The Story of Go

As I am sitting pretty in my 33rd year of life I find myself considering the life of another 33 year old who had a story not that much different from my own... except for maybe the fact that he was a guy # 1, he lived over 2000 years ago half way across the world, he was homeless, he wasn't really worried about people liking him, he was friends with some major outcasts, he said way radical things that made him kinda unpopular and kinda intriguing all at once, he had way more followers at times in the physical world than I presently do on Instagram, and well he changed the face of all humanity, including my life and yours with one act of obedience on a cross, his death. He died... at 33. And when he miraculously rose 3 days later and appeared to his closest followers he had a simple commission, "Go and make disciples of all nations..." (Matthew 28:19)

Jesus was one interesting fella. And as I have drawn closer to Him over the past few years, reading his word, reading the exact words that came out of his mouth and being faced with the same questions his disciples were 2000 years ago, like "is this guy for real??" I have found my answer to be yes. And while I am pretty certain that there are a great many things we are all going to struggle to understand about what to do with what he said this side of heaven I know that we have to try our best. But when I look at what the bible says about life and how to live it, I find a harsh contrast in not just my own life but in what we are being told by the world around us. 

I have spent the past two years as a youth group leader for a small group of teenage girls. And while I can see it in their hearts that we are training and instructing a group of solid girls that long to please the Lord I fear for the hopes and dreams that are being compromised by the culture and society we live within and substituted for something far less than what we were masterfully designed to become. And worse, they are being told that this should be enough. We should be happy and content and satisfied by a life serving ourselves.

I realize that each and every person's "go" is different. But my prayer is that, young or old, we take the time to consider our story with a God perspective. I pray that we don't get caught up and compromised in a mis-formed mold. And my goal on this 33rd year of my life is to inspire change in the hearts of young girls by encouraging a shift in perspective. Not to something new, but something old, 2000 years old. I am embarking on a journey to search out those stories of people living outside society's current mold and taking the word of Jesus seriously when he challenged his disciples, and you and I, to simply "go".

This is the Story of Go.