Keeping them safe just isn't enough

Gary Haugen, president and CEO of International Justice Mission, a Christian organization dedicated to fighting sex trafficking, writes, After we have poured into our children all the good food and shelter and clothing, after we have provided them with great education, discipline, structure and love, after we have worked so hard to provide every good thing, they turn to us and ask, "Why have you given all of this to me.”  And the honest answer from me is, "So you'll be safe.”  And my kid looks up at me and says, "Really? That's it? You want me to be safe? Your grand ambition for my life is that nothing bad happens?”  And I think something inside them dies. They either go away to perish in safety, or they go away looking for adventure in the wrong places. Jesus, on the other hand, affirms their sense of adventure and their yearning for larger glory."

Jesus was completely reckless with His disciples.

He asked them to do things that were humanly impossible.  They healed people, headed out in storms, walked into forbidden and dangerous territory, they went into the wrong places at the wrong times.  Jesus asked them to trust Him over their own good sense.  He sent them out as sheep among wolves.  He equipped this little band of people to completely change the world.

It can seem so unadventurous for us as we live in this safe christian bubble.  Jesus didn’t say anyone who wants to live must run into my bomb shelter and try to survive the storms of life so that we can live long enough to make it into Heaven and avoid all the bad stuff.  Jesus asked us to come to Him and die, so that we could live.  He said that things will actually get tougher when you are following Him.  People will misunderstand you.  Satan will attack you.  For some people they would have to leave their families beliefs or values.  They’d have to live honestly and respectfully in a world that can take advantage of those types of people.

It wouldn’t be fun if their was no challenge though.  We need a little adventure don’t we?  Don’t we have a spark within us that needs to do something a little crazy?  

From that same book- “There must be more to the Christian life than this--more than church each Sunday and waving to my neighbors and giving some clothes to Goodwill when I go through my closet each spring." These aren't bad things, of course. But they're safe and comfortable and easy. And there's a reason they're not satisfying your desire for something more significant and meaningful--we're created by God for adventure."

Yes, we would like our kids to be safe.  I’d rather my kids see life not as something to be afraid of but as an adventure.  And may I be the type of father who fills them with encouragement to have the faith to throw everything away in order to take a hold of the glorious life that God has for them.  May I lead them by my example to not let fear silence me or cause me to stop, but to live courageously.

May it not be our goal to die healthy and full of years, but rather to live each day with the courage to chase the adventure that God is leading us through and not let fear stop us from working towards the final end - to sit next our savior, our leader, and our hero, Jesus and hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

God has numbered our days.  We get only so many of them.  Let’s not worry about wasting them or storing them up or try to get more or less of them….