Jesus would have bungee jumped!

So I finally decided to give this blogging thing a try! My wife's blog has intimidated me a little because it's so good. But I was thinking that I'll just have her edit mine if I get too self-conscious and people begin to correct my grammar! So here we go...

My passion is to see people live two six (hence the name of this blog). This comes from 1 John 2:6 where John writes, "Whoever claims to live in Him (Jesus) must walk as Jesus walked." I'll be honest it saddens me as I look around because so many churchgoers have totally watered-down the life of Jesus and what it means to follow Him. In many cases following Jesus has become nothing more than a checklist. Read your Bible, pray, fast, go to church...and honestly if that's the extent of a what it means to follow Jesus I could see boredom setting in pretty quickly (especially if you're not a very disciplined person or if you're more of a hands-on person). In fact, the huge number of teens who use the word BORING to describe the Christian life bothers me:-<

So what is a good picture of the Christian life? How about bungee jumping?! Before my first bungee jump, I took an inventory of what this whole bungee thing was about before I made any commitments. I saw that everyone was required to put on a harness and a helmet. I wasn't sure how the helmet was going to be of any help but the harness I thought was a good idea (as opposed to tying the bungee cord around my waste or through my belt loop!). People would then get into this orange, cage-like elevator that slowly lifted them insanely high into the sky. After an abrupt stop, the elevator door would open and the person was asked to NOT look down! But if they were to look down there was a padded splat mat that read 'Got Jesus?' that I guess was meant to make the person's death more comfortable (because I couldn't imagine anyone surviving the fall!). The attendant then attached the bungee cord to the harness using two little metal latches called carabiners (how on earth were such little pieces of metal going to hold my weight, I thought to myself?). The attendant then made all the final checks using a checklist (he checked the helmet, the harness, the cord, the carabiners etc.). After he had gone through the checklist he told the jumper to step forward to the very edge of the elevator door opening and take the plunge when ready. Some people would take forever to jump as they mustered up their courage while others would simply retreat back into the elevator and call it quits. But those who jumped experienced the time of their lives as a surge of adrenaline pulsated through their bodies during the free fall (I know because I actually jumped when my time came). What a rush!

So many churchgoers spend all of their time preparing for the jump (going through their checklists to make sure everything will be safe!) but never actually take the scary plunge into the Christian life. And over time the spiritual disciplines (fasting, praying, reading our Bibles...) become the goal and definition of the Christian life. But as important as these disciplines are, they are just the means to the end, the training camp before the season starts, the stretches before the run, the appetizer before the Kung Pao Chicken, the engagement before the marriage...(you get the picture). It bothers me that people like Simon the Stylite have been championed by Christians throughout history because he lived on top of a pole for 42 years to show his devotion to God (and don't ask me if he had a toilette up there)! Or that people who retreated into the forest to devote their lives to prayer are canonized by the church. Is this what Jesus was envisioning when He said, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men?" I think that's a stretch!

My question is this: Is the Christian life an adventure to you or is it more like a boring chick flick? Don't settle for a 'checklist Christianity', take the plunge of faith and experience the real deal. If you think the safest place to be is in the center of God's will then you haven't been reading your Bible! The Christian life was meant to be an exciting (and sometimes dangerous) journey. So what does an adventurous Christianity look like? How can you experience the real deal? Stay tuned!