{"id":47886,"date":"2004-05-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2004-05-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/editor-describes-american-life-as-too-full\/"},"modified":"2004-05-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2004-05-03T00:00:00","slug":"editor-describes-american-life-as-too-full","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/editor-describes-american-life-as-too-full\/","title":{"rendered":"Editor Describes American Life as Too Full"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Vacationing in the British Virgin Islands with his family, magazine editor William Falk found himself longing for a simple life. Gazing across the water, a little island caught his attention. He learned that the population was known for enjoying a carefree lifestyle. Falk decided that&#39;s where he wanted to go.<\/p>\n\n<p>He confessed:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I have no real wants; if anything, my life is too full. &quot;That&#39;s precisely the problem,&quot; author Gregg Easterbrook says in his new book, <em class=\"citation\">The Progress Paradox<\/em>. Most Americans enjoy a higher standard of living than 99.4 percent of the 80 billion human beings who&#39;ve ever lived. Yet we&#39;re not content. &quot;Our lives are characterized by too much of a good thing.&quot; Easterbrook says, &quot;excess at every turn.&quot; We&#39;re surrounded by so much food that obesity has become a national crisis, are tempted by so much entertainment and information and stuff to buy that we sleep three hours a day less than our grandparents. At times, it leaves you staring at a four-mile-long island on the horizon, wondering what it would be like to chuck it all.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3366,3683,3764,3840,3869,4374,4410,4435,4615,4822,4885,5266],"tax_ctp_topics":[388,396,403],"class_list":["post-47886","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-abundant-life","tax_ctp_tags-contentment","tax_ctp_tags-desert","tax_ctp_tags-eating","tax_ctp_tags-entertainment","tax_ctp_tags-lifestyle","tax_ctp_tags-luxury","tax_ctp_tags-materialism","tax_ctp_tags-peace","tax_ctp_tags-rest","tax_ctp_tags-satisfaction","tax_ctp_tags-wealth"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Editor Describes American Life as Too Full - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/editor-describes-american-life-as-too-full\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Editor Describes American Life as Too Full - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vacationing in the British Virgin Islands with his family, magazine editor William Falk found himself longing for a simple life. 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