Friday, July 22, 2011

"RADICAL"

I hadn't heard of "Cross-Carrying-Chuck" the day my mom rolled down the window and asked me to yell out of the car to the skinny man with a beard and a 7 foot white cross on wheels, who was walking down the Black Mountain road on a sweltering summer day. "What am I supposed to say?" I asked. "Hi" was all I could think of. O course my mom took over from there...she is never at a loss for words, and proceded to ask him if we could take him to lunch. We pulled our car over to the first restaurant we saw...KFC...he stowed his backpack and cross behind some shrubbery next to the entrance.
"I've been on the road 11 years, carried 12 different crosses, and crossed the United States 10 times" was his initial introduction of himself...which I could tell he had said too many times, to too many strangers. "Some people call me Forest Gump!"
I googled Chuck as I got home, and saw a much younger and healthier version of himself on multiple blogs, home videos, and new articles. He really is quite famous! I felt honored to meet someone who had given up what they knew to be normal and comfortable to do something...well, radical! Wouldn't you say that walking across the entire country on foot, sleeping wherever you could, and eating whatever food God provided for you is radical? Chuck had numerous accounts of times that our Papa opened doors for him, provided for him, and created encounters with His people so that Chuck could share God's Agape love. I want to live like that! Oh that we would let God ordain our steps. Oh that we would let our Papa get all the glory for everything that happens in our lives! I just finished watching "The Adjustment Bureau", in which they call God..."The chairman". It was an amusing and well put together film about God ordaining our steps and us not veering from His plan for our lives. (Well, that is my interpretation) The main characters spent the entire movie trying to do what they though was the best plan for their lives...all the while God knew exactly what the best posible outcome would be. It made me think about the choices I have made in my life...and where they will take me. It made me think about how radical I have been...or not been. Our church is reading a book entitled "Radical". Reading it has made me realize that I am not radical enough! How radical were the disciples? How radical was Moses? Are there ANY people in the Bible who were following every step of God's plan that weren't radical?
In order to be radical, we must stop trying to veer from God's plan, and accept that His is the best. He knows us, and He knows the future. When we listen for His directions and obey them at every intersection...then we will be radical...because we will not be living our life for ourself anymore...but living each day to bring glory, worship, and love to the creator of the universe...and that is radical.

No comments: