Adrenaline Junkie

Since childhood, one of my favorite hobbies has been bike riding. As I grew older my bikes changed as well. I spent a of time enjoying the standard BMX bike and grew into loving mountain bikes. After college I even discovered an entirely new way to ride a mountain bike. During a family vacation to Whistler, British Columbia, Canada I discovered downhill and free-ride mountain biking. This form of mountain biking is a little different from regular mountain biking in that you are riding a bike with more suspension travel than most cars, and to ensure safety at high speeds the braking system consisting of hydraulic disc brakes are more modern and powerful that the brakes on my first truck. You might be wondering “Why would anyone need that kind of suspension and brakes on a mountain bike?” The answer would be...crazy people who enjoy taking the chair lifts of a ski resort to the top of the mountain and riding down the trails as fast as they possibly can. I became one of those people on that vacation. 

I have always been something of an adrenaline junkie. I love to push my limits of fear and mental focus. Participating in high speed and high risk “extreme” sports makes me feel like I am exploring and using the far reaches of my skills, abilities and talents. I have to be so focused on what I am doing that I am not distracted by what might go wrong. 

I was thinking about how this relates to my life spiritually; how this relates to my relationship with Christ. I was thinking,“Am I living my life like I ride my mountain bike? Am I treating my relationship with Christ like I ride my bike?” After a little reflection I realized that my answer was ‘no.’ I am not living my life or participating in my relationship with Christ like I ride my bike. I am not living in a relationship with Christ that pushes me to the edge of control. I am not living in a relationship that forces me to focus my heart on Christ so much that nothing else around me can bother my focus. I am not living in a relationship that takes me to the  extremes in a way that others look at me like I am crazy when I describe what I am doing for Christ.

The thing is, I think this is the type of relationship Christ wants us to have with Him. After pondering this a bit, I began to think about one of Jesus' parables.  It is known as the parable of the talents. Jesus tells a story of three servants that have been entrusted with a portion of their masters wealth. The master is going on a trip and wants the servants to take care of some of his money while he is gone. When the master returns from the trip he calls his servants to report what they have done with their portions of money. The first two servants have been taking risks with the money and have invested the it. Both of these servants were able to double the money entrusted to them. The master praises their skills and their willingness to take risk. The third servant decided that it was too much of a risk to invest; he was scared of what the master might do to him if he lost any of the money. He hides it in the ground for the duration of the master’s trip. The master in the story scolds the servant calling him wicked and lazy! To me, Jesus seems to be saying that we can’t just cruise through this life. We can’t get by without taking risks for the kingdom of heaven. We have to live a life and live in a relationship with him that involves risk. The cool thing about this is that when we focus our attention on Christ, just like bombing down a mountain on a bike, we are able to lean on our talents and we come out of this life with successful investments of each talent Christ entrusted us with.

The Matrix: The Strength To Fight

“I know you’re out there, I can feel you now. I know that you’re afraid. You’re afraid of us, afraid of change. I don’t know the future, I didn’t come here to tell you how this was going to end. I came here to tell you how it’s going to begin. I’m going to hang up this phone and then I’m going to show these people what you don’t want them to see. I’m going to show them a world without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders and boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you.” - Neo, from the Matrix.

This quote popped into my head the other day and it got me thinking. I was thinking about the Matrix movie and how it relates to real life. Before we come into a relationship with Christ we are like the people stuck in the Matrix. We are totally blind to the reality of our lives. Then, at some point someone comes along and reveals to us the nature of our lives; how there is freedom from the life that we are stuck living. In the movie, Neo is one such person who is presented with the option to know the truth about his circumstances or to stay within the fantasy world never knowing true freedom. After his choice, he comes to find out that there has been a prophecy about him and his life. It is said that he is “The One.” Neo struggles with what is perceived to be the “call” on his life to save the rest of the people of the known world. He is told that he is the only one who can save the people from the trap that is the Matrix. He feels torn between the need to rescue the other people in the Matrix and his own fears of not being good enough to be “The One.”

This seems to be the struggle that we all face, right? We all have insecurities and fears about our talents. I know I struggle with this every day. I struggle with knowing who I am, what my lot in life is and whether I am making a difference in the world. Mostly, I struggle with knowing whether or not I am doing what Jesus wants me to do. Am I being the person that Jesus wants me to be? I want to be like Neo. I want to find the strength to dodge bullets, fight off five bad guys at a time and not be afraid of the enemy that is controlling my friends and family. I want to be that guy. I want to be the hero in the story of my life. I feel to this point I haven’t even come close. I feel like the Neo who first entered the Matrix and had to be rescued from death...by a girl. I think about what it will take to step up and save the lives and souls of those around me and it scares me a little. This fear almost makes me want to go back to the life I was living...the one in the gel filled tubes and living a mindless existence. 

Just when I have almost given into these feelings I hear a small voice, the same voice that is talking to all of us, saying, “I will give you strength...you can do this.” I feel Jesus calling us. He is calling us to rely on him to calm our fears; to strengthen our weaknesses. He can and will transform our lives. He will give us the strength to stay in the fight and the confidence to call out to our enemies like Neo. The great thing about this transformation is how it happens. It is a transformation that happens through simply being in His presence. It happens through nothing that we do ourselves, but rather through hearing God teach us where we need to rely on Him for strength. This, to me, is the greatness, the awesomeness and even the beauty of knowing Christ. Being with Christ today and tomorrow means He is working in me. He is working in you, too. He gives us the strength to be like Neo. We can dodge bullets, defeat any bad guy who stands in our way and, maybe, even fly...we just have to let go and let him use us.