The Invitation!

So my hot wife surprised me with one of the best birthday gifts of my entire life the other week. As I began to open what I thought was a shoe box with a new pair of shoes, I quickly realized it was just a diversion tactic to make me 'think' it was a new pair of shoes. Inside the box was a letter that said "Happy Birthday! Your birthday gift is a weekend adventure of whitewater rafting in West Virginia." I was freakin' out! What a wonderful gift. Rachel thought it would be good to get my mind off the fact that our house still had not sold and this would be the perfect adventure. She couldn't have been more on point. So my wife and I and the kids left that weekend and took off for West Virginia to tackle one of the world's best whitewater rafting trips, the Upper Gauley. You can google it if you want, but it is one of the most dangerous whitewater rafting trips in the world. There are over 40 rapids including 5 class V which are the toughest. As a matter of fact, one of the class V is called "Pillow Rock" and is the most photographed class V rapid in the world. So needless to say, this trip was amazing. It was an incredible adventure filled with easy waters and hard waters, laughter and fear, messing up and learning from our mess ups, falling out and getting back in, and so forth. Two things really struck me throughout this trip. One was the extreme importance of listening to our guide who was in the boat with us. He had been down the river numerous times and knew what He was doing. If we just followed his lead, everything was going to be cool regardless of what we faced. The other was that I got to share this adventure with my wife. Sitting next to her on the boat and experiencing the adventure with her with all it's unpredictability was so much better than if I had done it by myself.

Dallas Willard writes in his book, The Divine Conspiracy, "Jesus has invited us to make a pilgrimage - into the heart and life of God." The journey into the heart of life of God is nothing short of the greatest adventure we will ever be invited into. The adventure God invites us into leads to abundant life, just as God designed. No doubt there are times of easy and hard waters, laugher and fear, falling down and getting back up, but it's all a part of the adventure. Through it all we are formed into the image of God, which has always been our destiny. There are two things that stand out regarding the invitation. One is that it's accepted and embraced by following Jesus. Jesus' simple, yet life changing call throughout the gospels is to "follow me." Following Jesus is the collision of faith and obedience. The two can not be separated. We are beckoned to keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who perfectly demonstrated the life God intended for us to live and invites us to walk in his footsteps. The other reality is that the adventure is maximized when we share it with others. It's not that we "have" to experience the adventure together, we "get" to experience the adventure together. This is what the Church is all about. The people of God declaring the praises of God so that the world can see how much God loves them. Isn't the Church beautiful!!

I am so thankful that God has invited us to Himself. I am so thankful that He sent Jesus to allow us access to Himself. I am so thankful that Jesus perfectly demonstrated the life we were intended to live. I am so thankful that Jesus left his Holy Spirit to empower us to live fully into the adventure. And I am so thankful for the Church, my brothers and sisters in Christ, who I get to journey with into the heart and life of God. What an incredible God!!!!

Clint