The Ghetto Preacher and Great Expectations

   Willy Ramos, "The Ghetto Preacher," came to my academy for a week of spiritual emphasis. His last evening with the student body, he shared his remarkable testimony. This rapper/pastor was raised in South Florida in a tough family situation. Predictably, he fell in with the wrong crowd. Drinking, drugs, and theft consumed the life of this gang member. He even recalls beating a person with a baseball bat in anger. It wasn't until he hit rock bottom and had a gun to his head that God sent someone to come save him and answer his pathetic pleas. He calls himself a prodigal son, and his mission is to help the prodigal sons and daughters of this world find their way back to their forgiving and loving Father. Once he converted to the Adventist faith, he had to leave the gang. He was stabbed in the stomach 21 times with a ball point pen. Thankfully, God spared his life so Willy could impact the lives of young people with his testimony. He tried all of the things of the world - drugs, drinking, money, sex, and general self-pleasure. Instead of being happy, he realized like in Ecclesiastes, "...for all is vanity and a striving after the wind" (Ecc.2:17). I'm sure he did not understand at the time why he had to go through all of these experiences, but now, because of what he lived through and who he became, he is able to reach the lives of so many teenagers (Ecc. 3:17 says that man cannot know God's ways.... how true I have found that to be even in my own life.)
   Pip from Charles Dickens's Great Expectations learns a similar lesson, however he does not find God in the end. As a young boy, Pip does not have the best life - being raised by his abusive sister in a small town. However, he has a meaningful relationship with Joe, his brother-in-law and the local blacksmith. This is enough to make Pip happy until he meets Estella. She convinces him that he is not good enough. Like Ecclesiastes 1:17 - 18, the more Pip gains wisdom, the more upset and discontent he becomes. He is hard on himself when he makes mistakes, just like the writer of Ecclesiastes is hard on himself. Pip attempts to improve himself, but he is not successful, because he is trying to achieve it in all the wrong venues. He decides he would only be happy if he becomes a gentleman, then he would surely win over Estella and live the life she glorifies, but it is all vanity (Eccl. 12:8). The more he gets, the more callous he becomes to those who truly had cared for him like Joe and his friend Biddy, and it never brings him closer to his obsession - Estella. Eventually, Abel, Pip's benefactor, reveals himself. Pip realizes the lack of foundation of his gentleman livelihood after meeting the former criminal. He realizes he has lost everything that matters, and it is only when he hits that rock bottom like Willy Ramos that he turns his life around and pursues the things that really matter. The writer advises you to enjoy life with the one you love in Ecclesiastes 9:7 - 10. Pip puts his efforts into meaningful relationships with Joe and Biddy, as well as Herbert.  He gives up on finding happiness through acquiring material possessions, status, and sinful experiences.
   When I read Ecclesiastes, I felt how the author pointed out the futility of pursuing things of this world, because ultimately they are meaningless, bound by the constrains of time and mortality. Eventually, I will become dissatisfied and question the very point of my being here just like Willy and Pip. Instead, I need to concentrate on what is important - my relationship with my Savior. Only then will I find the fulfillment I crave. Pascal mentioned a "God-shaped vacuum" in our hearts, I am not going to try to fill it with "wind."