Am I running?

Someone, whom I love and respect, once told me that those who travel are running from something. I thought about this for days, being a travel junkie, I had never thought of why I felt the need to go. Was I running? I have been blessed with the opportunity to talk politics in a family wine cellar in Switzerland, dance all night in the Vienna underground, sail the Greek islands, watch fairy penguins march in Australia, eat more pasta than should be humanly possible in Italy, and stood in awe as the fall fireworks filled the sky over Charles bridge in Prague. So many sunrises, sunsets, and experiences all of which I will never forget. Once back from memory la la land my answer finally came…at first, yes. I was running from expectations, relationships, love, God, my call. So many of us are running or hiding from our true calling or fear of failure in that calling. For some its travel others it’s staying in a job you know is not right or perhaps it’s busying yourself working, volunteering, or over-planning your own life so that you can avoid Gods plan. Are we afraid that the Lord will give us something horrible to do or is it we are afraid of how great our calling could be?

If you know the Lord at all you know that he will meet you wherever you are-and for me, it was where I always was…on a trip. God started using the time that I was away, out of my daily routine to heal me. Through sunsets, mountaintops, and the amazing people I encountered in my travels he slowly and methodically knocked down the walls, repaired the hurt, and introduced me to a new relationship with him. It was there, at the height of adventure that I got a glimpse of his face and will never be able to turn back.

I know that life will have its ups and downs and faith will prove difficult (and it already has) but I am excited. All that I have experienced in my travels has prepared me for the adventure that is having a relationship with the Lord. I am ready for a life that is crazy, unpredictable, and dangerous- a life that I feel, as Christians, we were designed to live. I am a child of God and I should follow him with reckless abandonment and childlike faith. Although God will use your time "running" to teach and strech you, we need to be willing and ready to give up the plans we have for our lives and take up the will and adventure that God has. Saying all that to say my life is not my own and the only running I'm doing is towards the Lords plan for my life, wherever that may take me...

Matthew 10:39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.