Comfort Seekers and Risk Takers Part 2
Neither of these are right or wrong. Depending upon the season of our lives one can definitely be better than the other. The trying issue is determining which of these we should be at this moment.
This is also compounded by several factors. Some take risks in order to acquire more comfort. Some refuse risk in order to maintain or even protect comfort. Some take risk without regard to comfort. Some are motivated by greed. Some are motivated by pride. Some are motivated by God. Some are motivated by guilt and shame. Some are motivated by a moral desire to just do the right thing.
So, the questions with which we are left are:
Is it the right time?
What is my motivation for seeking comfort or for taking risk?
What fears are involved?
When I fail is there room for redemption?
Outside of the Box Thinking Results in…a Box
I once thought about being an architect. I love creating living spaces. I can still remember designing my first house in seventh grade shop class taught by an incredible teacher, Mr. Vincent. Since then I have had the privilege of designing and building all three of the houses in which Kristi and I have lived, but I never thought of doing something like this… 
It’s not just any box, but a box of glass that also happens to be a house. That’s right, a house. The story is that a family bought property on which there was a very old house in Lithuania, but the house was not considered large enough for the family. Traditional thinking would be to some how fabricate an addition to the house that imitated the original architecture.
The result; however, is anything but traditional. It is stunning! Instead the architect designs a glass enclosure of the house and makes some living space very public, like eating and kitchen and even hallways and entryways. Bedrooms, bathrooms, and other private living space is contained in the original house. I still wonder what they did with the original fireplace and chimney. It is still there but did they exhaust it through the roof and is it still useful? There is a lot about this structure that boldly allows the residents to live their lives in public, while making space for some mystery. For instance, I love the fact that the people at www.coolhunter.com don’t show us what the builders did inside to the traditional house.
Transition to traditional thinking about being the Church. While the Internet’s impact on our culture is relatively new and at the same time rapidly evolving I wonder how traditional ways of being the Church will need to change. Can the cultural norms for communication like email, texting, Facebook, and Twitter replace good old fashion face-to-face, or might it just need to encapsulate the personal? While some struggle to answer the Either-Or questions I think we need to start figuring out better ways to do Both-And. When it comes to being the Church what old structures do we need to keep within a modern architecture? How might we encapsulate traditions in a modern way that make our living out the Gospel of Jesus public and mysterious at the same time?
Satisfaction
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; Revelation 7:16 ESV
I often find myself confronted with desires for something else.
We live in the age of instant gratification and entitlement and so it should be no surprise to be bombarded by messages of how life should be.
Just as often; however, I find myself confronted with desires for the status quo.
Neither of those desires are inherently bad, nor inherently good.
What makes those desires bad or good is the seed from which they come, but what blinds us from discovering the seed is the soil, or context, that initiates the growth of those desires.
Often we pursue a change or status quo born out of a wicked seed.
For instance, I may desire a different job, or even just one job. The context that would tend to cloud things for me would include six children, salary, standard of living, free time, pride and location just to name a few.
I might express a desire to get paid more money or to have more free time to spend with my family, but before legitimizing these seemingly good desires I must always realize that I am a sinful and fallen individual. If I am to be like Christ I must sift through the answers I give to the question, “Why?” Most often seeking the counsel of another Christian should be a part of the process of discovering the answer.
When we discover the seed we’ll know if we should proceed.
The next challenge will be discovering the courage to embark.
Where are you feeling this tension? Why are you feeling it? With whom are you sharing it?