It's 7:43 in the morning, and I am currently sitting on a bus on the way to Atlanta. From there, I have forty minutes to catch my second bus to Orlando. I'm praying I make my second bus... Otherwise I have some serious problem solving to do. Either way, I find the Megabus a wonderful adventure and am thoroughly glad I forgot to buy a plane ticket and had to take the bus.
The world truly is a small place. There are big places, small places, off-the-beaten-track places, well worn and loved places. There are close places, far places, familiar places, and worlds-away places. But they are all places, and all within reach.
Do you really grasp the vastness of this idea? Not just that there is an entire world outside your doorstep, but that you can go. You need no reason, no explanation, nothing. You can just pick up and go. And all those excuses running through your head as you read that? That you don't have the money, the time, you've got homework, work, kids... Whatever it is, they are never truly tying you down. They may craft the comfortable walls behind which you hide, but they do not bind you.
Because God is bigger than your job, your school, the rigorous demands of kids and family. I'm not saying you have to up and leave those things. God calls us to our jobs and schools and families, absolutely. They are good, Godly, important, beautiful things. But what my head and heart are mulling over as I watch the miles pass by is this: Would you pick up and leave those things (or take them with you) if God called you to up and go? Or are they an excuse to stay where you are?
Maybe these are just the ramblings of a gypsy. I have never liked staying put for very long, nor do I struggle to drop everything and go. I need no plan, no agenda, no specifics. I am in constant pursuit of adventure, no matter what that looks like. It's just how God made me, and one of the ways I see him best.
But I don't think I'm alone. Ours is a God of adventure. He made this world, and he made it beautiful. He filled it with people and places and mysteries. Do you know the story of Jesus walking on the water? He didn't have to walk on the water, but he did. And you know what? I'm with him. Walking on water is way more fun than just appearing on the boat. I bet Jesus thought it was fun, too.
Adventure comes in many colors. It never looks the same twice. I think it's more of a way of life than an experience. But don't miss the truth in that: life was never meant to be safe. It was never meant to be calm and predictable and passive. That is the great lie of American Christianity. Loving Jesus makes life less predictable, not more so.
I hate the term "missions." Because no one likes to be a project. And I think life is a mission. It isn't something a handful of exceptionally godly people are called to do overseas. If you love Jesus, your life is a mission, whether you live in the States or not.
Not everyone is called overseas. Not everyone will see the world. I count myself incredibly blessed to have seen as much of it as I already have. More than most have in a lifetime, and that is such a huge blessing. But what my gypsy spirit longs to share with those around me is the freedom to do so. The freedom of head and heart to pick up and go and trust the Lord to provide. The lack of fear to walk into an unknown adventure and trust God to not only come through, but overflow.
Because it isn't always easy. The opportunity may not simply present itself in a nice little package on your doorstep. Sometimes, and most of the time I've found in my life, God's call to pick up and go is a faint thing. Is a soft tug at the heart and little more. And from that soft tug, you often encounter more closed doors than open windows. You often have little more than that soft tug to break down the doors standing in your way.
One of my favorite books says that the saying "God never closes a door without opening a window," is a load of crap. It's often an excuse to be passive. The truth is, sometimes God closes a door because he wants you to break it down.
Would you?
The world truly is a small place. There are big places, small places, off-the-beaten-track places, well worn and loved places. There are close places, far places, familiar places, and worlds-away places. But they are all places, and all within reach.
Do you really grasp the vastness of this idea? Not just that there is an entire world outside your doorstep, but that you can go. You need no reason, no explanation, nothing. You can just pick up and go. And all those excuses running through your head as you read that? That you don't have the money, the time, you've got homework, work, kids... Whatever it is, they are never truly tying you down. They may craft the comfortable walls behind which you hide, but they do not bind you.
Because God is bigger than your job, your school, the rigorous demands of kids and family. I'm not saying you have to up and leave those things. God calls us to our jobs and schools and families, absolutely. They are good, Godly, important, beautiful things. But what my head and heart are mulling over as I watch the miles pass by is this: Would you pick up and leave those things (or take them with you) if God called you to up and go? Or are they an excuse to stay where you are?
Maybe these are just the ramblings of a gypsy. I have never liked staying put for very long, nor do I struggle to drop everything and go. I need no plan, no agenda, no specifics. I am in constant pursuit of adventure, no matter what that looks like. It's just how God made me, and one of the ways I see him best.
But I don't think I'm alone. Ours is a God of adventure. He made this world, and he made it beautiful. He filled it with people and places and mysteries. Do you know the story of Jesus walking on the water? He didn't have to walk on the water, but he did. And you know what? I'm with him. Walking on water is way more fun than just appearing on the boat. I bet Jesus thought it was fun, too.
Adventure comes in many colors. It never looks the same twice. I think it's more of a way of life than an experience. But don't miss the truth in that: life was never meant to be safe. It was never meant to be calm and predictable and passive. That is the great lie of American Christianity. Loving Jesus makes life less predictable, not more so.
I hate the term "missions." Because no one likes to be a project. And I think life is a mission. It isn't something a handful of exceptionally godly people are called to do overseas. If you love Jesus, your life is a mission, whether you live in the States or not.
Not everyone is called overseas. Not everyone will see the world. I count myself incredibly blessed to have seen as much of it as I already have. More than most have in a lifetime, and that is such a huge blessing. But what my gypsy spirit longs to share with those around me is the freedom to do so. The freedom of head and heart to pick up and go and trust the Lord to provide. The lack of fear to walk into an unknown adventure and trust God to not only come through, but overflow.
Because it isn't always easy. The opportunity may not simply present itself in a nice little package on your doorstep. Sometimes, and most of the time I've found in my life, God's call to pick up and go is a faint thing. Is a soft tug at the heart and little more. And from that soft tug, you often encounter more closed doors than open windows. You often have little more than that soft tug to break down the doors standing in your way.
One of my favorite books says that the saying "God never closes a door without opening a window," is a load of crap. It's often an excuse to be passive. The truth is, sometimes God closes a door because he wants you to break it down.
Would you?
No comments:
Post a Comment