Are you super busy...doing nothing?

A few months back I made a commitment to my wife, and publicly shared it through this blog, that I was planning to run a half marathon with Traci in the fall. At the time, I had nine months to prepare for this race. Keep in mind that when I made this announcement, I had never run more than one mile at any one time in my life and I have never particularly enjoyed running.  

Today I’m at the five month mark and I’m glad to say I’ve been running. Last week I had my longest single run for distance, at 3.57 miles, and little by little I’m stretching out the distance I am able to run. My goal is that when the 13.1 mile event rolls around, I’ll be strong enough to run the whole time, even if it’s at a snail’s pace down the stretch.

Now imagine if I had done nothing since making my announcement. Imagine race day is tomorrow and today I decide to go buy a pair of shoes, pick out a good running shirt and then head to the starting line in the morning to run my first half marathon. Is there any chance I’ll run the whole 13.1 miles? Of course not! I can tell you right now I don’t even know if I would finish the event if I had to walk it. I’d be too overwhelmed with shame and humiliation being passed by those sweet little old ladies who power walk from start to finish, that I’d pull up at the five mile mark, grab my hamstring and pretend I was hurt!

If I choose to do nothing leading up to the race, I will lose out on the joy of finishing, the joy of seeing my hard work pay off and most importantly, the joy of experiencing the journey leading up to the race.

I know a lot of people who are doing nothing today. They look at others who are crossing the finish line and they wish they had prepared for the race, they see others sharing in an accomplishment and they long to be included. Even more, they get that they don’t have the shared experience everyone else is talking about, and they desperately want to be included. But when it was time to start, they did nothing.

A few years ago as a youth pastor, I led my students on a series of summer mission trips. In back-to-back-to-back weeks, we visited inner city Philadelphia, we worked with a church outside of Eugene, Oregon and then ran a community event in our own town. We talked about these three trips for months and started doing homework and fund raising five months before the trips started.

I had one student who really wanted to go. I met with the family and we talked about him participating in the trips, and I handed them the schedule for our training which included some Bible reading, attending a few training sessions together and several fund raising goals. This young man was excited to go!

A month later, he had not attended any training events (there had been at least one, and maybe two by that time) and had done none of the required fundraising. Two months later the same. At three months, I met with him and his family again, and informed him that he would not be allowed to participate in any of the trips.

He was crushed. His mom pleaded with me to let him go, but he hadn’t done the work, and it would have been unfair to the other team members if he skated free while the others had worked so hard. I also felt like his lack of movement revealed some character issues going on in his heart, so he had to sit this one out.

When our summer trip was over, those that had traveled were changed people. They had bonded together as a team and we had shard experiences that included fun service projects, not-so-fun service projects, long travel days, funny stories, tearful stories, sweet moments of ministry and painful stories of messing up. But all of it combined to make a pretty amazing summer that really drew the team together. But this young man was on the outside looking in because he did nothing when it was time to start preparing.

Most people want to be ready when the time comes for them to experience a truly remarkable moment. Honestly, don’t we all want to be in the right place at the right time when that special thing happens? But the reality is that many people aren’t doing what is necessary in order to be ready when that event happens, or when that relationship is ready to blossom. Instead, they’ve been doing nothing, they’ve not given any real direction for their lives and so they sit idly by while others enjoy the experiences they crave.

Don’t get wrong. I’m not suggesting they are doing “nothing” in a literal sense (although there is that crowd, too!) sometimes these individuals are the busiest people I know. Sometimes they can be so busy living life at a frantic pace that they don’t have time to focus on the goals, dreams and future that they want. They make excuses like, “I don’t have time to....” or “I’m too busy to...” and so on. (Oddly, the most successful Overboard people I know never talk about lacking time or being too busy and they always seem to be in the right place at the right time.)

What are you doing to be in the race today? How are you preparing? When I read the Bible it is so clear that God is looking for men and women who are doing the right thing, who are standing in the right place, who have already entered the race even though they may not know where it’s going. He picks the shepherd boys, not the mighty warriors, to bring down the giants. He chooses the strong and wise women to preserve kingdoms. He picks righteous and faithful old men to start nations. He chose a gracious and humble woman to give birth to the world’s Savior.

David, Deborah, Abraham, Mary -- and the list goes on and on -- weren’t looking to become what God ultimately used them for, but they had started! They had chosen to follow God each day, to stay connected to Him, to be readers and doers of the Word so that when the time came they were ready. When God called them in to action, they had already been practicing and they ran the race set out for them.

I wonder how many warriors watched 13-year-old shepherd boy David kill Goliath, and think, “I wish I had been that brave!” How many women watched Deborah lead Israel to victory and think, “I want to be like her!” David and Deborah weren’t better than anyone else, they were just ready. And if you want to experience the thrill of the Overboard Life, you have to do something to move you out of the boat today!

How is your preparation going? How are you doing in practicing your running today? Are you moving toward something, or are you so busy (or so lazy) that you’re actually doing nothing that will move you closer to your goal of being a better parent or spouse, a more faithful servant or better-prepared teacher? Whatever God-sized dreams and goals you have, the fulfillment of those begins the day you start moving. Dreams become reality when you work on becoming who God wants you to be, so that you can do what He wants you to do. When you get up extra early to spend time with Him and His Word. When you stay up a little extra late to finish the day’s work. When you start using your gifts to serve others and not yourself. When you take a moment to look up from the daily grind and enjoy the world around you. When you stop staring at those who are out of the boat and on the water, and jump out to join them.

I’ve yet to meet the person doing nothing who is happy, fulfilled, overflowing with joy and begging others to join the in their life’s journey and experiences. Quite the contrary. The meanest, saddest, most entitled and selfish people I know are doing nothing. They aren’t even cheering others on in the race, they’re at home angry about the noise that’s disturbing their slumber. I’ve had seasons of my life where I was very busy doing nothing, and I pray that in the second half of my life, I will have many fewer of those moments.

We don’t always know where God will take us while on this wild journey of life. But we do know this: He is working and moving, and He is calling for us to join Him. It’s not about being perfect, but it is about being in process, about growing, trusting, following and serving while stepping into the race. Like Peter in Matthew 14, Jesus is out there on the water inviting us to join Him. Will you be like Peter who had prepared himself for that moment so that he was ready to jump? Or will you be like the other 11 disciples who sat in the boat and watched?

I hope I jump every time. I’d rather fail miserably on the water than live another day, comfortably, doing nothing in the boat. How about you?

37 down, 3 to go!

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!

I saw someone break the sound barrier...sort of.

I was in junior high the first time I saw another human being try to travel faster than the speed of sound. We were at a camp in the foothills of the Cascades, enjoying a weekend youth group retreat. About a dozen of us piled on to the merry-go-round and several of our ADULT leaders started the “Extreme Merry-Go-Round of Death” (as they affectionately called it). I point out that they were “ADULT” leaders...supposed to be mature, wise and guardians of our well-being. Did I mention this whole thing happened with ADULT leaders supervising?  

Anyway, the ride started spinning faster and faster, and I remember being toward the outside, holding on for all I was worth. The merry-go-round started to wobble and a steady hum was heard. Exhilaration was replaced with terror and I seriously feared for my life. Then it happened -- one of my peers lost his grip on the ride of death and he went airborne. A sonic boom was heard as he travelled through the air toward the lake. The lake was a 1/2 mile away and a 1/2 mile wide. He skipped three times as he crossed it from one side to the other. Amazingly he was relatively unharmed.

A few years later I was in the downtown district of a southern California city in the middle of the night. We were in a 15-passenger van packed to the gills with loud students and a very lost driver. As we pulled up to a stop sign at 2am, our other van pulled up beside us with the driver rolling down her window. I was in the passenger seat, so I rolled my window down to hear what she was saying to our driver:

“You’re an idiot! Don’t you know you’ve been going the wrong way on a one-way street for 1/2 a mile?!? Pay attention!!!”

My eyes were the size of saucers when I realized that being lost was the least of our troubles. So what did our driver do? He promptly turned on the next street. Again, going the wrong way on a one-way street. Somehow we still made it to Mexico and had an amazing missions trip; proof that there is a God!

During my junior year of high school, our youth group went to Wisconsin for a service trip to help mentally handicapped people in a very special ministry. On one of the afternoons, we had to take the residents to a nearby zoo and I was charged with putting sunscreen on three of them. Only one problem: I had never used sunscreen in my life. As a hispanic, my skin tans up real nice, and I’ve never burned. So I had never needed sunscreen and had never used it.

I watched a few of my peers apply the gooey substance to others and I thought, “How hard can it be?” Like a boss, I applied sunscreen to three young lads and off to the zoo we went. Everything was great that day, and even though we had a really hot day and found ourselves in the sun all afternoon, I knew my boys were doing just fine.

You can imagine my shock when we showed up the next day for service and three residents had arms that looked like sunburned zebras. White and red stripes travelled up and down their arms and one of the teachers asked, “Who put the sunscreen on these boys?!?!” I hung my head low and owned the mistake: “It’s my fault. I let Craig put on the sunscreen and I knew I shouldn’t have.” I’ve always been a hero that way.

Being part of a youth group has always been a big part of my life. From 7th grade on, I was connected to youth group, and I’m thankful my parents made church such a big part of our lives. I know a lot of people have bad church experiences, but I wasn’t one of them. Church, and especially youth group, was really good for me. Probably another reason I was so eager to become a youth pastor myself.

I learned valuable lessons about serving others, respecting authority and the values my parents taught me at home were reinforced in youth group. I also had a ton of fun, and learned that following God wasn’t boring or a drag. And the experiences I gained on cross-cultural mission trips, service projects and youth group retreats still influence my life today.

It’s not too surprising when I look back over those years, that my life was so shaped by youth group. After all, God designed us for community and youth group can be the perfect place for that to happen. Youth group can be fun, it should be safe and it’s a place where a teenager can learn how they fit in with their talents and gifts.

A good youth group however, needs one more component -- it needs to engage the spiritual growth and development of its members. Students need to be challenged with God’s Word and urged to grow in their relationship with Him. The closer students get to God, the closer they’ll be to each other, to their families and to the church they are connected to. Grounded students can change the world!

Are you part of a community of people that are helping you grow in you walk with God? Are you enjoying your journey with others? Are you learning how to use your gifts and talents in a safe environment? You can’t live the Overboard Life without being in a community that will help you along the way. If you’re not part of a community today, find one, join it and then share your life with others who are trying to get out of the boat!

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!