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Sunday, June 6, 2010
High Dive
Did you ever jump off the high dive as a kid? Were you the kid that decided to jump, climbed the ladder, walked to the end of the board and then chickened out at the last second? Our six year old has been intrigued by the high dive at our neighborhood pool ever since she first saw it. For weeks now, she's been getting up the nerve to jump off. When she finally got the chance she asked us "Is it OK?" which could have been translated in her mind as "Will I live?". After we told her yes, it was OK for her to try, she took a deep breath and started the climb up the ladder.
Watching her do this was actually kind of scary. Besides bringing back that pit-in-the-stomach feeling from when I first tried this stunt, she's only six. And she's little for a six year old. Should she be doing this? What if she slips and falls off and gets hurt? At best, she's probably going to be the kid who chickens out and has to make the Climb Of Shame back down the ladder in front of everyone. And yet, there was just something in her heart that made her want to try it. And we were so proud of her.
Fear is a funny thing. These days, we're learning a lot about fear. We're learning that letting go of our money and our stuff can be scary. With our hearts we believe God will provide as He promises ("But my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory with Christ Jesus," Philippians 4:19) but we've trained our heads to trust in ourselves: our money, our investments, our things that are seen and that we falsely believe we have control of. In taking steps of faith, we feel a little like our daughter and the high dive... we're intrigued, we're at least willing to climb up the ladder and take a look but are we willing to actually jump off??
Besides the fear of letting go of our stuff & money, this "Crazy Adventure" has caused us to suffer from another kind of fear. Just being honest, we do fear looking a little weird. In our cushy American culture, one of the signals we use to let us know something is OK is by watching others - if everyone else is swimming in the pond, there must not be any alligators in it. If all the other Christians I know are doing this, it must be ok, right? It must be safe and safe is good.
One of the things that we have had to come to grips with is the concept of Need versus Want. It turns out that there are a whole host of things that we think we need but really could go our entire lives without and never be that bad off. Actually, we might be better off without many of them. The desire of our hearts is to trust God to provide all our needs. We desire to take Him at His word in Philippians 4:19 and live our lives in a way that demonstrates we believe as much. As we continue to pray and follow His will for our family, we pray that we will have the faith and courage required to let go of anything He asks of us. May we have enough faith not just to climb to the top of the ladder and take a look around, but enough to actually jump off if He requires it. He will never ask us to do anything He does not equip us for.
"Fear not, for I am with you." -- Isaiah 41:10
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3 comments:
Love it! Thank you for sharing. God is asking me to "look weird" too. I think He's talking to lots of families about it right now. But even if it is only me, being "weird" for God sure is wonderful!
Love this post! After listening to David Platt's Radical, the Lord has called us to be weird also :) I have started to "reduce" and in fact, was able to send some $ to 60 feet and support two orphans in Uganda as well. Scary thing pushing that button and commiting. Thanks for letting me know that we are in good company :), and to keep trusting the Saviour to meet our needs.
I see we are among good company...
God has been working my heart over for the Ugandan orphans for some time now. Today I was able to make a big announcement--a photography ministry where all profits will be divided among three Uganda-based ministries, one of which is 60 Feet.
Please stop by for a look.
http://aspiretoleadaquietlife.blogspot.com/2010/06/introdutions.html
May God bless you as you continue to ride the bus to CrazyLand. All aboard!
Blessings.
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