Today I got to see some pictures of my brother while he is at Army National Guard Basic Training. They were taken while he was at bible study in GA and it was great to see his face. It is amazing to see how God works in peoples lives and where he does. No doubt has it been rough having him gone not only for me but especially for his amazing wife and hilarious son. What I love about the God I serve is the fact that he is able to, simultaneously, comfort a husband and wife who are some 2000 miles apart who are missing each other. I look at how Paul was 800 miles away from his dear friends at Philippi and was able to find comfort and joy through the relationship they had in Christ.
When God calls us to “Jump First, Fear Later”, as Mike Yaconelli said, there are great cost and it makes us uncomfortable. God has, in my life, done some amazing things when I realize how inadequate I am and how sufficient he is. We do fail sometimes and in my case many times, but the ability to get back up and fight for the heart of our King is worth it. My favorite quote is by a man I respect a lot, Theodore Roosevelt:
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
It is very easy for us to stand on the sideline and say I believe and I will go where you call me to. But it is another to be on the front line fighting. My prayer for you and me is that we would daily get in the arena and fight. Not worrying about the cost and pain but focusing on the prize that Christ has for us.
