I have to admit, although I’m not a big fan of television series in general, I’m hooked on ABC’s Lost. Apparently, I’m not the only one. Sixteen million “Lostaways” tune in every week to follow the unusual saga of an eclectic cast of characters stranded on an a mysterious island somewhere in the South Pacific. Through the use of flash-backs, flash-forwards, and “flash-sideways,” each episode surrenders a few more facts about the cast-aways and their peculiar island, while generating a whole new crop of intriguing questions. In many ways, the series mirrors life. All of us have challenges that simply can’t be resolved in a sixty-minute episode. They can be every bit as perplexing and elusive as being stranded on a supernatural island. Yet, the more willing we are to explore the questions, without anxiously pressing for a solution, the more insight we gain about ourselves and the world around us. Earlier this week, as I listened to a friend tell me about his “island mysteries,” I realized how much I longed to help him find a tidy solution to his challenges within our sixty-minutes together. I risked alienating him by giving him a cheap and unsatisfactory episodic solution rather than joining with him in living with the mysterious questions. When it comes to exploring the mysteries of our lives, the infamous line from Lost is apropos, “Live together or die alone.”

Your thoughts? Are you often tempted to offer quick solutions to your friend’s challenges?

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Recently, my friend, T.J. Addington, has written a helpful book to stir your inquisitive spirit. Live Like You Mean It (NavPress, 2010) offers, as the subtitle suggests, the “ten crucial questions that will help you clarify your purpose, live intentionally and make the most of the rest of your life.” As a personal development resource, it is concise and easy to read; absent of the literary dross that’s often found in other similar works. Live Like You Mean It offers just enough context to zero your focus on the critical questions, then gets out of the way so you can do your thinking. As the book suggests, questions of purpose and gifting are often best explored in community, and each chapter concludes with helpful questions that are well suited for group discussion.

T.J. Addington is the executive leader of international missions for the Evangelical Free Church of America. He is one of the most personally inspiring and intentional men that I know. In fact, I interviewed him about intentional living for a BoldMan Chronicles article nearly six years ago (read that interview). His inspiration to write Live Like You Mean It followed a traumatic 42-day hospital stay where 32 of them were in the intensive care unit in a coma and on a ventilator from complications related to a highly resistant strain of pneumonia. In the wake of that crisis, his passion for making the most of every opportunity intensified, girded by the renewed truth that every day is a gift of grace from God. Live Like You Mean It is the byproduct of a lifetime of “staying with the questions” which will help you do the same and make every day count.

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