October 6, 2025 Paid subscribers
The Error of Our Life
Why Holiness Offends and Comfort Deceives
Francis Chan once stood on a stage holding a long white rope that stretched across the floor and disappeared into the distance. At the very end, a small section was wrapped in red tape.
“This red part,” he said, “represents your life on earth. You’ve got a few short years here—and then comes eternity.”
He ran his fingers along that tiny red tip.
“This is where you get your house. This is where you retire. This is where you travel. You save, you plan, you hustle—for this.”
Then he lifted the rest of the rope stretching far beyond the stage.
“This goes on forever,” he said. “And most people live for this—the red part.”
The image stuck with me because it names the disease beneath so much modern anxiety: perspective collapse.
When eternity is eclipsed, the temporal becomes absolute.
We panic over what was never meant to be permanent.
Our stress, striving, and obsession with control all reveal a world that’s forgotten forever.