Dive in and don't look back

"Christians are a lot like tea bags. They're  no good til they've been put through a little hot water."

That's a quote from my pastor that's the inspiration behind today's blog. :)

What does it mean exactly to be put through "a little hot water?" One thing I've noticed, in my own life specifically, is that I'm flat out TOO comfortable. I may not know my weekly schedule to a T, but I know a few concrete details. I know I'm going to school, work and church, several times that week. I know I'm going to laugh and talk, a lot. I know I'll check my devotionals on YouVersion, read my Bible, even just a little. I know I'm going to get on the Internet, I know I'm going to play Words with Friends, I know I'm going to sing, complain, speed, and gossip. Not saying all of these are wrong, but some of them are downright a complete WASTE of my time. I've gotten too comfortable. I need to be shaken, I need to be RADICAL. I need to be CHANGED, like I say I have been. 


Some of my favorite passages of scripture come from times when the men divinely inspired by God were writing from prisons, or caves, or seeking desperately for God's hand. Men who were facing extreme challenges, like Noah with the ark! Or Joshua after Moses died, leading people! Moses himself! David as a king, or as he fled for his life! Paul in prison, you catch my drift.


So, to make a long journey short, I've decided to dive in to a little hot water of my own. :) I've struggled with trust, obedience, and just the general feeling of "letting go, and letting God" for so long. And that's SO unfortunate! The disciples when they were called couldn't hesitate! They'd leave their families, their professions, their COMFORTABLE lifestyles, because that's what the change of coming to Christ REALLY looks like. A complete 180.


I met a guy named Tristan last summer, and something about his passion for serving Christ was so contagious. I soon realized it wasn't Tristan who was so inspiring, it was the God he was in love with. The same God I'd told myself for many years that I was in love with. He shook my core that summer, and continues to convict me daily. Anyway, Tristan had a certain tattoo on his forearm that I had to go immediately look up later one night. It's a verse somewhere in Luke, and it says something like this:

 "No one who puts their hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the service of the kingdom of God."

Man, was I humbled. How often I had looked back, and now, even still. I am unfit to serve God, and I always will be. But by His grace and unfailing Love for me, He uses me to serve. It's incredible to try to wrap my mind around it! I simply can't. The God of the universe wants to use ME? I'm in!


So, this summer presents a challenge of intense magnitude, and the reward? A life forever altered to look more like Christ's. I'm currently in the process of applying for passports as well as a trip to Africa with an organization called Visiting Orphans. That's all the details I have for it right now, but for those who read this, please pray for me, VO, and Africa whenever we come to mind. 


 My hand is to the plow, and I'm never looking back. Hot water, here I come. :)

Redeemed, JAS.