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"Underwhelmed" is one of my favorites, too :-).

I didn't find all the movie references that compelling, either, but maybe it's because none of the movies did that much for me. (I'm a book person.) However the point, as I understood it, was that Eldredge observed that these films were speaking to many people at a deep level, and that this pointed out a legitimate, unmet spiritual yearning.

What reached me, and literally brought me to tears, was when he observed, "Christian women are TIRED." I have seven young children. I'm homeschooling. I'm married to an engineer. I'm a Girl Scout leader, organize the nursery at church, secretary of the Homeowners' Association, campaign volunteer ... and I still think, "If I have time to sit down and read a book, then I'm obviously not doing enough!" I know of women who have DIED because getting that little lump checked out, or finding out what causes the non-quite-incapacitating pain, just wasn't as important as all the duties to other people. (/whine off)

Anyway, what I understood from John Eldredge was that God does not want us to run away from our responsibilities after "personal fulfilment," but that He wants us to see our lives in the context of the beautiful, dramatic, terrifying, romantic narrative that He has created. That when we're cooking meals for a bereaved family, or leading a Cub Scout troop (to bring men back in :-), we're not just doing busywork, we're contending for souls alongside angels.

St. Paul DOES say this ... that the spiritual war is more real than anything we see. And so does Chrysostom, and Scott Hahn. Mother Teresa said that every poor person is another Christ ... but she didn't make it up, Jesus did. John Eldredge puts it at a more pop-culture level, but then his target audience is probably not composed of Thomas Sowell groupies.

This has been fun, but I have to roust some kids ... we're in the middle of a top-to-bottom housecleaning :-). Y'all have a good day!