For a week or so now this phrase has been on my mind. I wasn’t really sure what it even meant, but what I did know was that besides being a phrase, it was (in part) a book title also. So… I had a one on one with Google! Of course when I typed “define going rogue” I got a million answers from various sources. Some of the definitions were kind of funny: a scoundrel, vagabond, wandering elephant,….you get the idea! Then I read definitions like this: an individual varying markedly from the standard, operating outside normal or desirable controls, to stop following orders, someone who acts independently and wayward from the usual group. Those definitions click for me! Those definitions …..are me!!
Yep, that’s right… I’m “Going Rogue”. What exactly does that mean? Well… let’s talk about this. Right now, I’m 35 years old. Some would say that by now, I should be married with kids and nice career. I should be living the American Dream, buying a house, going to PTA meetings. Let me first of all say, none of those things are “bad”. Let me then say, right now, none of those things are for me. Do I want to be married? Of course. Do I want to have kids? Yes, one day perhaps. But here’s the thing, for the last three years I’ve been working in an award wining, top-notch Chick-fil-A. I started as a crew member and when I left I was the Marketing Director. I was good at my job. I made good money. I had my own place, my own car, I was “doing well”. I was also empty, unsatisfied and searching for something else. Don’t get me wrong; I had some of the best coworkers on the planet, I worked in a great community and my boss was an amazing man of God that I highly respect! This, however is not what I was called to do long term. As many of you saw in my previous post, I ended up quitting my job, putting all of my belongings in storage, leaving my beautiful town by the beach and moving up north.
Now I’m getting ready to embark on this amazing journey called the World Race. Traveling to 11 countries in 11 months…I’m pretty sure by most standards that’s “varying markedly from the standard”, and “operating outside normal controls”… and it’s definitely acting independently from the “usual group”. Really though, as much as it seems I’m outside of the “norm”, isn’t this what we’ve been called to? Isn’t this what Jesus asked of us?
John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
Matt. 16:24-26 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. for whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”
Luke 14:25-27 One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters-yes, even one’s own self!-can’t be my disciple. Anyone who won’t shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can’t be my disciple.”
Matt. 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. …
So… this is me … Going Rogue… defying the standard, the norm… this is me, not having a career, a husband, or kids. This is me, embarking on a year long journey with a tent, a backpack, and Jesus!
