If you have been in worship on any Sunday in the month of June, there is no doubt you have heard the pastors talk about preparing for Adventure Camp, praying for Adventure Camp, or giving thanks for returning home from Adventure Camp. It is always a week full of surprises. Junior high students who tell us they are not planning to swim – eventually end up in the water. Students who look up at the height of the zipline towers and tell us they are not going to zipline – eventually find themselves flying down a cable at 30 mph. It is always a surprise to see them rise to the challenge, proving to us and themselves that they can do hard things. To do hard things we often must take risks. Those risks can often be accompanied by a list of questions before we commit:

Am I brave enough? What will happen? Can I do this? Who is watching? What will others say?

Those questions might fly through the thoughts of a junior high student before they take the risk. I find it amusing that many of us probably ask those same questions as we consider stepping out of our comfort zone into something new. For the junior high students there is great reward for their courage. Feelings of satisfaction, accomplishment, pride, validation – all contribute to their next big decision. Usually, the next zipline platform where they must leap into thin air, once again, with only the cable to keep them airborne. What we often witness is the willingness of students to make the leap once again. Once you have decided to leap; once you have taken the first step; once you let go from being completely in control and trust that God’s got you- the journey is usually far beyond what any junior high student or any one of us can imagine.

It is a good reminder for each of us. The adventure is worth the risk. In life, in faith – the actual risk is far less scary than the risk we have built up in our minds before we step off the platform. I have been walking alongside our Monday night Amen group as we have studied the book, “Wild at Heart.” The book invites us to consider what it is to be a man of faith in the world today. It might be a little bit dated in its examples, but the book has provided some incredible moments of risk as men around the table have found themselves brave enough to ask deep questions, share honestly, and risk a moment of vulnerability in a world where vulnerability is often looked upon as weakness. I am grateful for their willingness to dig deep on Monday nights. Grateful they have chosen to take the risk.

We often talk about this life of faith for the ways in which we follow Jesus – gather in worship, kneel in prayer, serve in selflessness. Important attributes of a life of faith. Yet, I recognize that our worship, prayers, and service are not often risky. Sure, come to worship at Ascension and Pastor Chris might call you by name at one time or another during worship. Risky, maybe? Yes, worship at Ascension and you might find someone introducing themselves by name and asking for yours? Risky, maybe. Is the risk worth the reward? It absolutely is. And so is every other part of this journey of faith Jesus invites us to live. 

At one of our AMEN Monday nights, one man asked how we hear the voice of God. I explained that in all my life, I do not know that I have ever heard God speak to me in words. I believe I have felt God’s presence in countless moments of music, times of prayer, reflective pauses where I was able to close off the distractions of this world. One man described the presence of God in his life as that moment when there was an overwhelming sense of peace, almost a warmth, that surrounded him. So often, in our rush to the next adventure, we are often unable or unwilling to pay attention to such fleeting moments and yet , if we are willing to take the risk of being open to what God might be doing, there can be great reward in the risk of letting go of what we know to be wrapped in what we so often can only imagine, namely – the very presence of God. It is risky to let go, to surrender to the presence of God. But my friends, that is often when the adventure begins. Here is to all the adventures ahead – to the glory of God.

See you in Church,

Pastor Chris