risk

I talked with three people the other day who talked about risks that either they or people they know are taking with God. Jeremy, our guide for the day at Freedom for Youth yesterday talked about how he and his wife just relocated this summer into the inner city neighborhood where he works. He talked about reading The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne a few years back and how it moved him to greater faith and bigger risks.

Another guy I talked with was telling me about a man in Ft. Dodge, IA, who was your "average" Christian and above-average business guy. He was successful with money and influence, and then he also read Claiborne's book. It challenged him and he felt called to think and live differently. He ended up giving up his career to start a 70-bed shelter for men in Ft. Dodge, a need that was not being met. This fellow I was talking with told a few stories of that the guy in Ft. Dodge who is taking some big leaps of faith.

The director of Freedom Youth Ministries, Mark Nelson, introduced himself toward the end of our day, and as we prepared to leave, he told us to remember that none of this can be done without God. He talked about the biggest requirement on his part has been to take the steps of faith..the risks...that God has asked of him. Mark also said that as he took that initial first step way out there, he had in his mind that that would be it. But as he continued on the path God was laying out for him, the requirements of faith and risk just kept 'a comin; in fact, they were even bigger leaps than his initial step out over the edge.

I don't know about you, but I have a pretty high self-protection quotient. Do I believe that we need to calculate risk and factor in all sorts of things like timing, readiness, etc.? Yes, wisdom is definitely important. But I often ask myself if I use so much "human wisdom" that it leaves out faith and stunts me from acting on the voice and supernatural movement of God. Anyone else ever identify here? This just always brings me back to the question...how's my walk with Christ? Am I abiding closely with Him so that I can hear Him clearly and trust him enough to obey and take the big steps over the edge...and he will always call us to take big steps over the edge.