DARE TO LIVE

I've always been a pretty adventurous girl. Recently God reminded me just how much of an adventurer I was as a child. I was an only child so most of my adventures were just me and God...but sometimes I incorporated my friends too. I used to climb to the top of the tallest trees and spend hours there praying and looking at the sunset. I would spend hours in the lake with goggles and a snorkel making friends with the fish feeding them tortilla chips. A couple times we became so friendly that I would catch the fish with my bare hands and put them in a bucket and run inside spilling over with excitement to announce my victory. My friends and I used to camp out in the backyard all the time making a tent out of the hammock by draping it with blankets for sleepovers under the stars and next to the water. I indeed use to have Africa parties. I still have the photos to prove it...somewhere. My friends and I would wrap ourselves up in exotic printed materials we bought complete with a perfectly formed turban and earthy jewelry and go out into the woods and model african style, listen to African music, research some interesting fact about africa and eat lots of tropical fruits. I remember making sketches of how I was going to decorate my room like a full on jungle with vines and trees and wild animals. I remember riding horses at top speed so fast you just feel like you're more like soaring on the horse rather than riding a horse with a friend on their big piece of property out in the country. We would jump the creeks, and big rocks and ditches without any hesitation and with the feeling that we were so free and unstoppable. I will always remember that feeling and though I've tried to recreate that horse riding experience in my adulthood I've never quite managed to do it. By age 3, I was already an expert at catching small garden lizards and was so fascinated by them. At age 5, I caught one during our class field trip to the park. The teachers told me I had to leave it at the park but I've also always been a pretty determined person. I decided I was going to keep my lizard; I had caught it after all. So I hid it under my shirt and held it in place by covering it with my hands on the outside of my shirt. It was the perfect pose of someone with a stomach ache which I lied and said I had. When I got to school, I went to the bathroom and quickly put the lizard into my backpack. I knew it would be safe til I got home. That is until the unthinkable happened. We were in the classroom and one of the girls let out a roaring scream. Within what seemed like an instant complete chaos had broken out and children were shouting and crying and running around like there was a fire. Not all adventures go as planned, but still I think it was a successful scheme. I also remember when I was learning to ride a bicycle. I got pretty good at it. I got so good that I thought I should definitely try riding it without holding the handle bars. I got pretty good at that too. Wanting to take my risk taking up a notch, I thought hey I should definitely try tackling these speed bumps in our apartment complex without hands. The first one went pretty well. The second one however was a speed bump at the top of a very steep and very far down hill. Im talking a very big hill. I'm not sure what happened except that I along with my bicycle made it most of the way down the hill apart from each other and I ended up with a lot of blood on my clothes and missing both of my two front teeth. Not all adventures go as planned...

 I've always been a little bit daring and mischievous...certainly as a child (not all stories have been told here folks) and I think it has carried over into my adulthood. I love adventure. I love danger. I love knowing that I can push the limits and my Father is going to be with me no matter what and even if I crash and burn. This past year I experienced probably the hardest crash and burn I have yet in my life while on one of the greatest adventures I have ever attempted. Not all adventures go as planned. Sometimes in our quest and thirst for life and adventure we miss His voice and take a wrong turn. Mistakes are a part of life and God is so gracious and merciful. All in all, in my almost 30 years of living I'm learning that living adventurously is the only way to live. Its always best when we are hearing His voice and in step with Him in our adventures but occasionally we might get a little bit lost and that's okay as long as we learn from our mistakes. I have never tried to go over speed bumps on a bicycle since that toothless day, but I didn't stop living my dreams. I definitely didn't stop catching lizards after the classroom lizard fiasco but I did learn that it's probably best to respect what your teachers say. The thing is you live and learn but if you don't live because you're afraid of getting hurt then you'll never learn and you'll miss out on all the good stuff too. Most of my daring nature has ended up pretty well...I risked a lot and walked on water when Jesus and I decided to adopt a whole bunch of needy children and attempt to meet a lot of their basic needs and bring them home to the Father...I don't say that for any other reason than...Im thankful. Im thankful for the risk taker that Jesus is inside of me. I want my life to be marked by great risk. I want to be known as a risk taker...and I want to know myself as a risk taker. Its part of faith...and most importantly its part of knowing our Father. Even when we fall, he's there to pick us up. He puts people in our lives to take care of us. He never leaves us and He always loves and accepts us no matter what.

 So with just half a year left til I make it to 30 and on the first day of a brand new year, I just want life to know...that I haven't given up and I hope I never will. In spite of any fall, any crash, any burn and I've had some awesome ones... Im just getting started. I hope my 30's will be my most adventurous yet. I hope I will live them with whimsy spontaneity passion and risk like a woman in love with an amazing Creator. Thankfully since I have been adventurous up to now, I have a little wisdom to go along with all of that other stuff! :)

Here's to life friends! Seize the day! Run the race! Fight the good fight! Dare to Live a life alive and awakened ...and no matter how many wins or how many losses...always stay close to Him and
Never give up!

Here is Switchfoot's Dare you to Move!  Hope it inspires you.