By Greg Primm
Tim’s post on Monday about a more focused ReadyAimLife website made me think of the first post I wrote for the site back in August. It’s about risk. The vision Tim presented about life — his life, my life, your life — revolves around risk. I’m not talking about jumping off a cliff or going to the casino and betting it all on one spin of the roulette wheel. I’m talking about the risk that comes with seeking out God’s design for your life. The risk of asking yourself the tough questions and taking action on what you find out.
We’re very excited about the direction RAL is headed and we invite you along.
I’m amazed at my five year old daughter. She’s fearless. Whether it’s jumping off the furniture, wrecking her bike, or trying to keep up with the older kids, she’s fearless. And don’t try to tell her she can’t do something. You usually get one of two responses: she tries to do it anyway or a fall-on-the-floor screaming fit. Neither option is very pretty.
On the outside, I do my fatherly duty and try to deal with the misbehavior of my daughter; on the inside I secretly envy her willingness to try anything difficult.
Remember when you were like this as a child? We all were to a certain extent. I remember jumping out of trees, off buildings, almost drowning, sinking two of my dad’s four wheelers in 3 feet of mud. Taking on risks was my chief responsibility as a kid. What happened?
As a father and husband, I find myself constantly eliminating risk from my life. I tell my daughters to be careful, watch out for cars, don’t talk to strangers. My wife and I work hard to save for retirement, create an emergency fund so we can handle the financial curveballs that come our way. I manage a business in such a way as to reduce risk so the owners can protect their investment.
What are we left with after eliminating the risk from our lives? We’re left with a nagging sense that something’s not “right”. We’re not unhappy, but not really happy either. We get excited to see the latest action movie because for a couple of hours we experience the adventure of someone taking risks. Some men hunt to fill the gap, others ride motorcycles or drive fast cars.
It’s snowskiing for me. For just a few days each winter, I get to live my greatest adventure. My wife and I go to the mountains and I get to point the skis down the steepest slope I can find and let it rip. No regrets. I only get a few days a year, so I absolutely kill myself. I’m usually the first one on the slopes in the morning and the last one down the mountain at night. But it only lasts a few days, then its back to the normal life I’ve carved out.
“Most men spend the energy of their lives trying to eliminate risk, or squeezing it down to a more manageable size. Their children hear “no” far more than they hear “yes”, their employees feel chained up, and their wives are equally bound. If it works, if a man succeeds in securing his life against all risk, he’ll wind up in a cocoon of self-protection and wonder all the while why he’s suffocating. If it doesn’t work, he curses God, redoubles his efforts and his blood pressure. When you look at the structure of the false self men tend to create, it always revolves around two themes: seizing upon some sort of competence and rejecting anything that cannot be controlled.” - John Eldredge, Wild at Heart
I really can’t say it any better than Eldredge. What most of us say we want is a nice, easy, quiet life. That’s what our parents want for us; our wife craves security; our jobs reward a risk-less life where everything is planned to the n-th degree. THAT’S NOT HOW IT IS MEANT TO BE.
God created us to be risk-takers. James 1:12 says, “blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him..”
It doesn’t say, “blessed is the man who made a good living, worked 40 years so he can play golf 5 days a week after he retires.”
Consider Paul, who God used to establish the early church,
“Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.” 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 (NIV)
Do you think Paul spent a lot of time thinking about moving up the corporate ladder?
What about his stock portfolio?
Do you think he lived in the “right” neighborhood?
You may be saying, “we can’t all be world changers like Paul.” Maybe you’re right, but there is something each of us is yearning for, something you want to accomplish that’s different. Somewhere deep down, you know what it is. There’s something in your soul that gets stirred from time to time. I’m not talking about an emotional response to a rerun of Rocky IV on cable. I’m talking about something deep inside that tells you that there is something more, something worth taking a risk.
I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes. It’s from Teddy Roosevelt, a man who truly lived an adventure in his life.
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat. It is not the critic that counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly, who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds.” -Teddy Roosevelt
What next? Stick around, over the next few weeks and months we’ll start figuring things out together.
Photo credit: monobp
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