I learned to be thirsty

I learned what thirst was in Fort Collins, CO, inside and out. Up until then I didn't know what real thirst was like.

I was house-sitting for the summer but thought I would use the opportunity as a spring board to launch out on a life of adventure. I was an obsessed rock-climber, surfer, and free-spirit who had know idea what to do with his college degree.

Within a week of landing in Fort Collins I found Grey Rock just off the road 20 miles from town. I was an easy six mile hike. I didn't take into account that I was new to altitude and it was summer. I had never hiked trails so steep you could see the switchbacks right next to you.

Wait, it gets better.

I didn't see the looks on seasoned peoples' faces as I started to RIDE my mountain bike up the trial, then walk it, then carry it.

I didn't think it odd I had only 12 ounces of water and no food.

So I made it to the summit, all dizzy from lack of food, water, the heat, altitude and excursion and started back...on the wrong side of the mountain.

Oh wait, it gets better.

I was trashed from trying to ride my bike down trials that are listed as "difficult" to hike so I began to literally THROW my bike down the mountain over the switch backs. By the time I got back to my car I was never the same, nor was my bike.

We think we know what we are doing, but in a new land we really never know what to expect.

Enter the life of following Jesus;

Jesus said, “You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, 

it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to—to God’s kingdom.”

“How can anyone,” said Nicodemus, “be born who has already been born and grown up? 

You can’t re-enter your mother’s womb and be born again. 

What are you saying with this ‘born-from-above’ talk?”

Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. 

When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. 

But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.

“So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—

out of this world, so to speak. 

You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. 

You hear it rustling through the trees, 

but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. 

That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”

John 3:4-8 (Message translation)

It was that summer in Colorado that God grabbed hold of me. It was uncharted territory for me, this new life of following a God I never knew. I had no one around me who had hiked this trial to ask, no one to tell me what to bring, where the trail led. Nothing. 

I just saw where the trial was and what was at the end and walked....

It has not been easy. 

I have at times gotten off trail. 

I have thrown my bike. 

I have been hungry.

I have been disoriented. 

I have thirsted. 

But God has not left my side. He promised he never would. 

Jesus once addressed a group of people and warned them it would be like this;

One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one’s own self!—can’t be my disciple. 

Anyone who won’t shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can’t be my disciple.

“Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, 
doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it? I
f you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you’re going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: ‘He started something he couldn’t finish.’

“Or can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? 
And if he decides he can’t, won’t he send an emissary and work out a truce?

“Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be my disciple." 
Luke 14:26-33

Is it worth it? 
That is up to each one of us to decide. What exactly is "it" we are being asked to forsake everything else for? 

I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! 
They’re his people, he’s their God. 
He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. 
Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.” 
The Enthroned continued, “Look! I’m making everything new. 
Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate.”