Isaiah 61:1
I keep hearing people say how brave I am to be doing a trip like this, or how much courage a trip like this takes. Then it got me thinking, what is courage? In middle and high school I remember writing papers about courage and the main thing I always wrote about was how courage was being fearless. And I certainly do not feel that way about this trip. I am in fact very fearful. Courage is not the absence of fear. At all. I am terrified, scared out of my pants! Rather, it is the ability to follow one’s convictions in the face of fear. It takes courage to do what is expected of you in life, to not back off, to not cave in……to not even dance around it. Courage is fear holding on for one minute longer. I wish I could rewrite all those lame papers in high school! But seriously, world racers, YOU are so very brave. Despite all the emotions we all might be feeling right now, you are brave. And know God is proud to call all of us His sons and daughters.
I’ve recently been thinking about a question that I read in a book one time. It asked, “if there were no heaven and there were no hell, would you follow Jesus anyway?” I do believe in heaven and hell. I am excited about the afterlife, but at the end of the day, I did not choose Jesus because I wanted crowns in heaven or because I was scared to death of hell. I chose Him because He is GOOD. He is love. He is peace. He is all that my heart longs for. And He is taking us on an adventure that begins right now, not eventually, right NOW. I am convinced that Jesus did not just come to prepare us to die; he came to teach us to live. The vision that Jesus invites us to follow is not just a vision of heaven. Jesus is teaching us a vision for how to live on earth, to care for others. Here and now is where and when we need to figure out how to love those who are against us. The kingdom of God that Jesus spoke of wasn’t just something we hope for when we die, but something we are to bring on earth as it is in heaven. It’s not just about us going up, but about bringing God’s kingdom down.
This made me realize that I need to daily be conscious of the fact that God is calling me to carry the promise. He is calling all of us to carry the promise. There has to come a time in your journey when you become conscious that God put you in a specific place, for a specific time, and He’s leading you. It’s fearful. It’s painful. It’s too big for you. Moses experienced all of these things. But, like him, you must feel that quiet sense of serenity that God has called you for THIS MOMENT. It is humbling. It is surrender. And so exciting!!
