This morning my oldest daughter and several of her classmates left for a mission trip to Senegal, which is a small country on the west African coast. Their mission is to take care of the poor, share the gospel, dig water wells, and and be a blessing to the full time missionaries that live there in Senegal.
I am so glad she has this opportunity. Early in life she is putting her comfort and convenience on the shelf in order to take Jesus at His word:
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done." Matthew 16:24-27 NIV
Recently, Felix Baumgartner, a thrill seeking daredevil, broke the record for the highest free fall ever. Through some sort of balloon contraption, he went 28 miles upwards into the stratosphere of the earth. He then jumped and free fell for over 4 minutes traveling at times at a speed up to 729 miles. He broke the sound barrier. You can watch his entire fall as it happened.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOk7MO99ETI
Risk is doing something in spite of the possibility of suffering and harm. Felix Baumgartner obviously felt that the risk was worth the reward of his thrill and fame of his world record jump. My question is: what did he feel right before he jumped? Was he like a kid on the high dive who had worked up the courage to jump only to find himself climbing back down the ladder, did he think to himself; "how can I get down from here and call this off"?
But he jumped. He faced his fears and he jumped. My daughter has faced her fears along with her classmates and answered Jesus' call into unknown territory.
The major enemy of following Jesus into the unknown is fear. Fear is a funny thing. It can either paralyze you or it can motivate you. There are many recorded instances where people were able to perform superhuman feats because of fear. For example, people have picked up cars that were turned over to rescue a loved one trapped inside. However, we all know too well the paralyzing power of fear.
Spiders are amazing little creatures. Their method of killing their prey is to bite and inject venom that renders their prey paralyzed. Then, they save them for a later meal. Fear does the same thing to our spiritual lives. It bites us and renders us paralyzed. You will not follow God into the unknown if fear dominates your faith.
Your fear will tell you where you are not walking in faith. In his book If You Want to Walk on Water You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat, John Ortberg asks, “What is it that produces fear in me—especially when I think of leaving it behind and stepping out in faith?” Ortberg does a great job of teaching on what it means to step out in faith by using the story of Peter getting out of the boat and walking on water with Jesus (Matthew 14:25-32). Ortberg equates the boat the disciples were in with this: Whatever represents safety and security to you apart from God himself…Your boat is whatever keeps you so comfortable that you don’t want to give it up even if it is keeping you from joining Jesus on the waves. Your boat is whatever pulls you away from the high adventure of extreme discipleship…What is your boat? In what area of your life are you shrinking back from fully and courageously trusting God? Fear will tell you what your boat is.
Like the kids in this picture, I imagine there is some fear and uneasiness associated with whatever it is that God is calling you to, and that is to be expected. My challenge for you is to fight those fears with faith in God’s promises. The risk is worth the reward!
PS. Do not let the stuffed animals fool you. These kids are tough!
