"...Faster Than Others."

Well, some may know, and some may not,  that an ideal relaxing vacation, from my point of view, is to go some place far away from cities, where I can see the stars, where trucks don't release their air breaks, and cars don't honk their horns... somewhere where life is simple and I'm surrounded by unsullied natural beauty.  That's not to say I hate cities.  I certainly do enjoy visiting them and being surrounded by their pulsating life.  But when I think, "How would I like to spend a relaxing vacation," I think of getting away from all the hustle and bustle.

I love the Smokey Mountains and the Rockies, and I love wide open spaces.  I've always thought I would love to go and spend a few weeks on a ranch out west or go sailing and whale watching on the ocean.

But I got to thinking the other day.  What if I only had a short time to live?  What would I do?  My initial thought, as it relates to travel and vacation, was: Go all the places I want to go.  Travel the world.

But then I thought again.  What would I REALLY do if I only had a short time to live?  How would I live?  What would I do?  Where would I go?

I decided my first priority wouldn't be those trips I'd like to take.  In fact, they ended up pretty low on the list.

Relationships were high on the list.  Sharing my faith was, too.  The biggest thing was leaving something of value behind.

I ask you - what would you do if you weren't going to be here on this earth long?  How would you live if you were going to face your Maker and Judge very soon?

The question isn't irrelevant.  I'm not dying soon (that I know of) and it's likely you aren't either.  But we can't count on that.

I'll never forget the time I first heard a quote (which has been attributed to several different sources) along these lines:

"We're all dying . . . some of us are just doing it faster than others."

And so I ask again, how would you live if you knew your life was short?  Really, the question should be: How WILL we live since our lives are short?

~M.

...It's Apathy!

One night, my mom and I were discussing an orphan ministry that had recently done a presentation at our church.  In a nut shell, we were discussing the fact that there are an estimated 160 million orphans in the world and that, if the church would truly step up to the plate, we could take that number to zero.  But the church is, for the most part, focused on itself.  And so nothing happens.

I used to think the worst of vices was cowardice.  I've changed my mind.  It's apathy.

I wrote these lyrics after that conversation:

Dare

Verse 1:

We close our eyes

To the pain and the needs

Afraid if we see our hearts might feel

Afraid that we might be driven to move

Getting out of our own little world

Getting out of our own little world

Chorus:

I dare you to live

I dare you to see

I dare you to feel 'til it drives you to move

I dare you to live

I dare you to change

I dare you to face all the needs around you

I dare you to live

I dare you to live

Verse 2:

Share vict'ry

And the fight

There's no joy if you won't feel

There's no vict'ry if you won't fight

Feel the joy

Feel the pain

(Chorus)

Just as a side note, I'm not advocating the "listen to your heart" mentality that is so popular in our culture.  The Bible says that the heart of man is very, very wicked.  But I am advocating compassion - something the Bible does support.  Romans says to rejoice with the people who are rejoicing, to mourn with the people who are mourning, and to cry with those who are crying.  And James says that words are not sufficient to meet a need - we have to put feet and hands to work.

Dare lyrics copyright 2012 by M.

I Must Write

I must write.

And if I must write, I may as well write something that will encourage and challenge someone else.  Hence, the purpose of this blog.

But just as a side-note, when I say, "I must write," I don't mean I am/was being forced to write.  I mean that I just have to write - like a horse has to neigh and a zebra has to have stripes.  It's part of who I am.

If you read my previous blog, The Great Adventure, you may be wondering at the duplicate name.  It's not that I'm trying to be unimaginative.  Instead, the phrase "the great adventure" encapsulates much of my outlook on life.  I named my first blog The Great Adventure because I believed that life was one grand adventure.  I still believe that.  And so this blog is also called The Great Adventure.

If I'm going to be entirely honest, I have to tell you that the phrase "the great adventure" didn't originate with me.  It is the title of one of my favorite songs of all time, The Great Adventure, by Steven Curtis Chapman.  It has been one of my life theme songs since I first heard it, six or seven years ago:

Saddle up your horses!

(Verse 1)
Started out this morning in the usual way
Chasing thoughts inside my head
Of all I had to do today
Another time around the circle
Try to make it better than the last

I opened up my Bible
And I read about me
Said I'd been a prisoner
And God's grace had set me free
And somewhere between the pages
It hit me like a lightning bolt
I saw a big frontier in from of me
And I heard somebody say, "Let's go!"

(CHORUS)
Saddle up your horses
We've got a trail to blaze
Through the wild blue yonder
Of God's amazing grace
Let's follow our Leader
Into the glorious unknown
This is life like no other
This is the great adventure

(Verse 2)
Come on get ready
For the ride of your life
Gonna leave long-faced religion
In a cloud of dust behind
And discover all the new horizons
Just waiting to be explored
This is what we were created for

(Bridge)
We'll travel over
Over mountains so high
We'll go through valleys below
Still through it all
We'll find that
This is the greatest journey
That the human heart will ever see
The love of God will take us far
Beyond our wildest dreams

Yeah... oh saddle up your horses... come on get ready to ride

(Words and music by Steven Curtis Chapman and Geoff Moore)

It is my hope that, in reading my thoughts on this great adventure of life, you will be encouraged and challenged to love life and to take it by the horns, living a life fully abandoned to Jesus Christ.

~M.