Leap of Faith

I remember when the kids were young and jumping was an accomplishment. They were so proud because they did it! As I go through life I notice that the feeling of joy-filled-fear stemming from a jump is just as awesome as its always been. The jump as an adult is risk. Risk is scary, but exciting all in one. After my first son was born I worked, and worked hard. I didn’t go to church, even though Wife #1 had started. I got curious and finally broke down and went. (after football season was over) I started to realize that the more I went to church the more the messages were geared toward me personally. I even accused #1 of passing information to the Pastor, which she didn’t. I realized that after a while this “God” thing was really real. It was scary, as soon as I really decided that I, at a core soul level believed all this stuff about Jesus….well… things just changed. After a while of looking into this Jesus stuff and figuring out who this God fellow was I really felt like I was supposed to be involved in a role of some kind, involving church and youth programs. Over the course of the last 15 years of my life I have eased my way into serving with the Church, but like dipping my toe into the pool. Wanting to be there but not really get wet. There were at least 6 different occasions where I was clearly drawn to serve in an area in a full time capacity but was too scared. This last trip to Haiti really allowed me the time to look at my life and what I was doing with it. Sure I was doing Stand-up Comedy and making people laugh, and sure I was leading these Mission Trips to Haiti, but then I was going right back to work and conforming to the norm. With all the previous trips there was no time for me to really even absorb the impact they had on me. Some people will see this as impulsive, but I argue that I’ve waited 15 years for this. I was made for Missions, created to go into places where they need Jesus. With that we bring love and laughter and community with people we had never met, but after one encounter will never forget.

That’s right. I’m leaving my job. I’m risking it all. I believe this is what I was made to do….and exactly what “this is” remains to be seen. This is not a decision you sit down and do a Pro/Con list on. This boils down to three questions.

1. Do I believe in God?

2. Do I believe that the Missions field and Youth Ministry are where I need to be?

The last question is the one that kinda separates the last 15 years of my life and the rest of my life.

3. Do I trust God enough to take care of my every need and responsibility on the other side of this jump.

In years past I dont know if I would have known how to answer that question or if I would have really known what it meant. But today I do.

With a resounding yes I, Faithfully and fearlessly jump out of the conformed mold into the Real Josh who doesn’t really fit a mold and doesn’t need answers because looking for all the answers will have me looking instead of doing.

Growing up my dad would tell me to jump to him in the pool and he would catch me. I would run and jump with everything I had and indeed he would catch me. Sometimes I would take on some water and maybe even belly flop and it would sting, but in the end he always caught me when he said jump. Time to Turn The World Upside Down. God help us all.

If this the first post you’ve read then spend a minute and check out the first few to see what led up to this- CLICK HERE