it

Everyone time I see this I’m always inspired by it. It’s a photo I found on Acts 29’s site. It’s a pic of an elderly woman’s home who decided she would not sell to developers no matter what they offered her. So they built a gigantic shopping/business mall around her home. I mean, she’s crazy right? She should have sold her property. Given up her home. Made some money on the deal. And I love the fence… I mean, she’s already surrounded by huge walls. What more does she need for safety and privacy? Hilarious. As odd as it looks it screams: Conviction! You got a dream; you live that dream. You got a desire to accomplish something; you hold your ground and let no one shake you. Have people that want to break you? Stand tall. Be gutsy. I don’t know what this 86 year old woman out of Seattle was really thinking by not moving at the time. Maybe she just didn’t know how big of a business structure they would build around her. Maybe she’s financially incompetent; naive for not giving into a million dollar offer for what looks like nothing more than a 1,000 sq. feet of home. It really doesn’t matter to me because it stands taller than the buildings around her. Now I’ve never met this woman and won’t since she died some time ago. But it’s cool what she leaves behind. The mark she makes on me by being courageous. Totally inspiring…

It really presses on me today as I think about how God has wired me. I’ve been blessed to have many leaders come along my side and encourage me to live by the seat of my pants. Men and women who have told me to live by passion before $$; friends and family that have backed me up since I was a kid.

Today though I feel like for the first time I am on my very own.

Not that I’ve been abandoned but that there is a sense that I must build something that no one wants to build with me. To go and do something that no one else sees as important; something that sounds crazy and impractical. What specifically?

A church.

It’ll look odd to many in my community. It’ll be a little house probably inside the gigantic walls of community that says size is everything. Some even in the community will struggle with its values: diversity; intergenerational; the gospel. It’ll promote women in leadership; it’ll encourage the preaching of Christ as central EVERY Sunday. It’ll spend more on the community and less on a building. It’ll give to the needs of those who have nothing over those who have everything. It’ll press to send out more people than taking in more people… it’ll birth new churches… it’ll spawn ministries that are of no value to the Christian community because they won’t press a religious experience. They’ll be set up to counsel those who are hurting mentally; those who need shelter; those that are totally broken and in need of guidance. It’ll take in those who have hurtful experiences with religion and re-instate them into the idea of holistic worship. And  yes, it’ll be hated… I know it will… that’s what I’m gearing up for… the bullets a lead pastor will take because it does stuff outside the box. I know I will struggle at night. I’ll be sleepless when others come and go. I’m certain I’ll wish I had taken all the other job offers with my prior business background. I mean, just this week I was offered something that would make life safe for me and CJ and little Lillian. One church planter recently put it to me this way: If you can think of anything else to do, go do that instead.

I get it. It’s hard work. I’ll love it. And I’ll hate it. But always I’ll be inspired by the people in it. So it’ll keep me going…

That’s my silly desire that God’s over time just pressed on me. It’s crazy, right? It sounds stupid, right? Making tons of money, playing it safe… walking gingerly across the balance beam of this world without taking chances seems safer, right? Yet when I stand before God, I think he’s going to ask me if I did it his way or my own comfortable safe way. How does Jesus judge me then? How does he say: Well done faithful servant? By having risked nothing… or by risking everything for his sake?

It reminds me of the game freeze tag. Remember? You use to run around and hope that the person who was “it” didn’t catch you. You ran around like crazy as “it” chased you and finally you found home base; that safe place that you found after having taken the risk of running around while being chased for a spell. And you always use to sit there and wonder why some kids would never leave base. Why they never ran and got into the game; fell down… got up… enjoyed the thrill of being alive. That’s what safe is… it’s standing on base waiting for something better to happen but never willing to step out and run and be chased by God’s desire for something more in your life: “it.”Don’t you deep down want God to capture you; tag ya and say, “You’re it!”

What’s your dream today? What’s that divine and innate passion that drives you?

To everyone out there who has something they know they should do… whether it’s building a church, moving to Hollywood to be an actor, opening up that small coffee shop you’ve always wanted, changing careers, traveling the world, having kids… I say to you don’t wait much longer because life is too short to always play it safe.

Praying for courage today.