Author: Tom Sanders

Our lives are often full of missed opportunities.  We have second guessed ourselves and often missed out on opportunities for growth.  We didn’t take that trip through Europe because work needed us here.  We didn’t jump in to that business opportunity because we were uncomfortable with the risk.

I, like you, can list the opportunities missed.  And later in life we often sit and wonder ‘what if’.  We allowed the fear of the unknown, or the weight of responsibilities to hold us back.  Or we kept ourselves to where we felt comfortable.  We stayed with the status quo.  And yet this isn’t how we were meant to live.

We were meant to live on the edge.  Like Jim Carrey in ‘Yes Man’ who was launched into the adventure of a lifetime simply by saying yes, we were meant to live outside the box.  We only get to come this way once.  God doesn’t believe in recycling.  My friend always says “Life isn’t a dress rehearsal.  We only get to do this once.”  We don’t get to come back and try again.

“We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered.”~ Tom Stoppard

My new question to myself is ‘What is stopping you?’  The dreams and ideals held deep within that we desire to see fulfilled, what is stopping you?   I have begun a new line of thinking in my life.  My new motto is becoming ‘Just Do It!”  Instead of holding to the norms of life, I am deciding to walk a new path, to set out in new directions and to set my eyes on new heights.  I don’t mean to walk away from the responsibilities and obligations we have in life.  But just  to begin to take some chances and launch out into  the adventure that God intended life to be.  I am beginning to look forward to the life He has for me.

Security is something we all are looking for in life.  Something that we know we can count on no matter what.  And in this day and age it is seeming to be harder and harder to find.  We used to have job security.  People would work for the same company from the day they were old enough to work until they retired.  Companies were loyal to their employees and your job could be expected to be there each day as you went to work.  In today’s economy this is a thing of the past.  If you have a job your one of the lucky ones, and we are willing to make cuts and sacrifices to ensure we still have that job.

Security was also something we felt when we came home.  We could close the door and shut the big bad world out.  There was even a time when we didn’t lock our doors.  The world around us was a safe place and we were secure in that knowledge.  We were then safe and secure in our homes.  We could always come home and get away from it all.  Today home security system sales continue to increase.  We now need electronic systems guarding us for us to feel safe and secure.

Marriages used to be something we could feel secure in.  Rarely did you hear of a marriage ending in divorce.  Today this is a different story.  And estimated 50% of first time marriages now end in divorce.  The numbers increase the more times you get married.  67% for second marriages and and estimated 75% for third.  The days of till death do us part are over.  Seems we can feel secure only if we keep our partner feeling good.

All the things we used to feel secure in are disappearing.  The question is were they ever secure to begin with?  Helen Keller said “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”   So if security is simply a superstition why do we chase after it so hard?  I heard this quote recently and have begun to rethink my life accordingly.  Why is it we seek to find a sense of security when our hearts cry out for a sense of adventure.

I have found one thing in my life that I can be secure in.  My relationship with God.  He has promised to never leave me, to work everything for good, meaning I can’t make a mess so big He can’t use for good, and to always accept, love and forgive me unconditionally.  So even though life around me is in constant change and not always for the good I can always be secure in the fact that  I am never alone and there is a wonderful purpose for me to fulfill.  And my purpose is a custom designed, perfectly fitted adventure just for me.  The nice thing is the same can be said for you.  God doesn’t play favorites and what He has given me He is willing to offer to you as well.  I am jumping into the adventure with both feet and launching forward into the unknown.  I welcome you to join me in the excitement.

I must say that having an injury that perpetually won’t heal is frustrating.  At week 10 now I got to see my doctor for more xrays.  My thumb is still broken and still not healing.  And what I wanted to hear least I got to hear.  Again the doctors comment was another 4 weeks.  Seems like every time I get to see him he says something similar.

Everything in me just wants to get on with life and get back into the groove.  And yet my thumb keeps me held back.  And having never broken anything before I have no framework to go on.  So I can’t even know if something I am doing is adding to the wait, or if this is simply normal.  Kinda adds to the frustration.

However there are many other things the doctor could have said that could have been much worse.  I am still on the mend, but at least I am mending  and will be able to learn from the experience.  At least to not stick my thumb between moving objects 🙂