Are You Safe?

When I was a kid, my family used to attend Family Camp at Covenant Beach in Des Moines, WA (the camp was sold years ago in order to purchase the land where Cascades Camp is now).
The camp was located in a long, narrow valley that opened onto Puget Sound.

One of the areas of special interest to me and my friends was a clay cliff face along the beach. It was on the other side of a wooden, rail fence -- that only made it more enticing to a young boy!  We would spend hours digging into the side of the cliff in order to make hand and foot holds so that we could navigate our way across it while high above the beach below (I would guess that it was maybe 20 feet up, but it might as well have been 100 to my young mind).  One summer I remember that a kid brought some fire crackers in order to do some "blasting"!  Talk about AWESOME!!

I honestly don't recall whether we were breaking an official rule or not, but there was a sense of danger and "forbidden adventure" in playing there.  It made us feel alive as we tempted fate and our dexterity high above the rocky beach.

Most of us have these kinds of memories of risk and excitement when we were kids.  But few of us live lives of excitement as adults.  Why is that?  Is it simply a matter of being mature and acquiring a degree of discernment?  Is our life supposed to be an endless sameness as if we're Captain Kirk giving the command, "Steady as she goes, Mr. Sulu"?  Sounds boring and nothing like Jesus promised in John 10:10.

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"A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. 
I came so they can have real and eternal life, 
more and better life than they ever dreamed of."

I'm not advocating rebellion or being irresponsible, but we can be missing out on that promised "more and better life" while we play it safe.  A life following Jesus will take us into the unknown and certainly far beyond the "same 'ole, same 'ole". 


Join us this Sunday, September 8th, as we begin a new series we're calling "Reckless Faith".  God's got so much more waiting for you if you're willing to climb over the fence!