Playing it Safe

     As I have gotten older, everyone asks me - "So what's your game plan? What do you intend to do with your life?" A year ago, when I told them that I was going to major in Vocal Performance, they replied (after first having a suppressed look of shock and disdain): "Well what do you want to do with that after college??" I always answered back with some form of teaching, or grad school...you know, the usual answers. I knew I had already lost them by my major choice. (And by "them", I don't mean any specific group of people; it's pretty much everyone I come into contact with). I didn't dare tell them what I really wanted to do: Perform. In any way possible in order that Christ was given glory, and to proclaim his name through music throughout all the earth. I knew I would've gotten an interrogation as to how I was going to go about doing that.
     Now that I've finished my first year of college (and my Vocal Performance major still intact), I have many more "outlandish" goals of what I want to do with my life. I believe I shall never tell anyone of many of them, because I would only be brought down by the "money talk" or the "God's will talk". I have no want of money, except to complete my ambitions and to stay alive, and since all of my goals are ministry-oriented, I believe that they all are from God.
     But why am I interrogated so on my future? Those who major in Business, or Education, or something otherwise respectable, do not receive such talks (or at least not at this intensity).
     This is a result of what I call the "playing it safe" life plan. Since I do not possess this plan, I freak out others who cling to it tightly. They fear for me even though I do not fear for myself.
     So what does this plan entail? Let me list of some characteristics: lack of faith and trust in God, fear, worry, lack of perspective, love of worldly things, apathy, and probably many others, but these are just a few. Not all of these characteristics are present in everyone's "playing it safe" plan, but many of them are.
     I believe that many people have worried about my life a great deal more than I have. And I do not believe that is because I am naive to the world, but rather that I know that God will bring me in, through, and out of any circumstance. I know full well that I may not get a job after college, and I could literally become someone who lives on the streets someday. But so could someone who is obtaining a mechanical engineering degree. Someone told me once that "safety is an illusion" - which is so true. Luke 12:22-40 says:
 
     "Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. ²³ For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. ²⁴   Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! ²⁵ Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? ²⁶ Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

     ²⁷ “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ²⁸ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! ²⁹ And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. ³⁰ For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹ But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

     ³² “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. ³³ Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

     ³⁵ “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, ³⁶ like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. ³⁷ It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes.Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. ³⁸ It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. ³⁹ But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰ You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

     We do not know when we will die - so why not live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord? No matter how much we worry over our lives, we will not add a single hour to them. Verse 31 says to seek God's kingdom first, and everything will be given to you. Our perspective must always be for Christ and His Kingdom, and for His final return.

     I am not meaning to bash those who "play it safe" - but rather open their eyes to a new freedom that comes from being a Christian! Those who are in Christ should be the most free with their time, money, health, relationships - because they understand that none of it was theirs to begin with!! 

     In the Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis writes about Aslan, "He's not safe, but He's good." That is what a life with Christ is like!!! We will not always feel safe and secure, but if we hand our lives over to Him He will take us places that we never dreamed of going to! We don't have to make sure that everything is in place; that we're choosing the right career, making enough money, marrying the right person - because He will allow everything to fall in place in His correct timing!! It's like choosing between having to drive a dingy little car the same small route everyday, or hopping into the back seat of a limousine with the most accredited chauffeur in the driver's seat. Do you want to be the one constantly stressing that your car won't make it each day through your boring route? Or do you want to trust the limo driver even though you can't always see where He's going? Trust me, the limo driver will take you down roads you didn't know existed and show you things you never could have even imagined. 

     At nine years old, I never thought I'd be going to an amazing private Christian college for Vocal Performance (and actually be able to afford it). But that was when the Lord gave me the ambition to sing and perform for Him, and since then He's opened all the doors for me. I trust Him that He will continue to do that. Now I'm just someone who wants to give something of the gifts that I've been given back to the Giver; not because I feel like I ought to, but because I want to. And it sure hasn't felt comfortable and easygoing the whole time, but it has been excellent and good and glorious - because I'm fulfilling who God has called me to be.

     The Christian walk isn't about making sure that we've taken each step properly according to somebody's definition; it's about giving God the reins and just hopping along for the ride, however crazy it might get - because He's not a tame Lion.