Risk vs. Comfort

God’s a safe-house for the battered, a sanctuary during bad times. The moment you arrive, you relax; you’re never sorry you knocked.

- Psalm 9:9, THE MESSAGE

The verse above is the daily verse from www.upperroom.org/daily. To me this morning, it really speaks to me about where I have been lately--but it also is a challenge. You see, my experience of life as a disciple is one that is always pushing me forward, challenging me. I've never reached a point where I've felt, "Yes, that's enough." Always there are opportunities to grow, and I know that part of that growth is taking risks. Risks are hard though. Because they present you with the very real possibility of failure.

I guess one of the things you learn as you live (or if you're not learning this, you're probably not taking enough risks) is that failure isn't a dirty word. And at any rate, so often that which we might label "failure" isn't properly that.

This year my husband was planning to launch a big youth festival at the camp he runs. We had a lot of stuff right on target. But other things, some we couldn't control, have meant that this year that event won't happen. Which is sad. And we've really struggled in the past months to see what God wanted us to do, what we could do better, etc. This week is all came to a head and a decision had to be made. But we made it with the firm decision (and lots of plans already for how to do things differently) to hold it next year. We'll put together a planning team, rather than sourcing out as much planning, and also so people are really invested in it. We'll explore making it not just a youth event but also a young adult event. And I'm sure the planning team will come up with lots of other great ideas. It's really hard to see it fade for this year, but there's definitely a comfort in knowing that we haven't let it kill the original intent.

Looking back at my four years in Jefferson as I move forward, there are lots of things that succeeded, but at least as many things that didn't. Or some that just didn't quite meet expectations. There are some things I do perhaps wish we'd decided differently, but at the same time, the willingness to risk and take chances is a prime characteristic of any who would seek to do incredible things. You've got to know when to cut your lossses, but you can't let the fear of failure control you.

And that's where the sanctuary God provides gives any follower peace. See for the disciple, we must remember that we are not called to make ourselves comfortable or settled. God is our comfort. I don't mean that in a sappy Hallmark-moment kind of way. I mean that when things seem upside down and spun around, that's okay, because below, beside and around all that is God's loving embrace. Because of that, I think Christians ought to be model risk-takers! Not reckless, but risk takers in that we're willing to try new things, go new places, and try new things because we know that "nothing - nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, 39 high or low, thinkable or unthinkable - absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us." (Romans 8:38-39, THE MESSAGE)

This assurance we have of God's loving presence and sanctuary should never be a justification for staying still or playing it safe. Rather, it should call us to boldly live out the risk-taking, God-relying life that yes, does sometimes mean we don't succeed as wonderfully as we hoped, but always puts us in perilous places where God's amazing power and burst forth.