Anything But Safe

Image courtesy of James Baker / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I’m a huge Narnia fan…I’ve read the series several times, and we own all the movies that have been released so far.  By far, one of my favorite scenes is the conversation in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe between Lucy and Mr. Beaver about Aslan…

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good…”

In the past few months, things have been changing a lot for me.  I knew that God was getting ready to do something, to move me in a new direction.  He started  giving me new dreams and goals, and bringing back to the forefront dreams that I had pushed aside years ago.  He’s been making things even clearer the past couple of weeks.

I’m excited…but I’m also shaking in my boots.  Scared out of my mind.  Absolutely terrified.  I’m standing on the brink of huge new God-sized dreams, and I’m thinking to myself, “You have lost your mind.  You’re insane.  What on earth were you thinking?”  But I think that’s exactly what God wants.

I think we’ve made a terrible mistake in our Christian walk.  God has called to us to dream big, to be world changers – but we think He’s simply called us to be safe.  God is anything but safe.  He’s good…but He’s never safe.  Abraham wasn’t safe when he left his homeland to follow a God he’d never known before.  Joseph wasn’t safe when he was sold into slavery.  The disciples certainly weren’t safe when they gave up everything to follow Jesus.  But they chased their dreams anyway – and they changed the world.

If our dreams aren’t leaving us feeling at least a little scared, they’re probably not big enough.  College still scares me almost every day.  After I graduate, one of my dreams is to go on short-term medical missions trips.  Am I excited?  Yes!  But the thought of leaving my family for 10 to 14 days and flying off to a foreign country leaves me a little nervous.  As I take the first steps toward some of the other dreams God is speaking to me about, I’ve found myself literally shaking as I forge ahead.  I believe that God is going to honor my steps of obedience, especially in the face of my fears.  My fears are laced with a lot of excitement about where He’s going to take me.

Are you ready to take steps toward God-sized dreams?  I would love to chat with you.

What’s your big dream – the one that leaves you shaking with both excitement and fear?