Jumping off bridges

Mum- 10+years ago: “Devin, if all your friends jump off a bridge will you?”

Devin- today: “Yes mum, that's exactly what I'll do & DID.”

There are many adventures that take place on the World Race
There are so many things your eyes get to see

Scenery so lovely a camera no matter what brand- Cannon or iPhone, they can hardly do it justice.

There are so many things your heart gets to feel

That moment you gaze into the eyes of a rescued little one who was going to be a sex slave before people like you came along

That moment your beside yourself because your at your lowest low, and then come along these angels you call friends that gather around you to help lift you up, encourage you, and help you become the very best you, the you, you were meant to be.

There are countless miracles you witness

A woman rising from being dead on a pile of trash in Honduras

A man paralyzed getting off his bed an walking in Rwanda

There are adventures that take your breath away like seeing the temple ruins of Ankor Wat in Cambodia. Or Basking in the masterpiece that is Lankawi Island in Malaysia.

So many of these adventures I never could have imagined I'd see, or feel. . . experience!

The Lord has been so good to me. The Race is full of adventure and I haven't missed a one. Even the times I opted out like choosing to not go on a safari in Africa because I knew the money just wasn't there, it was when my pride was too much for me to ask YOU my friends, my family, my support to help make it happen.

Still He saw past my foolish pride & He provided a way for me to go on that safari in Africa, just like He provided a way for me to jump off this bridge today.

Wanna know summin kinda cool? He told me to jump off this bridge. He told me to take this leap.

I want to open my heart to you for a sec an get real vulnerable.

I received good feedback recently about self preservation, and how it's something I sometimes walk in out of habit. It's not me, but it's what I've always known. It's what I've grown up with.

There are times when I believe the lie that I will not be taken care of. That if I want or need something I will have to do it myself. Trust is the issue here.

Need an example of self preservation?

Picture this I'm in a store shopping, and when I shop I'm a one shop stop kind of man. I'm in, find what I want, I get it and I'm out. Now this isn't because I despise shopping. It isn't because I'm super manly or that I'm a tight wad; although I am a tight wad.

It's simply because I believe some lie that says if I don't take what I desire right then & there it most likely will not be there when I return, when I no longer just want something, but need it. I'm afraid someone else will come and take it from me. I believe more often times than not that I will not have what I want, and more importantly what I need. It's a 20 summin year old habit, so it's not easy to break.

This Race is life, and life is the Race

We racers are no different from anybody else and have very little we've really figured out in life.

I will not come home and be some super Christian who no longer acts out of self preservation, BUT I will be a man who recognizes his weakness and allows the Lord to fill that void. I WILL be that man who sets his feet on a platform and decides to trust, and let go of everything else.

Jesus was really on to something when He stated “to gain your life, you must lose it” So, it's essential for you to lose (give up, let go) of your life to really live.

Yeah, I'm starting to understand this. . .

There's that moment. It was magical. Beautiful beyond my words could express. I'm standing on the platform looking out at the lovely landscape of Nepal, the rain clouds rolling in over the mountain tops, I hear the rushing water in the canyon below me, and I'm about to jump.

Leap of faith? Yeah, you can say that.
This jump has become so much more significant to me than those that have come before me. Most come here to jump for fun or for the adrenaline rush, but oh not me. .

I have come to jump so that I may trust.

The moment my feet left that platform I conquered death.

The moment my body hung in the air I leg go. . .

Arms out wide I let go of fear

I let go of worry, doubt and anxiety.

I became dauntless “brave” this day.

I let go to live

I jumped to trust

In life, and on the Race we have adventure. We have invitation, and we have bridges to jump off of. It's ultimately our choice, YOUR choice to respond to it.

I will have many more bridges to jump off of in the future. . .

And I'm looking forward to every single one.

Which bridges do you need to jump off?

Month 10-Peter Pan Said It Best

I think Peter Pan said it best.

“To live would be an awfully big adventure.”

Somewhere along this season of my life, and this 11 month journey I began learning how to really live. I began learning how to to dive deeper into this great big adventure we call life.

And I thought saying yes to the Race was that plunge. . . this young buck had a lot to learn.

Isn't it funny that when you type the word “love” spellcheck corrects it, turning it into “live”.

Those two should be, and are synonymous. To truly love is to fully live. To fully live, is to truly love.

A friend asked me the other day about my heart, and what was going on with it. “Care to share?” they said. At first I was at a loss for words. Silenced by the compounding amount of emotion my sensitive heart has been feeling. I had no clue what to say, or how to say it. Questions arose in my mind “what is going on in my heart?” “Am I truly living?” “Am I fully loving?” Can I share my life & love, and will it be an adventure for others as it has for me or is this just some nice mission trip?

I began to write, not just about month 10, but the journey and adventure before me, and behind me. . .

There is something revolutionary about this journey

Something captivating about this adventure

This invitation to capture

This invitation to have & hold

Maybe it's washing clothes by hand everyday

Or maybe it's pooping in a hole

Maybe it's the bucket showers

Or making your bed in a sketch place

Bus terminals, airport floors, bamboo huts, dirt floors. . You know how we do

Bedding down with bugs an all

I've become a man of sorrows acquainted with grief

I've become a man of joy acquainted with peace\

Everyday invites me on an adventure not just a mission trip

It's not a trip where He sends a rigid itinerary, He simply invites me.

God simply ask what it is He's made me to love, what it is that captures my attention, what feeds that deep indescribable need of my soul to experience the richness of the world He made, and then leaning over me He whispers, “let's go do that together!”

Most great adventures work that way. You don't plan them, you don't wait to get all the details right. You just go and do them.

With this adventure, this World Race I'm learning to RSVP His invitations, and go after the things He's made me love. It's not all planned out for me either, and that's where most people get too nervous to take the next step. We get nervous to take that plunge. But know this: when Jesus invites us on an adventure, He shapes who we become with what happens along the way.

A couple of other things happen when we say yes to His invitations to participate with Him in life. Obstacles that seem insurmountable aren't. Impediments that we believe disqualify us don't. When we show up to participate with Jesus in in “doing life” we're participating with the very One who created Life. He simply asks us how we are, a lot like my friend asked, and then He invites us to get better with Him.

So here I am month 10. Getting better with Him. Saying yes everyday to doing life with Him.

Loving & Living

Truly & Fully

Ps: If you haven't already read it, please read Love Does by Bob Goff. This book inspired this blog, and also my life. This book is a book that dives deeper into what little I hit on in my blog- living a life of invitation, truly loving, fully living. It dives into what love does, not just what it is. Love that is not just words “I love you”, but love that is a verb, an action.