What Would Walker Texas Ranger Do?

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 3^rd 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 3^rd 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?”