Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Some of my favorite childhood memories revolve around our summer family vacations.  I loved it when Dad would put the top carrier on our station wagon, Mom would stock the snack bag, we’d pick up Grandma and Grandpa Current before dawn and then away we’d go on a great adventure.  I remember road trips to see every state including Alaska…talk about an adventure…it was so much fun!

And you know what made it even more fun?  I was just along for the ride.  As a child I did not have to think about reading the map (remember when we actually used paper maps) or reserving hotels (I remember Dad calling hotels from pay phones—no cell phones back then) or watching over the budget (Dad use to get traveler’s checks from AAA because we did not have credit cards).  Vacation was great for me as a kid because I got to enjoy the trip while Dad and Mom took care of all the details.  O, to go back to those days…

To be honest, there is a big part of me that would just as soon treat the adventure called following Christ much the same way. I want Jesus to take care of all the details so I can just enjoy the ride.  I want to have the fun, but I don’t want to have to be bothered by all the work.  But when Jesus says, “Come follow me,” I must decide if I will give up my right to simply enjoy the ride.  And right there is where I decide if the rubber will meet the road when it comes to me following Jesus Christ.  Because following Jesus is not about sleeping in the back of the station wagon.  It is about denying myself and taking up my cross (at least that is what Jesus said).

That wasn’t just what Jesus said, that is how Jesus lived!  Think about what Jesus went through so we could find abundant life now and forever.  He was falsely accused, mocked, spit upon, beaten and crucified.  He did not just talk about helping us find the abundant life, he died to make it happen.  And then he has the audacity to look back at you and me and suggest that the only way we will find the life he has made possible is if we are willing to give up our lives (see Matthew 16:24-26).  Here is a question a Christian mentor asked me, “If your faith is not costing you something, do you actually have faith in Christ?” 

What is your faith in Christ costing you?  What is our faith in Christ costing us as a church family? That is what Faith Promise Plus is about.  It is not about “tipping” God like we do a decent waiter at a restaurant. It is about asking God what he might ask us to voluntarily give up so that people around the world might simply live, people in our community might come to know him and so that our children, grandchildren and great children will not graduate from their faith when they graduate high school like 59% or more of kids raised in the church in the US are doing.

If every adult gave up $3.90 every Sunday from May-April, then we would exceed our goal of $69,000.  Think about that—by giving up a Starbucks coffee a week or a few sodas at Speedway, even that small sacrifice would help us make a big, even eternal difference.  For Kimberly and I, it has meant we will not have anything but rabbit ears for TV—we will not purchase cable so we can use what we would have spent on cable to give over and beyond our regular giving to Faith Promise Plus.

And guess what!!!!!  We are not alone!  Guess how much was given after the first Sunday Faith Promise Plus was introduced…are you ready…you are incredible…you have already ledged over $16,000 after week one!  Praise God!   You do let your faith cost you something! The rest of our church family has until April 27, 2014 to make their pledge.  Can we raise another $52,000 in pledges by then?  Well, this is where the rubber meets the road isn’t it?