Live Dangerously.

The other day I overheard a group of old people talking after church. I wasn’t really paying attention because I’m not nosy, but fortunately I happened to catch a few lines of their conversation. They’ve been bouncing around in my mind ever since and now they've landed here.

Ever since I was young, I've always thought I would do something great. I thought I was going to be the first black president (someone beat me to it), and fly fighter jets for the air force, and play in the NFL, all while being a successful stockbroker. I pretty much had it all worked out in my head. Even as a kid all that mattered was that I did something significant with my life, something that was going to leave an impact on the world, something that would remain long after I died. I never wanted to be ordinary… because honestly, nobody remembers ordinary people.

So about that conversation...  One of the old men remarked, “I don’t remember anywhere in Scripture where God says you have to wait for some church to give you a bunch of money before you go and do what He’s called you to do”. The conversation those old people had on Sunday reminded me of those childhood dreams. The snippet of their conversation reminded me how much I don’t want to be ordinary. I daydream about traveling the world, preaching to the masses, seeing lives changed, and cities transformed… then I come to back to reality and I’m reminded of everything I don’t have and all that could get in the way of my dreams, I’m reminded how far fetched my dreams are and how it would just be easier to do something safe.

That old guys' statement reminded me that with dreams come risks. If your going to dream you got to be willing to live dangerously. You have to be willing to cast aside security in order to run after everything that has been put in your heart. Generally I’m a pretty calculated individual, the majority of the things in my life are planned in advance because I’m not a huge fan of failure or surprises, but the thought of dreams unfulfilled is making me more and more comfortable with the idea of living dangerously. I would rather fail chasing after what's in my heart than settle for a life that's ordinary and safe.

Lately I have been really thinking hard about my next step in life. I graduate college in six months and I’m far from certain about what the next chapter of my life has in store for me. I don’t have a serious job, I don’t have significant debt, I don’t have a girlfriend (I’m accepting applications though...), but I’m terribly unimpressed with the idea of living a normal life.

All I really have… is DREAMS.
But maybe that's all I really need.
Maybe my dreams are from God... what a wild thought. 

What are your dreams?
What dreams have you cast aside as too far fetched?
What would you do with your life if you knew you could not fail?
Have you settled for the ordinary?

Maybe it's time to live dangerously... for Jesus of course.

Love, Life, Christ,
Riis