livin' the dream.

Livin' the dream...Yup, it's great...when it works.

But when it doesn't work, it's just work.

Hard.

Painful.

Work.

See, I kind'a sold out when we planted THE WELL. I gave up the idea of having a 'real' job, 'cause I 'had' to do it. I knew I had to leave behind what most people consider a 'normal' life for a life of uncertainty and risk. Knew I had to do it; because it WAS risky... because the Spirit told me to.

Now, a-year-and-a-half into it we're getting down to the 'work'.

And it's HARD work.

Work, helping people (with God's help) dig themselves out of emotional and spiritual ditches while trying to dig myself out of one. Work, learning how to pastor. Work, surrendering to the vision that I now God has for me and my wife. Work, making life work against all odds.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE it (love pastoring, love production, love helping people/serving...it's what I'm MADE to do), but there are definite sacrifices involved in doing what you love.

Especially when you're just starting out.

And that's what we're doing.

Starting out.

I read Mars Hill Yearly report today. Even after 10 years they didn't feel like they had 'arrived'. That both encouraged me and discouraged me. Made me think we've got a ways to go. Made me think I'm lookin' forward to the journey.

It's like starting out on a swim.

Yep, that's me in my second triathlon EVER...notice all the wetsuits. Notice I'm not wearing one...

If you've ever swam across a lake before you know what I mean...

You get in and you're so excited to be in the water. And when you start swimming you're very concentrated on your strokes, what you're body feels like, getting warmed up. Not caring about where the other side of the lake is.

It's when you get to the middle, and you start to feel the fatigue, and you take a break to look around, and there's only water that you realize what you've done. And you think, 'oh man, I'm all by myself and there's only water around me...'

That's when the fear kicks in.

Here's the turning point.

You either keep swimming, or you drown...

You either take the risk and keep swimming to the other side, or turn back and go back to where you came from.

It might be easier to go back where you came from. It may be harder to keep swimming to the other side. But we're not called to take the easy way

Put your head down. Swim. You'll GET to the other side. You'll be tired, and your body will hurt. But you'll be stronger, fitter, more experienced and a better person for sticking to your guns and battling you're fear...

Feels like I'm in the middle of the lake. Looking around thinking 'wow, I've come a long way, but this is the most risky part. 'cause (with the Holy Spirit) I'm the only one who can make me get across this lake...'

I just have to keep working, keep enduring the pain, and keep looking to the shore as it gets closer...because, ultimately, I LOVE swimming...