Why Am I Here?

Layton Brooks, the main character in Living Between the Ditches: When God Makes No Sense, wrestles with one of the main worldview questions, Why am I here? You may be familiar with these worldview questions such as
1. Where did I come from?
2. Why am I here?
3. What went wrong with the world?
4. Where am I going when I die?

In Layton's pre-divorced world, his answer to question #2 was getting ahead in his career and thus providing for his family. He would have told you that his family came first; as events unfold, the reader and Layton are forced to conclude that his life was more about career than family. Amy didn't feel she and Brianne were in first place—quite the opposite. Her feelings of neglect, and later abandonment, played a huge role in the break-up of their relationship.

However, both Layton and Amy were off track. Putting each other first wouldn't have solved their personal problems. Finding meaning in life is only partially related to finding someone to share life with. Meaning for life derives from a more basic and instinctual need than human companionship.

In order to put their relationship back together, Layton and Amy first have to put God in first place. A meaningful married life starts with God at the apex of the triangle. As each spouse inches closer to God from the other two sides of the triangle, they grow closer to each other as well. One of the pair climbing toward God while the other hangs back doesn't produce closeness. This triangle looks more like a window blind pulled up on one side but not the other—out of kilter, lop-sided, angled.

Whether married or single, empty-nested or childless, or having a quiver full of children—our relationship status isn't the predictor of happiness or meaning. Layton had to deal with the paradoxes we all face: is God an essential component of life, unnecessary, or an add-on; is He knowable or unknowable; can we make sense of Him?

Read the book to see how Layton deals with these questions and what conclusions he reaches. Meanwhile, keep living between the ditches!