Blue Collar Intellectual?

I've been called many things lately. Angsty. Wonderpet. Alright. I did bring those on. The lasted has come from a newer friend of mine. These past couple of weeks, I’ve been getting to know one of the men that works beside The Mufflerman, who has been coming out to our men’s Bible study. I received an e-mail from him this morning, just encouraging me in what I do and saying that he thinks of me as being an intellectual.

That struck me as being rather odd. He may very well be right, but I don’t see myself in that light.

(Did you like the rhyme? That was kind of like Underdog. Wasn’t it?)

Am I an intellectual? When I think of intellectuals, I think of people like Michael Krahn and Bill Coleman.


What is an intellectual anyway? You would think an intellectual would be the kind of person who would know what an intellectual is.
Intellectual 1 Pertaining to the mind, bringing into action the intellect or higher capacities; mental. 2 possessing intellect or intelligence; characterized by a high degree of intelligence. 3 Requiring intelligence or study.

I guess I’m glad that my new friend thinks of me in those terms. I’d hate to be thought of as a moron. Maybe I shouldn’t be processing this here in such a public forum, but I am. There are other times where I have been caught off guard in a similar way. Sometimes when I speak, I’ll have people who tell me, ‘Wow. I can tell that you put a lot of time into researching and preparing.’ Most of the time, when I get feedback like that, those are the times when I have NOT spent much time researching, studying or preparing.

I guess what I do a lot of before I teach or speak, is what the Bible refers to as meditation. In today’s popular terms, meditation tends to be related anything BUT Christianity. It often refers to an emptying of the mind. True meditation has to do with intentional, mindful thought.
In my opinion, we’re all intellectual creatures. What tends to take up the majority or your thought life? Some things occupy our minds whether we want them to or not. Our work lives, relationships or our health concerns often monopolize our thought time.

But what do you enjoy thinking about? What is it that, when you think on it, would be the joyful object of your mind’s eye? There is no shortage of things in this world that vie for our attention. When the World Cup was on this past summer, there was a MacLeans article saying, “Some people think that soccer is a matter of life and death. I can assure you, it’s much more serious than that.’ It might not be soccer, but what is it for you? Do you have your favorite pop culture icons? Are you the person who, ‘just can’t wait to get away’?

There are however, individuals who love to think about God. (And yes. Some of them likely watched the World Cup or the Vancouver Olympics.)

“Then those who feared the Lord spoke with each other, and the Lord listened to what they said. In His presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared Him and loved to think about Him.” Malachi 3:16 (NLT 1996)

Here in Malachi, we’re looking at a people who both, fear God and love to think about Him. Other versions speak about them thinking of the honour of His name. Everyone thinks about God. Athiests and agnostics think about God. Find me an atheist website that does NOT mention God. For some people, thinking about God is a tormenting thing. It’s kind of weird in a way. The people who fear God are the ones who love to think about Him. When a person who defies God thinks about Him, I wonder what that’s like. It isn’t pleasurable is it?

I hope that what my friend sees in me isn’t something of knowledge, but rather a man who loves to think about Jesus. If that qualifies me as being an intellectual, I’ll gladly carry the title.