He Isn't Safe

"It's adventure that we want, and it's what we'll finally get, there's nothing safe about You, but sometimes I forget. So, lead me into the wide world, don't let me miss my chance, 'cause I'll blink and it'll be over, and I won't pass here again." ~Erin O'Donnell, Wide Wide World

Recently, God has been revealing something to me. Of course, that's what He does. He's not creeping around corners, ducking behind walls, He has nothing to hide. Often, though, we're so deceived into believing that we serve this buttercream teddy bear Jesus that we don't see Him with the reverence and the honor He deserves, and we miss something...or THE thing that we need to see at a given moment in a given season. We've become so conditioned to respond to "coffee house" Christianity, with our muffins and our boutique five dollar lattes with gourmet whipped cream flavors and freely dispensed grace to cover our spills that we forget this God who shook death at its roots and made a public spectacle of it, we forget the desperate cry of the imprisoned, the persecuted, the orphaned, the trafficked, the yearning...the one who works for a week to earn our latte and our muffin as we toss $10 into the mouth of Starbucks without a moment's thought. Figuratively, and literally, we're full of Coffee House Christianity.
We're not playing monopoly, and God didn't set His Son upon a whipping post for a "Get out of jail free card." Offensive? I hope not, but I don't care.

So, in an effort to refute the monopoly board...I present my most recent lesson in walking the gritty (but glorious) narrow road with Jesus.
I've been convicted lately about how much I've listened to lies over my lifetime. Lies about who I was, should be, or am not. The Holy Spirit spoke to me a few days ago and reminded me what the Bible says about satan, that he is a LIAR and the FATHER of all LIES. I thought about the job of a father, they create offspring, and then they cultivate it. I pictured (much to my disgust) the visage of satan gently cradling a lie, whispering in its ear, telling it how beautiful it was, dressing it up and showing it off... over, and over, and over, and over again. One of the lies satan has continually told me for years is that I'm not worth much, not worth a fight, or that I can't do what "normal people" can do because of the way I walk.
I used to feel these things...I did. Today? Right now? No. First of all, he lies, and second of all, normal is a dirty word. Normal has taken America from a shining city on a hill to a crowd with a few flashlights among them side stepping into the beams of the light and praying the few meager lights don't lose battery life before someone goes to the store to buy more, because then, we'd all end up groping around in the dark searching for the nearest wall upon which to lean.
I've decided I don't want to spend my days groping for walls or depending upon waning batteries. I want to do the unsafe things, because, He isn't safe after all.

Almost two weeks ago, I sat at a table with two people I loved and posed the question "What's the craziest thing you've ever done?" They answered. Today, I did something crazy...at least for me.
In an effort to overturn the latte, and to drink a little deeper from the cup of the called, I added a site to my practicum list to replace one that isn't taking students this semester. It isn't just any site...it's a children's hospice facility...
I've spent the past decade of my life mentoring young women and loving children in situations where life flourished. I've lost two very dear friends at the ages of 20 and 22 (a college brother and a roommate), but let me tell you, I've never held the hand of a dying child. I'm not saying that's what I'd be doing, but I am saying that from my "mother's heart" (figurative at this point), that's a risk...but a beautiful one.
See, Jesus didn't sit around sipping coffee waiting for someone else to get up and walk it out for Him,  He didn't wait for someone else to save that prostitute from stoning,  He saved her, or to call Lazarus from the grave, He did it , He didn't wait for someone else to take your whipping so that He could eat a "not so last" supper in peace. No. No...just no.
He is a Redeemer, a Lion, THE LION of the tribe of Judah (which means praise, for all who wonder).
He wasn't sitting in the coffee shop asking to sit beneath grace while you groped in darkness. He doesn't expect you (or me) to do the same while the world smacks into walls.
He IS gracious. He IS merciful, but, He is also HOLY, and MATCHLESS, and to be revered.
Additionally, I'll tell  you what He isn't...He isn't teddy bear, buttercream, coffee shop, Loving Him isn't safe, but He's good, and He cannot lie, but the truth is, He died to SAVE you and those who have yet to know Him. Turn on your flashlight, and put down your monopoly money.
Don't pass go, just do it.
 Romans 12:1-2
~Courtney