Daring Life

For wanderers, dreamers, and lovers, for lonely men and women who dare to ask of life everything good and beautiful. It is for those who are too gentle to live among wolves.~ James Kavanaugh

This is an excerpt from the book "There are Men Too Gentle To Live Among Wolves", an excerpt sent to me by a friend. These two sentences encapsulate my emotion well.

I said good by to many this week who are "daring to ask of life everything good and beautiful". These are the people who have strengthened me, challenged me and walked through life with me since my return in January. They are people who were willing to wake early to catch the sunrise, willing to go on crazy adventures through the woods, and willing to be vulnerable as we share our hearts.  These gentle people are the ones who feel, they are not naive of the world's trembling hands. The gentle ones listen to words, yet hear the heart behind each syllable.

This morning was spent with a dear friend of mine I met two years ago while at Victory Bible Camp in Sutton, Alaska. We made our way through Estes Park, for me the first time being in Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. The mountains were still wearing their glistening snow crowns. We climbed an area of the park to Alberta Falls. This climb included sliding down snow laden trails, leaping from boulder to boulder bare foot, and stringing up my hammock by the roaring falls. I was able to reflect upon an incredible gift God has given me called life.

The past few weeks have not been easy. Some places I have avoided, others I could easily have been mistaken for living there. I have rushed, drifted, and worried the days away until I left for a short vacation before reaching YWAM Las Vegas for the summer. I have had many good-byes; the hardest ones reminding me I found something good.

All of it is reminding me how mundane I often created life to be. The precious moments are lost. The
pure love of a two year old holding out a dandelion is overshadowed by the bug ridden weed shoved in your face. I suppose even if Jesus had a car He would still walk, taking in every strange person, site, smell, taste and feel. He knew how to look at the person before Him, not simply the body before Him. Jesus dared the times to be different. He spoke to the outcasts and diseased. He dared physics and walked on water. He dared math and fed thousands with two fish and five loaves. He dared life to be something greater than mundane.

Unfortunately, unlike Jesus I cannot make some grand commission, remind my disciples of who I am and elevate into the sky. I can only give my finale lectures to the kids ("Make good choices!" "Wear sunscreen!" "Drink lots of water and eat fruit!"), remind my family of who they are to me and fly off into the sky.

I may find myself wondering, dreaming, loving and lonely, but I will choose to seek out of God a life dripping of freedom. Then the day will come, when He decides I have lived among the wolves for too long. He will take me home to the place I have wondered and dreamed about, a place my soul yearns for. Until I am taken, I will choose to surround myself with those who also dare to ask of life everything good and beautiful.

Current location: Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Departing: June 3 for Las Vegas, Nevada.