Jumpers Before Us

  On the playground there was always the ‘cool’ thing to do. In first grade jump rope, 2nd grade the swings, 3rd grade kick  ball, 4th grade, four-square, and in 6th grade football. If you weren’t apart of these games you simply weren’t apart of the group, unfortunately people got picked on and talked down to if they didn’t play these ‘cool’ games.

Thinking back, I wish I would have always been the person who didn’t just conform to playing the games of everyone else. Sure I did it a time or two, but being the oddball wasn’t really what I wanted to be known for back then.

Yet now, that’s exactly who I want to be.

I want to be the person who goes against the grain, who stands up for their beliefs even when their unpopular, I don’t want to be swept into the tide of taking the easy way out. I want to JUMP the FENCE.

Some of the greatest jumpers that we can look to for an  example are characters in the Bible. Queen Esther, when she  used her position in society to avert annihilation from her people. Moses, who was scared of speaking before a crowd of people. Abraham, when he was asked to kill his son Isaac. Mary, when granted the privilege to bear God’s only Son.

Also, Paul’s writings, throughout the New Testament, exude the risk in jumping that he was willing to take on for His Lord.

I asked the Lord three times about this, that it would depart from me. But he said to me, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So then, I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in me. ~2 Corinthians 12:8-9

Paul illustrates in his 2 Corinthians writings that God’s grace is more than enough for any trial that we face. No matter what your fence may be, how long you’ve been staring at it-waiting to muster up the courage to jump, or how many times you’ve jumped before and failed, God’s promise is clear. The Lord’s power is made perfect, without flaw, in our weaknesses.

If these people’s examples aren’t enough to be convinced of jumping the fence. Seek out someone around you who has made this decision and JUMPED!

It is WORTH it!

Anyone who has decided to leave behind the normal game of life and decided to be the person who jumps the fence, who plays their own game at recess, and the person who is chasing the cross, will share that it was the most important decision of their life.

 

For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. ~2 Corinthians 4:17-18