2024: Grab Your Parachute!

 

“Maybe sometimes it’s riskier NOT to take a risk. Sometimes all you’re guaranteeing is that things will stay the same.” Danny Wallace

 

In 2024, I want to be like Dorothy Hoffner. Last October 4^th this 104-year-old Chicago woman jumped 13,500 feet from a plane to take a chance of becoming the oldest person to tandem skydive. She ditched her walker to skydive, and it wasn't even her first freefall. She first skydived four years ago on her 100^th birthday, but she wanted a redo because, she said, she didn’t want to be pushed out of the plane…she wanted to lead the jump. On October 4^th, she did just that. Hoffner tumbled out of a plane while 13,500 feet in the air, strapped to an instructor. White hair billowing in the wind, she parachuted down to a grass landing area. “Age is just a number,” Hoffner told a cheering crowd. After cheers and congratulations from friends and family, she was handed back her red walker.  

  Unlike Dorothy Hoffner, too many of us essentially live in a rut. Someone defined a rut “as a grave with both ends kicked out.” Here are some risks that I wish people would consider taking in 2024.  

  Get out of your safe zone and check out if what the Bible says about God and going to heaven is true. I have many friends who’ve decided that they don’t believe there is a God, and that this world is basically a machine. They believe that this life is it…when you die, you die. Many of them are well educated and very intellectual. Most of them are good people who sincerely care about others.

  Maybe they have but if they haven’t, in 2024 I wish that they’d check the evidence out for themselves. What I’m asking isn’t big, it’s just reading the four biographies of Jesus in the New Testament for themselves – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. My concern is that so many have swallowed what they have been taught and never checked it out for themselves. If they did, maybe they’d come to the same conclusion…yet I know of so many that once they actually read the Bible for themselves with an open mind, were overwhelmed with who Jesus is, how much God loves them and that He cares for them and their deepest needs. So, if you’re a skeptic, in 2024, please take a risk – take the time and check out the evidence for yourself.
  Get out of your safe zone and check out whether what you believe about going to heaven is what God says in the Bible. One of the most frightening statements you’ll ever hear is: I think that God is like… And when someone dies, most of their friends and family aren’t honest about where they actually are. Someone could have blown off God all of their lives. Often the only time they mention God’s name is as a swear word but in the end, according to the conventional wisdom no matter how you live, everyone goes to heaven. Listening to these conversations, you’d almost think that they’d give Hitler a pass.
  Yet, since heaven is God’s Home and He created it, shouldn’t He set the standards for who lives in His Home. God is loving but He’s not stupid.
  What Dad would sacrifice his only child for someone else, particularly an enemy. Yet, that’s exactly what God did when He sacrificed His Son, Jesus, on the cross for the sins of the world. Do any of us really believe that we could somehow pay God back for such an unbelievable sacrifice by being good, going to church, being a nice person…at our best we’re all still a big mess. So, if you’re religious but trusting what you think or have been taught, yet never checked out what God actually says in His Word about going to heaven, check out whether you are right.
  The Book of Romans was written by Paul, a very religious guy who believed he was going to heaven because he was so religious. He found out he was dead wrong. Why not check out what Paul wrote and see if you’re right? In 2024, do some biblical fact checking for yourself.
  Get out of your safe zone and take a step forward spiritually. Isn’t it amazing that those of us who know that we’re going to live with Jesus for eternity are often focused on temporal changes rather than spiritual and what are eternally significant changes? Perhaps it’s a sinful habit that you’ve been rationalizing about. Clinging to it is causing you to limp spiritually and withholding God’s best for your life. This is the year to repent and replace it with what God wants you to do.
  Perhaps there are some spiritual habits that you know that you need to make part of your daily life, yet you keep procrastinating. Maybe it’s regularly reading your Bible, instead of just on Sundays when you’re at church. Maybe it’s committing to increase your prayer life or becoming more faithful in your church attendance or even joining a small group Bible study. So, if your spiritual life is like a rocking chair and not really going anywhere because some things need to change, make 2024 your year!
  Get out of your safe zone and make what for you is a leap of faith. One of my heroes in the Bible is Caleb. When everyone else was shaking in their sandals in fear of the giants, Caleb with Joshua was singing a duet of “We can do it! We can do it!” When God finally brought Israel into the Promised Land, Caleb was 85-years-young. Rather than sitting out and saying, “I’m old. It’s someone else’s turn,” Caleb is biting on the bit to take new territory. Even though there were giants there, Caleb said, “I want that mountain.” Caleb was a man of faith who’d have gone after Moby Dick in a rowboat with a bottle of tartar sauce.
  That’s who I want to be. That’s what I long for our church to be. Maybe for you it’s inviting that neighbor or co-worker to church? Maybe it’s sharing the gospel with that one you’ve been praying for that they will come to Jesus…and God is sending you? Maybe it’s giving so it tightens your budget a bit? Maybe it’s serving in a ministry where you’re not a natural or you’re nervous? It’s time for the people of faith to step out in faith. It’s time to dream big because we have a BIG God and go big!
  In 2024, I’m packing my parachute! How about you? Let’s stop playing it safe and take some risks!

Can we help you spiritually? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

 

Playing it safe is DANGEROUS!

“When you play it too safe, you’re taking the biggest risk of your life. Time is the only wealth we’re given.”  Barbara Sher

  Periodically, I’ll joke that I’m at an age when I don’t even buy green bananas. Most of us, as we grow older, begin to play it safer and safer. We don’t want to take risks. We forget that life itself is a risk.

  Organizations and institutions, even churches, can give into this foolishness of playing it safe. Organizations that desperately need to grow – sometimes just to survive – choose “safe” new leaders from the inside. They promote from within, though it’s obvious they’ve succumbed to the “Peter Principle” (The “Peter Principle” is a concept in management theory first formulated by Laurence J. Peter that people are often promoted one level above their competency). They don’t promote because of abilities, they promote because the candidate is safe. It’s why we elect incumbents election after election, even though they’re ineffective…but they’re safe.

  Too many couples play it safe in their marriages. It’s why they have a so-so marriage. They’ve settled for being miserable but it’s not bad enough to get divorced. They continually bemoan how bad their marriage is. Yet, suggest that they go see someone to get help and you’ll hear, “Well, it’s not that bad.” Or, “My spouse will never go.” Relationships are like a mobile. If you change just one thing on the mobile, everything else must adapt. It’s like re-arranging the furniture in a room. If you move the furniture around, everything has to adjust. Too many marriages are like a well-worn script. But if just one partner changes the script, the other partner must change too. It doesn’t make sense to play it safe if you’re miserable.

  Too many parents play it safe with their children. If most of us saw another parent doing what we habitually do, we’d be appalled. It often starts very young with what they want to eat or do. The child pitches a fit. To keep peace, the parent capitulates. If a parent finally does do something, it’s often because they’ve become exasperated and are reacting in anger, but then the parent feels guilty. A parent has all of the power. Parenting is not about playing it safe. The biblically commanded goal for Christian parents is godly children. It’s amazing that we know what it takes to educate children, yet would rather play it safe when it comes to their souls.

  Too many parents play it safe with their adult children. As your child becomes an adult, your role changes to a friend rather than a parent. Yet, a parent of an adult child has a vested interest – often this young adult is raising a grandchild. Playing it safe is unwise for that grandchild’s soul.

  Grandchildren love to stay at their grandparent’s home and most parents are willing to let them to get a break. It’s not complicated. Have them stay over on a Saturday night and bring them to church with you the next day.

  If you have a single adult child who’s relocated and not part of a church family, when you visit – ask them to attend church with you. At the very least, as you would with any other friend, have a conversation with them about their spiritual direction. Way too much is at stake to play it safe!

  Too many Christians play it safe with lost friends. If someone is truly my friend that means I really care about them. Shouldn’t I care about their eternal destiny? How can we say we really care about someone and never have a conversation about eternity? If that same friend were drunk would we let them get behind the wheel of a car and be silent? No way!

  God did not call us to a “safe” life. Playing it safe is b-o-r-i-n-g. It’s the slow soggy death of sameness. Playing it safe is like picking vanilla when you go to Baskin & Robbins, oblivious that there are some 30 other flavors. Playing it safe is going the same way to work every day, going on vacation to the same place, going to the same restaurants, even going to the same church service and sitting in the same seat. It means you have the same style of clothes you’ve always had, listen to the same music, and watch the same shows. And you get upset when something changes that you can’t control in your safe little life. 

  The Christian life is one of risk and adventure. Churches and ministries who stay the same eventually become mausoleums, and then they have to change. While our beliefs based on Scripture must never change, the application of them in a rapidly changing culture must continually adapt. Believers who settle for safe miss out on God’s best. What a waste to commiserate about the good old days, yet never take a risk to invest in the present. It’s hypocritical to complain about modern day young people but refuse to invest in helping them mature and become more Christlike.

  At 62, J.R.R. Tolkien published the first volume of his fantasy series, Lord of the Rings. At 81, Bill Painter became the oldest person to reach the 14,411-foot summit of Mt. Rainier. At 95, Nola Ochs became the oldest person to receive a college diploma. At 96, Harry Bernstein published his first book, The Invisible Wall, three years after he started writing to cope with loneliness after his wife of seventy years, Ruby, passed away. At 100, Frank Schearer seems to be the oldest active water skier in the world. Because the real question is “Why not?” If you wait until you’re ready you may wait forever. Step out on faith, trust God, trust yourself and leap. 

  So what will you tell yourself in 10 or 20 years? Or, when they share your eulogy, will they share what a boring person you ended up becoming? More importantly, what will you say at the Bema when the Lord asks why you stopped taking risks and settled for safe? God did not call us to be safe! 

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.