The Wild Ride..

Hi Everyone ~ Special treat today :)  I want you to meet Monica Henry.  She is my guest blogger today ~ You will be encouraged and challenged by her thoughts today.  More about Monica at the end of the post but for now... her she is!

"Don't let the world steal your soul.  Being a Christian is about choosing Jesus and deciding to do something incredibly daring with your life."

- The Irresistible Revolution

I wasn’t a very adventurous kid.  My adventures were more often confined to the pages of a Nancy Drew book, than the real world.  I liked to be home, safe with my parents, and three siblings, never straying far from the only house I’d known.  I loved predictability and only tried something new when I was absolutely forced to.  Vacation didn’t change my thoroughly boring outlook.  When my parents took us to Disneyland each year, my interests never ventured too far from Fantasyland.  I was content to ride the “baby rides” and hang out on a bench eating a Nestle Crunch ice cream bar with my mom while my older siblings took on the far more exciting “big kid rides” long after I was tall enough to ride them.  One year, however, that all changed.  I’m not sure what prompted it.  It could have been anything. Most likely, my parents were tired of Fantasyland or maybe they thought I needed to break out of my solidly predictable Disney routine.  Whatever it was, I found myself in line for Thunder Mountain Railroad crying hysterically and begging my dad to let me go back to my mom.  My dad was a fantastic dad, usually compassionate and sensitive to his daughter’s feelings, but that day he was unrelenting. There would be no waiting on the bench today, just the “wildest ride in the wilderness.” Super. 

The line seemed eternal. My dad tried to reassure me that it would be fun and that he would be with me the whole time.  No worries, right?  Sure, dad.  Absolutely.  I boarded the train and listened to the jovial prospector remind me keep my hands and feet inside at all times. Not a problem, bud.  Sitting down, I tried desperately to figure out how to grip the brown padded lap bar that was suspended several inches above my eight year old lap.  The train lurched forward and my dad squeezed me close.  There was no turning back.

I don’t remember the actual ride.  What I do remember is the exhilaration I felt after the ride.  It was amazing. I felt amazing.  I wanted to do it again and again.  All of the fear and worry and hysterics were replaced with a tremendous sense of accomplishment and a desire to do more, to try bigger and scarier rides.  I was officially a big kid.  Space Mountain and the Matterhorn followed and were later outdone when youth group and family trips took me to Six Flags.  I still loved Fantasyland, but I now knew bigger and better things existed and no amount of ice cream would keep me from experiencing them.

Many Christians live their lives in Fantasyland content to ride familiar, safe rides, never fully experiencing the life Jesus died for them to have.  We tell others how wonderful it is to know Jesus, to follow Him, but, in reality, we haven’t made it very far beyond the castle gate.  We haven’t really experienced what it is to genuinely follow the risen Christ.  Frankly, we’re afraid. I’m afraid. Trusting Him with my eternity is one thing; trusting Him with my physical life, my family and my money is quite another. What if He asks us to do something scary? What if He demands more than we’re willing to give? Fear is a powerful deterrent and one that keeps so many of us on the bench unwilling to try something bigger.  Unfortunately (or, perhaps, fortunately), when we agree to believe in Jesus, He requires us to do much bigger things if we are to really follow him.  Love our neighbor.  Forgive and pray for our enemies.  Defend the fatherless.  Provide for the poor.  He’s asking us to live contrary to a culture that so desperately wants to suck us in.  Following Jesus is big and scary. For pete’s sake, the idea of losing one’s life comes up a time or two. Thankfully, He didn’t leave us here to do it on our own.  Here you go, kid! Good luck with all that humanity business!  No way.  Graciously, He gave us His spirit to guide us. He gave us His very self as an example of love triumphing fear and making the impossible possible.  He is the Father who lovingly puts his arm around us and squeezes us tight, reassuring us that the ride will be worth it if we’re willing to take the risk.  Are you? Am I? If you believe that Jesus transcended time and space to become, in all of His deity, one of us; to inhabit our broken, dark world, all because He couldn’t stand the thought of being apart from his kids, then we have to abandon our complacency and fear and climb aboard.  Mercy and grace compel us to. 

I didn’t accept this concept willingly up until last fall.  Not really, anyway.  Circumstances collided in a way that caused a literal come to Jesus meeting.  It wasn’t pretty, but, in the end, I emerged newly confident in who I knew God was, what I could expect from Him, and what He expected from me.  Bottom line is that I was tired of being scared.  Tired of wondering what He could “do to me” next. Tired of being paralyzed by imagined circumstances and possibilities.  I wanted the abundant life Jesus promised and it was time to get in line. Good news, folks.  He didn’t ask me to live in a mud hut in Africa (why is that always the worst thing God can ask of us!?!) or strike me with a deadly illness.  He did, however, give me clarity in areas that were hopelessly murky.  He gave me a new direction and challenged me to look ahead with fresh perspective. Thank you, Jesus.

Friends, there is a generation of believers rising up, who are taking Jesus at His word with a genuine, whole hearted devotion. Issues of social justice, poverty, and the orphan crisis are being addressed and embraced by the Bride of Christ.  Lives are being radically changed by those who not only speak of Jesus, but act like Him too. The world is desperate for a Savior, but we can’t show it one sitting on a bench licking the ice cream off our fingers.  I’m not sure what its going to look like, but I’m ready to be a big kid.  I’m ready to feel the rush of the wind, feel my stomach drop as I crest the top of a big hill, ready to feel my Father’s arm secure around my shoulders as we careen around the bend. I’m ready to “hang on to my hat and glasses, ‘cause this here’s the wildest ride in the wilderness.” Come with me.

"A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance."  John 10:10

Monica, originally from Arizona, landed in FL with her husband, Aaron, when he accepted the call as Minister of Media @ Westside Baptist Church in Jacksonville. She loves Jesus, her husband, and her three boys. When time permits, or she can adequately distract her children, she also loves a great book and musical theater.