I have been in Mijas, Andalucia, Spain since Sunday, April 3rd…
and I have come to my blog site nearly every day,
staring at the blank canvas, meditating on how to explain my experience so far.
Honestly, this is the first time I have come into an unknown place feeling completely safe around the people here [immediately upon arrival]. I know there is freedom to fully be me in this place, and because of it, I feel more alive than I’ve ever felt.
The reality is, words fall short in comparison to the weight of what I’ve been learning and the significant impact this place has already made in my life.
This place represents, what I believe to be, Jesus’ heart for the Church:
We feast on life together.
We sit at the feet of leaders that challenge us to our greatest potential.
We are growing deeper into the men and women we have been designed to be.
Authentic Discipleship.
(The kind of discipleship I personally believe Jesus had in mind.)
G42 is the 42nd generation. Christ’s generation. Its heartbeat represents a generation of people willing to risk it all to bring order to the chaos and life to dark places. Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.
We are encouraged here to strive to be the men and women we’ve been created to be because people will never be able to fulfill their purpose without being who they truly are. And to deny that person would not only be a disservice to our own selves, but to everyone we come in contact with.
And so, here at G42 Leadership Academy, we are charged to find that thing that makes our heart beat and our fist shake, and to grow into that, and to passionately go after it. Whatever the cost.
I know a mediocre life, the life my culture says I should live, will not satisfy [for me]… and I’m realizing it is not the reason why I was created. I was, and you were, created with purpose in mind. I believe there is a difference between the life I was meant to live and settling into a life for comforts sake, and whichever way my pendulum swings determines whether I will have abundant life OR meager living.
And my decision in choosing this path is not based on trying to “obey” my God. As I’m growing in Christ, I’m realizing I can do whatever it is I want to do and He will still love me and He will still be proud of me. I know that wherever I go and whatever I do, the Spirit will follow because the spirit is in me. It’s just that I’ve tried doing it my own way, and while it was good, I found His way is better. And this is why I am choosing this path. Not as an obligation, but because at the end of this life I don’t want to say ‘I wish I would have ______’.
I don’t believe the road to joy will be found sitting in a pew listening to a three-point sermon on how to have joy. Joy is found when a person realizes there is a great life to be lived… AND LIVING IT!
God has a great purpose for my life, for everyone’s life, but if we don’t go out and pursue it, we’re just a ship sitting safe and pretty in a harbor. And ships were not built to sit idly. And so, in this season, I am learning how to go out and live it.
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