Every now and again I see, hear or read something that reminds me of this truth and that calls out the courageous adventurer within me. One such time was when I first saw this video. I love music videos, this one was one of my favourites from the last few years. It's by a band called Unkle for their track, Heaven.
Every time I watch this the Holy Spirit gets me. It stirs me to live more courageously, to follow God whole-heartedly and to take big risks for him. I love that feeling and I think its something God wants me to experience. Perhaps that's the experience the first disciples felt when Jesus said to them "come, follow me".
But life is no music video. When I fall, the bumps are very real and hurt; sometimes I struggle to get back up. Then when I'm done with my next bit of adventure and risk there's still the washing up to come back too, or the kids to put to bed, or the difficult colleague to get on with. Often it seems my adventures of faith collide with far more mundane or even difficult realities.
As I've thought about this I've begun to wonder if this was also the experience for the first disciples. When Andrew, Simon, James and John encountered Jesus and heard his call the they left their nets and followed him. The left what they were doing and began a new adventure. A journey that would take courage and risk as they learnt how to be like him.
But they didn't leave their nets for ever, and Jesus didn't take them away from the everyday realities of life. They went to weddings, they paid taxes, they argued and bickered with each other and Jesus used each of these events to change them, to show them something new. The adventure he took his disciples on was firmly in the real world, and the day to day struggles they faced were the very place where they got to see God's power at work.
I wonder if this is God's intention for all who would want to follow him. He calls us all to be disciples here on earth. He asks us to engage with the struggles and apparent mundaneness of everyday life and to allow him to make it different, better, new.
I believe God is looking for everyday adventurers. People who will be obedient to him in every little detail of their life and so will more fully experience him changing our world for the better.
Are you eager to part of this great adventure? Why not talk to God about it now? Write down a list of the situations you face today; the jobs you have to do, the people you will see. Ask God to meet you in each of those places, let him know you're open for him to do something new. Then get on with living as his adventurous disciple.
Every time I watch this the Holy Spirit gets me. It stirs me to live more courageously, to follow God whole-heartedly and to take big risks for him. I love that feeling and I think its something God wants me to experience. Perhaps that's the experience the first disciples felt when Jesus said to them "come, follow me".
But life is no music video. When I fall, the bumps are very real and hurt; sometimes I struggle to get back up. Then when I'm done with my next bit of adventure and risk there's still the washing up to come back too, or the kids to put to bed, or the difficult colleague to get on with. Often it seems my adventures of faith collide with far more mundane or even difficult realities.
As I've thought about this I've begun to wonder if this was also the experience for the first disciples. When Andrew, Simon, James and John encountered Jesus and heard his call the they left their nets and followed him. The left what they were doing and began a new adventure. A journey that would take courage and risk as they learnt how to be like him.
But they didn't leave their nets for ever, and Jesus didn't take them away from the everyday realities of life. They went to weddings, they paid taxes, they argued and bickered with each other and Jesus used each of these events to change them, to show them something new. The adventure he took his disciples on was firmly in the real world, and the day to day struggles they faced were the very place where they got to see God's power at work.
I wonder if this is God's intention for all who would want to follow him. He calls us all to be disciples here on earth. He asks us to engage with the struggles and apparent mundaneness of everyday life and to allow him to make it different, better, new.
I believe God is looking for everyday adventurers. People who will be obedient to him in every little detail of their life and so will more fully experience him changing our world for the better.
Are you eager to part of this great adventure? Why not talk to God about it now? Write down a list of the situations you face today; the jobs you have to do, the people you will see. Ask God to meet you in each of those places, let him know you're open for him to do something new. Then get on with living as his adventurous disciple.
Love it.
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