TENTS

A while back I was working a Saturday shift at the REI. A guy came in and asked if I knew anything about setting up tents. I thought it was an odd question given the store we were in but I answered him affirmatively. He went on to vaguely describe a four season, two person, mountaineering tent that was designed for Denali. He said he had not been able to figure out how to set it up and wanted someone to help him get it straight so he would be able to do it on his own. He brought the tent in and we proceeded to set it up in the store, as we did he told me the story behind the tent.

It turns out he bought the tent about five years prior to coming in the store that day. When he got it home he tried to set it up but had some difficulty with it, put it away and had not used it since. By the way, the day he walked in it was in the first couple of days in July and we were on the verge of a record setting heat wave. So here I have a guy with a tent that is made for extreme conditions in the mountains and it has never been set up beyond his backyard because he cannot figure out how to properly use it. I could not help but think, what a waste. To have that kind of equipment and never use it even remotely close to its potential, to never use it for its intended purpose. Then I thought how much am I like that with God??

As followers of Christ we have both the responsibility and the capacity for extraordinary demonstrations of a Christ centered life - things like: extravagant grace, reckless love, incomprehensible acts of service, just to name a few. Many times, however, we shortchange these biblical standards of excellence in our lives. We don’t want to take the time to have these lifestyle attributes molded into us, or we want to but there are so many other priorities that take precedent, or perhaps we are just not aware that they are needed. It is not until we are faced with a crisis that we realize we are forgiving with strings attached, or loving when it is convenient for us, or serving begrudgingly rather than cheerfully. Somehow many followers of Christ have become okay with doing exceptional acts with great mediocrity.

It is like boarding a jet to taxi two doors down and thinking it sure was a good thing the jet was there to go that far distance. The jet can go to a totally different continent but we are content to go two doors down. Its like owning a four season mountaineering tent and setting it up once in the backyard and then never setting it up again because we have forgotten how to set it up. As Christ followers, our actions and our attitudes in the world should be such that they are an improvement on the world, but we for one reason or another never get them beyond our backyard, or beyond our church.

Which tent set up do you think has a better story behind it?? This one... Or this one?? Which one would you want your life to look like?

That guy spent at least five hundred dollars for something a twenty dollar tent could do. We are only shortchanging ourselves when we don't pursue something deeper with God and for the world. We are only asking God for five minutes when he is the one who holds eternity in his hands. It has been said that some people believe that the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. I believe life is an adventure best lived on the front lines.

Just a Meandering Thought...