Of what makes this life complete
If we turn our eyes
To Jesus we’ll find
Life’s true beginning is there at the cross where He died


He died to bring us more to this life
Than living and dying
More than just trying to make it through the day
More to this life
More than these eyes alone can see
There's more than this life alone can be