The Privilege of My Life

Brother Jack preached Sunday about the Rich Young Ruler.  He used the passage from Mark 10:17-22.  He was on point with the entire message, but one thing stuck out to me.  He said that one reason the man did not follow Jesus was that he did not see it as a privilege to follow Christ.   This is so true.  It is true not only in the sense that it is still one of the huge reasons that people are not Christians, but also in the reason that people do not do things that God calls them to.  I hear all the time how much people think what we do is great and how great we are.  While I am thankful for people’s kind words, I am not great nor is what I do great.  My God is great.  It is the privilege and joy of my life to do exactly what He has called me to do.  I have never felt more joy, contentment, or communed as closely with God as I have these past 8 months.  If God calls us to somewhere else tomorrow, as much as we love this job, we will go.  We will go because both of us have made decisions outside of the will of God, and both of us realize how much more exciting and pleasing it is to be right exactly where God wants us.  We as humans make WAY too many excuses on why we cannot do things.  Way too many reasons why certain things are ‘other peoples’ callings.  I think it is time we as Christians see the PRIVILEGE of doing whatever crazy thing it is God is calling us to and JUST DO IT.  Take a risk.  Last night I got to talk to a lady from Danville who is currently in the process of adopting 4 girls ages 14-4 from the Philippines.  Amy G was there with us and she said “Be ready.  You are going to get a lot of people telling you that you are crazy.”  And the lady said she already had.  I said “That is okay.  You are crazy.  All of us are.  But if the world had a little more crazy there would be a lot less kids with out families.”  I believe that foster/adoption is the calling of every Christian family.  I believe it to be biblical.(that will be a later blog where I am sure I will lose several readers) But even if you believe that adoption isn’t your “calling”, what is your crazy??  Give away a ridiculous sum of money?  Start a charity?  Spend time in a homeless camp?  Go to a foreign country?  Volunteer with hospice?  Understand that crazy is most definitely not easy.  Crazy is REALLY hard sometimes.  Crazy will make you angry sometimes.  Crazy will make you feel defeated sometimes.  Crazy will have you crying because you are so sad in the depths of your being.  But in the middle of crazy is when God will reveal the most about himself to you that He ever has.  Crazy is where God will show you that He is sufficient to get you through the hard times, even if He has to carry you.  Crazy is where God will show you that table flipping angry is where we have to be sometimes to get something important accomplished.  Crazy is where God will show you that you can NEVER be defeated because He already got the victory and NOBODY can take it from Him.  Crazy is where God will catch every one of those tears, hold you so closely, and remind you that He alone is the source of your joy.  I laughed last night telling someone that my favorite thing is going out in public with several kids of different races and different ages and when they ask if they are my kids just saying “yes.”  The look on their faces when I know they can tell there is a VERY small age gap between my children and I and that they definitely do not have the same father makes me laugh hysterically.  It is one of my greatest privileges that I am 25 and can have the honor of helping raise up to 8 children at any given time.  These are my children.  That makes me crazy.  Let me tell you, I have never been happier than right smack in the middle of the CRAZY God called me to do.