I think that if God is really there (not just as a word, not just as an idea, but as Someone who really exists), and if He can be known, then that's worth chasing.

A shiny new car? Not so much. As Dion said, "Cadillacs end up in the junkyard."

Money? As Tim O'Reilly said, "Money is like gasoline during a road trip. You don't want to run out of gas on your trip, but you're not doing a tour of gas stations. We need to pay attention to money, but it shouldn't be about the money."

Me? It really shouldn't be about me, either. I've seen that "me" is a really small space. "Me" isn't enough to make me happy.

To the parent: If I may ask, where did you wind up? A Christian Marxist? An atheist that respects some of the teaching and who is skeptical of capitalism? Or where?