My Bucket list

• go to prison¹

• get hit by a car

• go to an impoverished country

• get waterboarded

• watch someone die

• be a juror on a trial

• take care of an orphan/widow

• get robbed2

The bucket list as a concept is a list of things you want to achieve before you die, or kick the bucket as they say. However, under the light of Christ, it takes on a new perspective. There is unlimited time to enjoy good things in the new creation, and the broken things of the present age will no longer remain. So a Christian bucket list contains things that you can only do due to the brokenness of the present age. Namely that which involves human sin.

As you can tell from this list, most of them are bad experiences. I believe it’s as important to experience bad things as it is good. They can really teach you things and shape the way you see the world. In fact I would argue that going to prison would be of far greater value to your life than bungee jumping or seeing the Taj Mahal. That being said, I would not wish these upon a child.

Beauty often comes out of holding darkness within oneself and transmuting it through the force of one’s spirit. To suffer isn’t to have lived less of a life, but more of it. Consumption gives no satisfaction, life isn’t enriched by riches and pleasures. Those who seek happiness shall gain none, and those who face despair will be blessed. When death has truly been stared in the face, only then can you have life.