No Regrets

When I got down here to Lakeland, one thing I was hoping to keep quiet for a while was the fact that I am a musician, playing both the guitar and bass. It worked for a while. But I accidentally let it slip one evening as I was talking with the Youth Pastor from our church. I'm now playing the bass for the youth/young adult praise band. I even was asked to fill in for the absent regular bass man in the main sanctuary, in front of nearly a thousand!

But, God so cool. Since I've been playing, I have been asked to go to the Bahamas for a big youth convention called Caribfest, as part of the music team, playing the bass guitar. I have never been on a missions trip, and I am so excited about it!

I have to admit, it will be weird being away from my wife and kids, even if only for a few days. I'll be in another country. Historically, these kinds of opportunities don't come my way. But this one has, and I feel that God is in it.

I know not everyone feels the same way. I talked with my dad tonight, and I was telling him about the opportunity to go. He wasn't too thrilled. Not that he thinks anything bad will happen. His response to going to there on a missions trip was, "Why not just go help rebuild a Katrina house in New Orleans if that is the kind of thing you into?", or something like that. To me, that is the kind of attitude that keeps people securely on the ground next to the mountain and viewing it from there, rather than strapping the climbing gear on and tackling the challenge. I'm not content to just go through life ignoring the God-given opportunities and "surviving". I don't want to survive, I want to thrive!

This gave me a little poke tonight that reminded me that a God-call is a sending call. God doesn't call us to just hold down the fort till Jesus comes back, but to be soldiers of Christ that advance on the powers of hell with the Gospel of Christ, seeing the captive sinner freed. He calls us to be faith-walkers. He calls us to be holy risk-takers, like Jonathan, Saul's son who defeated the Philistines with simply his armor-bearer at his side. His only thought? "Perhaps God will move!"

I am reminded of something Pastor Mark Batterson of NCC in Washington DC said: at the end of our lives, it won't be the things we did, but wish we hadn't done that we'll regret. It will be the things we felt called to do, but never did, that will haunt us. I don't want to get to the end of my life when it's too late and have any "what if's". This trip is one of those things that I know I would regret not doing till I die should I stay home for those few days.

So, don't let anything stop you from that thing you feel God is calling you to do. Let loose, and do it with all your heart, mind and soul!

God bless!