On the safari, people from California they met on Kili greeted them as the Georgia boys. they have earned a reputation over here. ON the trip, they have been singing A LOT. 1 night on the mountain, they sang Amazing Grace. Their guide, having never heard it. The boys gave him one of their songbooks. I can just imagine ...the atmosphere on that mountain, and the sound of their voices to all the other climbers.
QUOTES FROM TANZANIA! The climbing was the HARDEST physical thing any of them have ever done in their life." "the wind was blowing and it was SO SO cold - no matter what you had on". "Because it was dark, they were not able to see how far they had to trek to the summit - and this was probably a good thing because he sa...id if they had known, they probably would not have been able to do it."
Right now, Seth and the Lion Chasers Team are at the PEAK of Kilimanjaro. The sun is coming up. The weather is perfect. They will start the descent from the mountain top soon.
Seth is back in Arusha from the Massai Village. Apparently, the highlight of their time 150 miles from civilization is that they caught a lone wild goat in the wilderness and had a feast of barbecue'd goat along with local villagers! Can you imagine 10 recent graduates corralling a goat?
Yep! A little jealous of the amazing experiences those guys have had pushing themselves physically, emotionally, spiritually to accomplish something they probably never even dreamed possible ...
and then today, finishing up the last section of the lion chaser book, Batterson poses the thought that perhaps faith = foolishness.
I've been intrigued by the idea ... and how scriptural it is for a while now ... even spoke on it for a few weeks in Gathering a couple of years ago. I think faith in the true sense that God has called us to will look like foolishness to the world around us. I remember a few years ago getting an email from a friend who said, "You are the only person in my life that I know has ever really stepped out in faith ..." Sad. Probably very true for many of us. Most of is live very safe, calculated lives ... seldom risking more than we are pretty certain we can risk ... safely.
And you know what ... we miss out, not just on Mt. Kilamanjaro ... but on a life of adventure God has planned for us.
I Corinthians 1:27-29 says ...
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
Brennan Manning wrote a book a few years ago called The Importance of Being Foolish. In it he said:
Throughout history God has worked in ways that the world would never have imagined or believed. God’s purpose in history is not to glorify man but to glorify Himself by demonstrating the foolishness of man’s wisdom.
Would human wisdom have chosen an insignificant people like the Jews to be the nation among whom God would dwell?
Would human wisdom have chosen the land of Palestine over other places on earth?
Would human wisdom have led the Israelites to be trapped between the Red Sea and the on-coming Egyptian army?
Would human wisdom have instructed the people of God to use their power to help the weak, rather than to use their power to take advantage of the weak?
Would human wisdom have purposed to save Gentiles through the rejection and failure of the Jews, rather than through their triumph?
Would human wisdom have declared that the coming Messiah was to be born of a virgin?
Would human wisdom crucify its Savior for a people who rejected Him?
God’s plan didn’t depend on the “greats.” He appeared to shepherds, not the religious elite. He came as a baby, not a King. He washed the feet of the disciples rather than demanding to be served. He called a ragtag group of nobodies and then used them to literally turn the world upside down after his death and resurrection. He trusted women, loved children, and talked to outcasts. He dined with sinners and touched lepers. He used the foolishness of the world to prove the world to be fools.
Jews and Gentiles may agree on few things, but they mutually hold that the cross of Christ is foolish. The Jews are into power through signs and wonders. They wanted to see signs and wonders. They expected their Messiah to be a wonder worker, here to do their bidding. Even the disciples bought in. The Gentiles were into a different kind of power—mind power, human wisdom. They took pride in following great intellectual thinkers or powerful orators. The message of a humble carpenter’s son, who died as a common criminal on a Roman cross, was not that which the Gentiles sought.
God chose to use people that the world would call "nobodies," and things that it counts as nothing. These are chosen to bring to nought things that are; the existing state of things; the pagan religions, governments, and civilization; these were to be overthrown through the influence of the gospel … a gospel that elevates children and slaves, that values women and sinners, a gospel compelled by love rather than power and servanthood rather than military strength.
WHY has God chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise? For His glory. of course. How better to display who He is than in a vessel incapable of doing it on its own and in a way no one else would dare choose.
How is the way of the cross foolishness? What is foolishness to the world? Not hard to think of ideas!!
Loving without return,
putting others first,
not getting ahead,
selflessness …
that we should turn the other cheek if someone hits us
that we should give someone our coat even if they just ask for our shirt
that we should be willing to give up all our money and follow him
that we should try our hardest to make peace
that we should treat poor people the same as we treat the rich
that we should lay down our lives for our friends
I first discovered these verses a few years ago and I love them because they so characterize life with college students. I frequently think that they MUST be out of their mind ... but I also see that when they are ... it is often for the sake of God, just as Paul says ...
“If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." (2 Cor. 5:13-15)
Yep. The things I see college kids do that seem out of their mind???
• riding a bicycle from Athens to Jacksonville to raise money to send students on missions.
• selling what they have ... or just giving it away.
• driving to Montana to sit in the waiting room while a friend is in ICU
• cooking dinner for a BUNCH of people.
• sitting up all night talking to a friend who is hurting
• having a birthday party for a bunch of Chinese girls who never had one
• serving all over the world for a summer ... without getting paid!
• actually finding out a homeless person's "story"
• doing the most silly, crazy, outrageous things to make people feel loved.
• dropping out of school ... for a season
• getting a tattoo (that's for you, Callie)
... for the sake of the gospel. We all could stand to be a little more foolish ...
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