Is This All That There is To Life?

I was reading at CJ Mahaney's blog today about the whole Michael Phelps ordeal, Mahaney was wondering what Phelps was searching for in the bong pipe he was caught with, "What emptiness in his soul was he trying to satisfy?" Then recalls another sports champion, Tom Brady who came to a profound realization:

"Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there’s something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, “Hey man, this is what is.” I reached my goal, my dream, my life. I think, “God, it’s got to be more than this.” I mean this isn’t, this can’t be, what it’s all cracked up to be."

It really caught my attention because these very question were ones I myself wondered about that year I was saved. I remember so well sitting with my friend Jenny at the University talking as usual about who knows what, and I wondered out of the blue: "This can't be it, is this what life is all about? we're born, we go to school grow up graduate, go to college/university, get a job, get married have children and raise them to do the same thing we did and then grow old and die? that's it!? that can't be it" I saw no point to it all, my friend Jenny said "yes thats it!" I told her slightly devastated "That can't be it!", she replied "Then my friend you are missing something". I too like CJ was "a sinner (of greater degree), held captive by sin, pursuing the fleeting pleasures of this world. And sadly, in my case, pursuing sin with passion." But found no point to it all, I began to fear death like I had never feared it before, I would wake up in panic thinking about the "nothingness" the blackness after death.
CJ ends his post with a quote by Augustine:

"It was Augustine who said that the soul is restless until it finds its rest in God. So true. Only God can satisfy the soul. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ provides forgiveness of sin, and therefore it is here in this gospel that we find rest for our restless souls."

Excerpt, read the rest here:

"The photograph of Phelps reminds me of myself prior to conversion, a competitive swimmer (of slightly lesser skill), a sinner (of greater degree), held captive by sin, pursuing the fleeting pleasures of this world. And sadly, in my case, pursuing sin with passion.

So what was Phelps searching for in that bong pipe?

Once again we are reminded that athletic gifting, championship trophies, gold medals, and million dollar endorsement deals cannot satisfy the soul.

Last year, in the wake of his third Super Bowl championship, disillusioned Patriots quarterback Tom Brady admitted on 60 Minutes,

Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there’s something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, “Hey man, this is what is.” I reached my goal, my dream, my life. I think, “God, it’s got to be more than this.” I mean this isn’t, this can’t be, what it’s all cracked up to be.

I commend Brady for his honesty.

And no doubt some Pittsburg Steelers players are beginning to have similar thoughts.

But in Phelps’s case, if you listen to the media (with the exception of my man Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post) you hear a common chorus of excuses like “Give Phelps a break, nothing he did was anything worse than happens in an average weekend at a typical college campus.”

But we are not talking about a typical American college student. Phelps is a rich superstar.

This is what I find so striking: A man whose chest has been covered with gold medals, has achieved international fame, showered with awards, and blessed with an incomprehensible amount of money, still feels compelled to press his face to a bong."