Let me start off this blog by saying that for 22 years of my life, I have never wanted to go bungee jumping. If you think about it, you are spending money to risk your life unnecessarily to get a few short-lived seconds of excitement and thrill. Why? I didn’t understand why anyone would want to do it. It sounded like another one of those expensive sports that just sounds cool.
However, despite this, soon before the Race started I found myself having a desire to bungee jump. It wasn’t so much the excitement and thrill, though I wanted to experience that too, but what it symbolized.
To me, it made a fun parallel with what I was experiencing on the Race, and in general in my Christian life. One of the goals of the World Race is for Racers to experience “abandonment”, or a lifestyle that intentionally discards what hinders us from knowing Christ. We give up the comforts of constant access to Internet, TV, and a computer; constant water and electricity; comfortable rooms, beds, and toilets; and even proximity to close friends and family. The reason is not because these aren’t good things; they are, but sometimes they can distract us from the best thing, the One thing that God says we need in life, and that is not a thing but a Person, it is Jesus. (if you want to read more about abandonment, my teammate Brandon has written a blog about how it has impacted his life here.)
We only need to go through life with one thing, a relationship with our God, for He is the source of all that we need, life and love, friendship, family, joy and truth. But in order to experience that, we need to surrender our hold on the earthly things where we have placed our hopes and securities. And in order to do that, we have to make a decision in faith and trust that the Father will hold you up…you have to jump in courage. Who says the Christian life isn’t full of excitement…
…and so, with that, here we go. Take a deep breath…and on three…two…one…BUNGEE!!!!
Say "Hi" to the team! That's right – we all decided to go bungee jumping together!
Looking calm on the surface…but actually, inside I'm freaking out.
Bungee!!!
