When I was younger I passed many hours as many boys do hyped
up on a healthy dose of action figures and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
imagining I was some superhero or “good guy” going toe to toe with a villain,
or some generic “bad guys”. My imagination was pretty creative I have to admit.
One moment I could be Walker Texas Ranger (sorry Trivette, hard to compete
against Chuck Norris) fighting a drug cartel and quickly switch to being
Leonardo with the sweetest ninja moves going against a make believe Shredder.
In reality, if anyone were to observe me without knowing the back story they
would simply see a boy making strange sounds while fighting himself as he used
vacuum extensions as make believe machine guns. The great thing about these
“epic battles” I had to pass the time is that I always came out victorious as
soon as I heard “dinner is ready!”; go figure. These may seem like silly
memories (because they are), however it is ironic that as adults we still find
ourselves fighting enemies we cannot see, which can ultimately make it feel and
look like we are fighting ourselves. The reality of these interior battles is
we do not always find victory as easily.
An interior battle Chad Etzel discusses often with middle
schoolers, high schoolers and college students across the country is how to
live a chaste life with virtue in a culture that promotes quite the opposite.
As a consultant and analyst for the Culture Project, Chad coaches speakers on
delivering a message to teenagers on the benefits of living a virtuous life,
oversees donor relations and coordinates events ranging from school
presentations to prayer meetings outside abortion centers. Chad explains “Virtue
is an interior strength to face difficult moments. Specifically, chastity is the strength to
overcome the temptation to use someone else… our culture struggles with being chaste, but the benefit of promoting chastity
is that it respects human dignity by respecting each other’s body”. My first
thought after hearing what Chad does for a living was “wow, I don’t hear that
everyday…how did you get involved in that?”. Flashback to 2012, Chad graduated
OSU with a degree in Exercise and Sports Science and had his eyes set on
working in athletics. It was during his time working for a New York Knicks
minor league basketball team in Erie, Pennsylvania that he overheard a radio
program that highlighted the works he now does. In his own words “I felt a pull
to this ministry and returned to OSU to get started”.
Currently in his 3rd
year at the at the Culture Project, Chad is pursing his Masters in Theology at
the Augustine Institute in Denver. I asked Chad what the deeper reason was that
motivates him to continually do this work. “I saw the hurt in relationships of
various friends and it reminded me of seeing my parents divorcing when I was 7
years old…I see the hurt and want to do something about it… I have
realized how so many of our culture’s problems result from living unchastely,
and I realize how many problems would be solved if everyone practiced lifelong
sexual monogamy”. If you have read this
far you may be feeling a little uncomfortable since if you are like me you are
guilty of not waiting until marriage and you may have even felt the effects of
divorce. In my opinion these experiences trigger interior battles where the
enemy of regret, sadness, anger and a whole host of other feelings line up and
treat your soul like a punching bag. However, Chad reminds me that at the core
of the message of virtue is recognizing that there is always hope, mercy, and
healing for any time we have messed up.
I have been inspired
by what Chad and the Culture Project do because they do not shy away from this
battle and remind us how to face the interior battles that wage inside each
individual. They are on the front lines of a very real cultural war encouraging
us all to fight with virtue: prudence, justice, temperance, courage, faith,
hope and love. As this is the last post on the 2016 theme of “Raise Your
Standards” I find a fitting connection on how living a virtuous life is synonymous
with living a life of high standards.
So if negativity is
punching at you this holiday season ask yourself what would Walker Texas Ranger
do? You guessed it, round house kick that negativity with virtue J.
Merry Christmas and
God Bless your 2017,
-Miles
*The Culture Project has 3 different teams based in Los
Angeles, Philadelphia and Toledo. To learn more, or book a talk on human
dignity or sexual integrity you can find more here: www.restoreculture.com.
For those interested
in working with the Culture Project look for them at the SEEK conference on
January 3rd in San Antonio, Texas.
Fun Questions- What do you want to be when you grow up?
- “Been asking myself that for last four years…still working that out…I would say a good husband/father…in 10-15 years I would like to have a good family and career…continuing to put my trust in God…want to continue helping people, helping people focus and be a Dream Manager where I help people get to where they most deeply want to be”
- Do you have a favorite Christmas tradition?
- “It is sort of a tradition, but more of a memory now: Going to Etzel farm down in Stayton and getting a Christmas tree…it would be a long drive and would take an hour to get it…it seemed forever searching and searching for a Christmas tree, but it was great doing it as a family”
- If you could describe 2016 in one word what would it be?
- “Astounding…in one year the Cavs, Cubs, Trump and the Beavs (Civil War football) won…who would have guessed that?”