I don’t like taking risks. I’m basically the kind of person who likes to know what I’m getting into before I do something. Jumping about like this guy on the skateboard would never even cross my mind - I know I’d break a leg. But for him, it was just another evening of showing off his skills to people he’d never even met. Double wow! Showing off in front of strangers is even more risky.
In everyday life, though, taking risks is part of reality. Not always physically like the skateboarder or my brother-in-law climbing Smuggler’s Notch (pretending for my camera!) We take risks talking to strangers. I had a conversation with someone at a bakery the other day. He was buying a cake for his wife’s 41st birthday, and I was getting one for my daughter’s surprise 40th birthday party. It was fun comparing notes (he’d also given his wife a surprise party for her 40th), but he could have ignored me and I would have felt embarrassed.
Being willing to take a risk, at it’s core, shows how real, how authentic our commitment is. There are times we are confidant enough in our own abilities or purpose that we can step out and not feel like we are stepping off a ledge or are going to fall flat on our face. But other times we have to have trust in someone else. A founding belief of the church we go to is to “Attempt something so great for God that it is doomed to failure, lest He be in it.” Now “great” things for God aren’t done very often. But the definition of “great” is important. It can mean something big like starting a new church or something smaller like writing a blog, changing to healthier eating habits, or being a truly faithful employee under difficult circumstances. Real commitment to taking a risk comes when we know that there is someone trustworthy and reliable behind us encouraging and guiding us. Someone “in it”. Be it a friend, spouse, or the God of the Universe.
Here is a photo I took at Lake Rabun last Fall. Pretty, isn’t it?
And here is the original, dull, unspectacular photo. I’m taking a risk showing what actually came straight out of my camera versus what I did to it on the computer. I’m trusting that you won’t be too judgmental!