Not Playing It Safe

Some friends of ours have just announced that they will be moving away in the near future. They don't know when they'll be moving, or even where they will be moving. They don't even know exactly what they'll do when they get there. They're happy right here - where they are, but they just know God is showing them it's time to go elsewhere. So, when the time is right, they'll be taking their kids and going - somewhere God shows them He wants them to be. Sounds crazy, doesn't it?

It may sound crazy, but it's not really. It's a part of the thrilling race we, Christians, experience when we surrender completely to Christ. See, our friends have a relationship with God because they're trusting in Jesus and submitting their entire lives to Him. They are committed to following God's direction in their lives. This doesn't make them special or "holier than thou". (Everyone can have this type of relationship with God - in fact that's exactly what He wants for all of us.) It doesn't make them extra-holy, but it does make their lives interesting and overflowing with purpose.

Those of us who commit our lives to God's purposes and live truly believing that Jesus was bodily resurrected from the dead (verifying that He truly is the Son of God), often find ourselves starting out on journeys we never would have expected and whose final destinations may be unknown. When we live in relationship with our Heavenly Father, submitted wholly to Him, it's not uncommon to find ourselves taking giant leaps of faith, trusting in a God who often reveals only the next step and asks us simply to follow and obey. It's in the following, trusting and obeying where our lives become exciting (to say the least) and take on true purpose. We'll find ourselves doing and enjoying things we never thought we would and accomplishing things we never thought we could - all made possible by following after Jesus and submitting entirely to His specific will and purpose for our lives. It means life is not about trying to find our way on our own and then hoping that our decisions work out, and it's definitely not about playing it safe.

• It's the young family who moves to a foreign land to teach in an international school and serve as missionaries because that's what God is asking them to do.

• It's the almost-empty-nesters who decide to adopt orphans because God has shown them that's His will for their family.

• It's the woman who submits to God's will for her life and spends decades taking in foster-babies, often born drug-addicted, and caring for them until they can be returned to their mothers.

• It's the man who gives up his successful and lucrative career to become a pastor and support his family on half the income because he's surrendering to God.

• It's the parents who decide to tackle the difficult and unpopular task of homeschooling their child because they see he has unique needs, and God has made it clear that's His desire for them.

• It's our friends I mentioned above, who will be leaving people and a place they love because God is showing them that He has plans for them elsewhere.

We are all strings in a beautiful tapestry of redemption and grace that God has been weaving since the beginning of time. We need to be pliable threads, so the Weaver can use us where He knows we fit. He doesn't use us all the same way, but He wants to make us a part of His grand design for redeeming this imperfect world and all of us who live within it. This is His masterpiece, and as tiny threads we can only see it in part, but it's in the process of being picked up and woven, intertwined with the other threads that our lives take on the full meaning and purpose God desires for us.

To our friends, Scott and Andrea: We will miss you and your two boys when you're gone, but we know the Weaver has a special place and purpose for you in His amazing design, and that's exactly where you need to be. We just hope that somewhere down the road, God will lead you back to us!