Paradise and a Parking Lot
By Rev. Josh T. Baird
Josh is the Associate Pastor at Tylersville Road Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Mason, Ohio. He earned his M.Div. at Lexington Theological Seminary in Lexington, while serving as student associate pastor at First Christian Church, Madison, Indiana. After graduating from seminary, Josh was called to TRCC, where he enjoys serving a church where growth, vision, and creativity are encouraged and the Spirit is given plenty of room to work.

I have had a song lodged in my head for a few days now, and it shows no sign of leaving. Several times a day, I find myself humming or singing the words, "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you got 'til it's gone. They paved paradise, put up a parking lot."

It's not a new song, but it was recently remade, so it's been playing occasionally on the radio. The second part of those lines automatically makes me think of Cincinnati, or any city for that matter. I'm often torn. On the one hand, I like the convenience of shopping plazas and nearby grocery stores. I like living around other people. I like the easiness with which interstates allow me to travel from the suburbs to downtown, or just about anyplace, it seems.

I also enjoy getting out in open places. I like an occasional drive through the countryside. As a runner, I've noticed that running in those places is much better than heavily trafficked cities and suburbs. I find a peacefulness and a solitude that are often just what my soul needs, in contrast to the noisy, flashy, usually crowded places of convenience.

So each brings a trade-off. I guess what we really need is a little of both: paradise and the parking lot. It is so important to be aware of the trade-offs in any choice we make.

In my head, I'm running back through those lines for about the tenth time. Now it's the first part that strikes me, and I remember that the song is about more than development. The verses really speak to this: they warn about not knowing what we've got till it's gone. And it's true. We don't often ask ourselves, "What do I have that really matters?

This is a question of faith. It's a good question to ask as a reading on the state of our soul, because it is far too easy to give up the things that truly matter in exchange for things that don't.

Again, it is so important to ask what we gain and especially what we give up, with every choice we make. Is a new car worth having less money to spend on essentials or, more realistically, on tithing and charity? Is a new job worth having less time to spend on important relationships?

How easily do we pave over the paradise of our own souls, to put up a parking lot that will only leave us empty? God help us not to trade in paradise for empty lots.

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