Taking the Plunge

Several years ago, when I was a courts and crime reporter at a different company, a colorful and worldly older gentleman sitting with me at the back of a courtroom tried to impart some advice. A man goes into his old age, he said, with three big regrets: his first wife divorcing him, his second wife not divorcing him (I did say he was a worldly man), and one big chance he never took.

Lots of guys have at least one life story about the missed opportunity to invest in a startup company that would later be worth billions, or the girl they couldn’t work up the nerve to ask on a date, a career change that would have paid less but could be much more personally rewarding, or the chance to make a kind gesture that would have been embarrassing or awkward but at the same time really helpful to someone. And we all have the stories we tell ourselves for years to come about why it was infinitely wiser to play it safe and take no risks. And when we tell ourselves that story, about not taking that chance, we aren’t convincing anyone.

Although I had to heavily filter advice from the man I spoke with years ago, I could not completely dismiss all that he said. And this point came back to me in a bit purer form in last Sunday’s message. David in the Psalms says to God that “in your book were written every one of… the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them,” (Psalm 139:16). That implies that God has a plan or a story written for each of us from the beginning, and we can’t always see it when we’re living it out. Abraham didn’t know there would be a nation of Israel, Isaiah didn’t know how important a Nazarene woman and a Roman census would be, and we don’t know what our great-grandchildren will need the Lord to have put into the world to inspire and motivate them – but we all still have our own purpose to fulfill. This can mean taking a big plunge, to take a challenge where we can’t guarantee we’ll succeed. Not because it’s what the wisest man we know might do in our position, but because it’s what we’re made to do, and the reason God even has us in this position.

This is unsafe stuff. But take some security in the fact that all the Lord asks of us is a willing heart – not necessarily to have all the details worked out when we act. But fortunately, there are several practical steps we can take to prepare. So let’s be sure to:

1.         Tap into your destiny. How does someone do that? Prayer is a start. The God who made you has a wonderful plan for your life, as the old salvation message tracts used to say, and he’s not shy about discussing it with you (at least, what you need to know).

2.          Do your homework. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail, the adage goes, and planning is not unfaithfulness. Your plan should be spirit controlled, but in the planning phase we often learn God’s timing.

3.         Accept the possibility of failure. I opened a small press label in 2002 to publish inspirational stories in graphic novel format. In its five years in business it was a pretty unmitigated disaster, and I was crushed to close it. But the skills and relationships I gained through it still prosper me today. I’m better for having tried it, and God measures success differently.

4.          Be willing to take the plunge even without all the answers. If you knew all the ramifications of what you’re going to do, then you might have put your faith in a pretty small thing. But God rewards even mere modicums of faith; his word says so.

“Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him,” (Hebrews 11:6). I pray your faith will challenge you now and then, for there’s little reward without risk.

Written by: Chad Halcom

Edited by: Brigit Edwards