A teacher of the law came to Jesus and said, "Teacher I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." Another disciple said to Jesus, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."
These verses make it clear that following Jesus is quite the adventure! But this adventure is not for the faint of heart. Just read Luke 14:28-34. Following Jesus requires a willingness to embrace a life of discomfort. But living an adventurous life (in general) will always involve risk and discomfort. Any thrill seeker will tell you this. Just take Kevin Pearce, the X-Games, snowboarding superstar, for example. He sustained a head injury that sent shock waves through the snowboarding community. Here's an excerpt I recently read about him:
As 2009 came to a close, on December 30th, one of snowboardings' best half pipe riders, Kevin Pearce, took a catastrophic fall in the Park City Half Pipe, while training for upcoming competition and the Olympic Qualifying Series that is currently underway.
He was attempting a double cork trick when he came down just a little off balance and caught an edge that sent him straight to his face against the firm wall of the pipe. He sustained damage to his eye socket and a concussion with serious head trauma. He is currently in critical care after effort to repair his eye and get the head injury under control.
His crash sent shock waves through the field of competitors and fans that have watched him rise to stardom in the world of snowboarding. Over the past couple seasons the athletic level of the riders has been rising at an amazing rate with the introduction of 22 foot half pipes and the more and more common double flips that the best riders are sticking on a regular basis.
Among the field of riders and the support groups involved including team managers, coaches, parents, sponsors and event organizers, Kevin's crash is a sad and untimely reminder of the dangers of the sport. It calls attention to the fact that every competitor out there pushing hard for a bigger trick or a better result, runs the risk of serious bodily injury. Of course the riders know it is dangerous as well as we all do.
It is often difficult for coaches, the riders parents, friends and support to continue to encourage a rider to do things that we all know are very dangerous.
However, how is it different than other dangerous sports? Sports like car racing, bull riding, ski racing, airplane racing, motocross, even football and rugby, and the list goes on. In all these dangerous sports, there are athletes who know the dangers and choose to participate, because they love it.
I love that last line, "In all these dangerous sports, there are athletes who know the dangers and choose to participate because they love it." Adventure comes with a cost! But a person's pursuit of an adventure is driven by a passionate love! Love is the X-factor in our willingness to take on the risk of living the Christian life! So my questions to you are...Do you love Jesus? Do you love the mission, priorities, and purpose that Jesus is calling you to embrace? Do you love the adventure of the Christian life?The answers to these questions can be found in how you are living your life. So let me ask you, are you active in helping connect people to Christ? Are you building into those who are already connected to Christ? Are you moment by moment looking for opportunities to impact the world around you for Jesus? Are you living for more than yourself? Are you giving your time and resources to those in need in our world?
My prayer is that God would form in you a passionate love for Jesus so that you will enthusiastically leave your comforts behind to embrace the adventure of the Christian life!
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