Risky Business

Everyone likes a good story. When you get a good one, one of those that you just can’t seem to put down, everything around you seems to fade into the background. You become completely and totally engrossed in what you’re doing and nothing else matters. Why is this? Every good story contains a few necessary details. Obviously stories need a main character. Stories without those along with stories about sparkling vampires tend to annoy me. Every literature class will also tell you that the main character also needs to undergo some sort of struggle. And this is the crux of story. Struggle. Struggles happen when risks are taken and risks are taken when there is something greater than the main character to hope for. As I sit in this car dealership waiting for a certain German car manufacturer to ruthlessly bleed me dry for car repairs, I can see a few sad stories. There’s a man adding another appointment to his already busy schedule on his Blackberry. There’s another man reading magazine after cheap gossip filled magazine, no doubt laughing about the sad love life of some famous movie star. Then there’s a woman who is desperately moving chairs in her quest for a power outlet because an hour without a laptop is of course too unbearable of a catastrophe to even imagine. Don’t get me wrong, there’s not a single thing wrong with business appointments, magazines, and elusive power outlets. The problem is when this becomes the focus of our own story. When the monotony of a daily life becomes all there is to life or when we are completely content with a routine that never pushes us mentally or spiritually, our story turns to tragedy and we become nothing more than people fulfilled with yesterdays. When this happens we are most likely not taking risks.
In the Bible we can read of the popular risk-taking story of how Peter tried to walk on water with Jesus (Matthew 14:28-32). People tend to focus on Peter’s failure to muster enough faith to walk around and maybe do a dance number or two on the water. But I think we could also look at Peter’s amazing risk. In verse 24 the author tells us that the wind and waves were beating the boat. I doubt that climbing out of a violently rocking boat in the middle of a storm in an attempt to walk around on the waves was the first or seemingly most reasonable idea that popped into Peter’s head. But he had something better in sight. Jesus, Peter’s mentor and friend stood calmly on the churning waves and beckoned to him. Even though Peter didn’t walk around for a prolonged period of time, he still walked on water. One man went out of the boat while eleven stayed behind. For the Jews this whole situation would have been highly symbolic of the Exodus. There was a Jewish tale that said when Moses parted the waters of the Red Sea so the Israelites could escape the Egyptians, some of the first Jews to cross began to sink in the water. Moses then came to these drowning Israelites and saved them by pulling them out of the sea with his staff.
In each instance, when God’s people take risks and sink, God insures that they are pulled back up. So I guess my point is take risks. Not the stupid ones we recklessly try to pull off to make ourselves seem cool but instead the risks that have a good and clear focus. Maybe we’ll sink, but then again maybe we’ll walk on water. Don’t sit in German car dealerships making plans and forgetting to live the story known as our lives. One of the great Johns of history (not an apostle…a Beatle) once said, “Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.” Live that life for something greater and enjoy the risks that make our story exciting.