Take the Leap
“Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters, since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ.”
I was impressed the day former President George H.W. Bush went skydiving on his 90th birthday. Bush lived an interesting and challenging life. He was a war hero. After the war, he and his wife, Barbara, could have slipped into a wealthy, comfortable life in the family business. But no, they chose to create their own life by moving from the North East to Texas and started in the oil business. The rest, as they say, is history.
By the time George H.W. Bush reached his 90th birthday, he had nothing to prove. I mean, he was even the most powerful man in the world, at one point in his life. I believe he chose to jump out of that plane to remind himself that he was still alive and adventure is ageless. He wasn’t going to let his age get in the way of living life to the fullest. Sure, his age did have limitations; for example, he jumped out of that plane harnessed to another jumper. This jumper was able to buffer Bush’s impact upon landing. Bush found adventure amidst his limitations.
Our task is to jump into our own adventure as well. Almost all of us have limitations of one sort or another. But those limitations should not close our eyes to the opportunities that remain in our lives. We can spend so much time focusing on what we cannot do that we forget all that we can still accomplish. A 90-year-old former President could still hurdle through the sky, and you and I can still do adventurous things.
I see it in the individuals who help new immigrants with their vegetable plot at God’s Garden. I see it with those who provide food at JOPPA, the Shelter, and Monroe Elementary. I see it with church school teachers, who offer faith to young ones. You do not have to dive out of an airplane to have an adventure. Within your limitations, find something that lights your soul on fire and makes you bounce out of bed in the morning! That is what God created us to be: adventurous, excited children of God who are expectantly looking for the next great moment in this extraordinary life of ours.
