family

I grew up as your typical “church kid.” There was never a week that we missed going if we were in town. We had to be really sick to stay home.

I never knew anything different than getting up Sunday morning and getting dressed in your nice clothes and heading off the church. I knew that not everyone did that, but I thought they were the ones who were strange. My family was the normal in my books.

Because church was such a regular part of my family life, I have very few memories of childhood that don’t relate to church. My life revolved around Sunday school, kid’s clubs, youth groups. And I enjoyed most of it.

There were times growing up when I wondered what it would be like to not go to church. I thought maybe I’d try that when I was an adult and could choose for myself. But, then that point in my life came and I chose to stay. Church had become my extended family and I didn’t want to leave.

I grew up in a great family, surrounded by parents, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, but church had become a larger family to me. One that my biological family was a part of. And I’ve learned that when you have that kind of blessing in your life you shouldn’t too easily let it go.

My work with a ministry that reaches out to the outcasts of western society has driven this point home for me over and over again. The homeless, the addicted, and the mentally ill are often left to face the world by themselves, without their family by their side. And seeing this each day makes me even more appreciative of my biological family and make me hold tighter to the extended family I have found in my church. With them on my side, I’m confident that I’ll never have to face the world alone.

When you have people to walk beside you, life seems so much easier. When I need advice or encouragement or a push to get moving again, my extended family at church is there to do just that. And I’m learning that I need them much more than I ever would have thought.

Sometimes it just seems like I need a person who isn’t related to me biologically to look at something in my life and give me their opinion. If they don’t have a personal interest outside of being my friend, then can show me things I didn’t notice and that people closer to the situation wouldn’t point out. Since this is my extended church family, I can be sure that they still have my best interests in mind. I don’t have to question their motives.

Growing up as your typical “church kid” is something I’m glad I have in my background. I feel like my life is richer for the people church has brought into my life. I really don’t want to imagine what my life would be like without it, because I feel like there would be some gaping holes I wouldn’t know how to fill.

conquering fear

“Just take the first step,” she called from below.

I wasn’t sure how I managed to get up to this point. I didn’t remember climbing the ladder, but I was the start of a high ropes obstacle course. Harnessed in and 20 feet off the ground. I hate anything that takes me up so high.

“You just have to start. You can do it,” she called again from below.

I almost looked down, but knew if I did that I would never get started.

Cautiously I took the first step onto the rope I was supposed to walk on. My hands tightly gripped the guide ropes to keep me balanced. With my second step everything started shaking. Each step got more challenging as the rope swayed more. My hands couldn’t grip the rope they were holding tightly enough. A few more steps and then my foot slipped. I didn’t fall, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue.

“Don’t give up. Just get your foot back  on the rope and keep going,” she encouraged from below.

I knew I couldn’t turn around on the narrow rope to get back to where I started and I wasn’t going to try to do it backwards either. I kept moving forward. This wasn’t so bad after all. I decided I could do this.

I finished walking the rope part. Next came a swinging wooden bridge. Conquered that. A balance beam. That high up? A single guide rope to hold onto. Slow and shaky steps, but I reached the end of it.

Then I reached the zipline. The last part of course. I froze again. Flying through the air? No way! I can’s do this. And from here, I could climb down and be done.

One more call of encouragement from below, “You’re almost done! You can do this!”

I was pretty sure I couldn’t, but she kept encouraging me. Finally, I closed my eyes and jumped. Well, more like I fell off the platform. A few seconds of falling before I was caught and then I sailed off the end. I couldn’t open my eyes until I reached the end. Feeling my feet hit solid ground was the greatest feeling in the world.

“See! I knew you could do it,” my friend exclaimed.

She was right. I had done it. I had faced my fears and done what I never thought I could do. It was so freeing! I have proved my inner thoughts wrong.

That day was my biggest life lesson on fear. Sometimes we just have to do it anyways. Stop letting fear keep you from trying. If I hadn’t put on the harness, if I hadn’t climbed up to the platform, if I hadn’t taken the first step, if I hadn’t kept going when I slipped, I never would have known the freedom of facing my fear and conquering it. There’s no better feeling I have found.

The same is true in all areas of our lives. We may be asked to do things that scare us to even think of trying. But, if we actually take the first step, we may just be surprised to find that we can do it. With each shaky, unsure step our confidence grows and before we know it we have done the thing we were most scared to do.

take a holiday?

Okay, I'm sitting here and just realized the clock says 11:45pm . . . meaning I only have 15 minutes left in the day I'm supposed to post something here. It's crazy how even just the first day off for holidays can mess with your schedule enough that you forget things. Sometimes change from the "normal" schedule does that.

I've been thinking a lot about our need for times we take a break lately. I think it come from realizing that it had been almost two years since I'd taken more than a day or two at a time for holidays. So now to have a week and a half off seems strange.

But, I'm learning that sometimes we need to take breaks from the busyness of daily life. We need time to rest. We need time to rejuvenate. Sometimes we just need a change from the everyday life we live for a few days.

At a leadership conference I was at last week, one of the speakers said, "you can't sprint for 6 months, but you can for 6 weeks." He was talking about it within the ares where we lead, but I started thinking about it in life in general. I can give something everything I have for a short, set period of time, but I can't do that indefinitely. I need breaks from doing that if I'm going to survive.

But I wonder if somehow in our culture today we've gotten ourselves mixed up on this and we're trying to sprint indefinitely. And when we discover we can't do that is when the catastrophic happens in our lives. Something that can take us out permanently.

Maybe that's why we need to once again embrace the importance of taking breaks - of taking holidays. You don't have to go somewhere and spend a lot of money to take a holiday. This holiday for me consists of lots of things I can do within an hours drive. But, I'm taking a break from most of my normal, everyday life. Somethings go on, but much of it is put aside right now. And I'm doing other things I don't always do.

It's what I needed. Maybe it's what you need to. To somehow figure out how to take a break - to rest, to rejuvenate. Not an endless break, we'd get bored then, but a break with a set end date. Time to remember why we do what we do each day and to be ready to jump back in with new energy.