If you told high school senior me what I was doing today all I would have done is laughed and said no way. The biggest adventure I could dream up then was running a 25 man heroic Ice Crown Citadel on my warrior in World of Warcraft. (Loktar Ogar!)
The funny thing about a life following God is that its the turns you least expect that often puts your life on a trajectory that often leads to somme of the greatest adventures.
It just so happened that one day I would find myself getting into backpacking with the dream of someday hiking parts of the Colorado Trail
It just so happened that one day I received a bike because I thought it would help me get around and get in shape
It just so happened that one day a guy named Jesse Millar believed that the train wreck of a high school senior that was me might be worth investing by letting me become a leader in the youth group.
This is the thing I love about God, so often I feel like He takes us down the small rabbit trails that feel like they are leading towards nothing just for us to find that there was something awesome planned down the road. I never would have believed you if you had told me that one day my short 10 mile rides up the Platte River trail would someday turn into 500 miles down the California Coast raising money for this crazy organization called Restore International. If you told me that I would be leading the youth group I grew up in before even graduating from college I would have laughed because theres no way I would have thought I was ready, yet this year getting to lead along side one of the greatest Adult Leadership Teams in the history of youth ministry in one of the most life giving ministries I’ve had the pleasure of being a part of. These experiences have shown me what God can do with some faith and a drop of courage.
I like to think it all started with this small seed that wanted to see something greater. I remember the times storming the gates of Northrend and taking down Ice Giants and fighting through the armies of the undead, moment was filled with heroism and adventure, even if it was in an imaginary world. Today I find myself on my own adventure, driving across the country alone, running down fourteeners with light striking all around, biking hundreds of miles because the thought of women and children being sold into sex slavery isn’t something I can just sit by and let happen, and now the World Race, finding God, loving others, and seeing the world.
I can’t help but smile when I think about how God has taken a kid like me who was too scared to ever take a risk to step off the shores and into the waves has made me into the kind of person whose ready to cannonball in without looking back.
Perhaps when we learn to stop holding back and everyday take small steps of courage we’d finally realize that God is just paving the way for greater things to come..
So with the wise words of Walk the Moon, “Don’t you dare look back, just keep your eyes on me, I said you’re holding back, she said SHUT UP AND DANCE WITH ME!”
