I’ve heard it quoted that “everything you want is just outside your comfort zone” I really like this quote, it is so inspirational, and it makes me want to do what Bear Grylls does and just go into the jungle somewhere or jump out of a helicopter as he so often does. Or like Alex Honnold, this quote makes me want to try something daring and scary like climb Yosemite's 3200 foot El Capitan without a rope. (well not quite, but you know what I mean.)
But as it stands; I like safe, predictable, routine, plans, roll your eyes all you want, but I actually like rules. I like knowing what to expect at each turn. I even have different scenarios mapped out in my mind so that nothing really surprises me. I’m like Elsa in Frozen II singing “into the unknown” she is curious about what the adventure could look like, but is also comfortable right where she is. But the reality is that we live in a VUCA world - it’s volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.
Thankfully, in doing life with Christ He always invites me to enjoy the abundant life He has gifted me and this means stepping into the unknown, the unprecedented all the while reminding me that He is with me and is for me, He reminds me of my purpose on this earth; that I am His creative work, made for His glory and goodness.
Just recently, God opened up an opportunity for me to step into the unknown, the more I thought about it the more I was tempted to say a huge NO! There were too many factors involved - Finances, Family, and Convenience... But the more I prayed about it, the more I sensed that God was inviting me to say a huge Yes! So I did because I knew that I would be going in the opposite direction if my response was a “No”. In my obedience to God, I have seen Him do a new thing in me, through me and around me.
I love king David’s words in Psalms 18:29 &33
Indeed, with your help I can charge against an army; by my God’s power I can jump over a wall. He gives me the agility of a deer; he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain
Classic David, he charged toward his Goliath rather than away from it. Even through the challenges David faced, he knew that God was in control and he trusted in the help of his God.
Friend, we too must do as David did.
In one of Aesop’s Fables titled “the fox and the grapes”, we see a fox who finds a bunch of ripe grapes hanging from a tree, his mouth waters for the fruit and he tries to reach for the fruit by jumping for it but he misses, he jumps again and again but misses, then he walks off stating what a fool he was to wear himself out for a bunch of sour grapes. He gave up.
I don’t know what your risk looks like. Maybe it’s asking those hard questions in order to grow or maybe it’s sitting down at the table with someone who has a perspective that you don’t and becoming the student not the teacher and certainly not the critic. Maybe it’s embracing something or like Abram in Genesis 12, your risk is that God has asked that you leave who you know, what you know, and where you know, to a place that you don’t know.
The risk will be scary at first and will seem daunting but we must remember that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but that of power, love and a sound mind (See 2 Timothy 1:7) and we must remind ourselves that if God is for us, who can be against us? (See Romans 8:31) Friend, Maybe, just maybe God is inviting you to take a little risk today.
“The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.” - Elizabeth Elliot
~ Odion~