For What Its Worth

I have just finished reading Simon Guillebaud`s `For what its worth`. Simon has been a missionary in Burundi for 8 years, living through some pretty interesting, dangerous times. The book is essentally a call to radical discipleship, to complete surrender of your life to Jesus. The book brings out some interesting points, many of which i was contemplating when deciding to come to the DR Congo with Medair.

Following Christ was never meant to be easy, comfortable or safe. Its supposed to be tough, real and impacting.

`Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a 3 piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fabrics, choose DIY and wondering who you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind numbing, spirit crushing game shows, stuffing junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing yourself in a miserable home, nothing more than en embarassment to the selfish brats you`ve spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future.Choose LIFE`

This, of course, come from the closing scene of the cult film Trainspotting. Its raw and cynical and relfects the grim pessimism which embodies the films central character, Renton, a heroine addict. While this is not representative of most people lives in our modern society, his sentiments that life are meaningless resonate with many. His escape is drugs, to get away from the mundane, but what choices do we have?

The choice I was confronted with was to follow Jesus, to really follow and trust my life to him. To go to the Congo or not. Either that, or settle, settle for less than what God had for me. Many Christians fall into this trap. They turn up for a church on a Sunday, they live a comfortable life but they are not fulfilled in their relationship with Christ, they complain and wonder why? My hope for myself, and for you, is that we can live a life where opportunites are seized, gifts maximised, risks taken, obstacles overcome, storms weathered, people impacted, and most importantly, our calling is filled.Choosing life involves embracing and enjoying Gods awesome creation and the opportunities life presents us with. As followers of Jesus, we have the choice to embrace or reject a life of puropse, fulfilment, meaning and challenge. Are we going to settle for the safety of existing, where life is comfortable, or will we choose to embark on the adventure of really living. Jesus is calling each one of us. will you say no or will you say yes?