Live the adventure

Jesus promised to give his followers 'Life'.  But so often we settle for mere existance. Existance is safe. 'Life' often invoves risk. That's why mountainteers climb dangerous peaks. They don't want to die. But they do want to experience 'Life'.

Rev. Dr. Tony Campolo is a Professor of Sociology and Director of the Urban Studies Program at Eastern College in St. Davids, Pennsylvania.  In one of his books he tells the story of an encounter with one of his students:

I remember once when I was teaching a course at the University of Pennsylvania, I picked on a student in the front row and I said, "Young man, how long have you lived?"  He said, "What do you mean?" I said, "How long have you lived?" He said, "Twenty-three years." I said, "No, no, no. That is how long your heart has been pumping blood. That is not how long you have lived."

I told him about the time I went to New York City and went to the top of the Empire State Building. I was nine years old at the time and we ran around the top of the building. Suddenly, I caught myself and I said to myself, "Tony, you are on top of the Empire State Building."

In one mystical, magical moment, I took in the city. I lived that moment with such intensity. I focused on what was before me with such spiritual energy that if I were to live a million years, that moment would still be part of my consciousness because of the way in which I lived it. I was fully alive.

I looked back at the student and said, "Now. Let me ask you the question again. `How long have you lived? How long have you lived?'"

I remember the student looking back at me and saying, "Doctor, when you say it that way, maybe an hour, less than that, maybe a minute, maybe two minutes. Most of my life has been the meaninglessness passage of time between all too few moments when I was genuinely alive."

Most of us let life slip through our fingers.  Jesus invites us to follow him as our guide and to suck the marrow out of life as we live the adventure.  He invites us to a life of risk... of making a difference... a life where no failure is ever final. 

He invites us to seize the day. Carpe diem