What a life I get to live.
 
My wife and I drove home the other night from Trevecca Nazarene University, after seeing a Jon Foreman concert. We laughed at the incredible recent chain of events we had experienced. Only in Nashville can you attend a show for $6, win meet-and-greet passes without applying for them, and get to hang out with the Switchfoot frontman before he plays an exclusive show for which you have front-row seats. What a life, indeed.
 
Incidentally, I had a phone conversation with a friend from high school over the weekend. He used to be kind of an apathetic dude, and so I was surprised to hear that he was moving across the country, relocating for a new job in Seattle. We talked for over an hour about how his attitude had changed in the past few years. At the end of the conversation, he declared, "I just want the most out of life..."
 
I had to agree. I think I've sold myself short more often than not, relegating the abundance of life that Jesus spoke about to Bible stories and motivational speakers, as if God didn't want that same kind of freedom for me. Don't get me wrong here: a good life is more than just positive thinking. Life can be incredibly hard. But life is also beautiful, and I've overlooked the beauty for far too long.
 
Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life and... to the full." That seems to suggest that you can live a full life or an empty one. Like my friend, I'm opting for the fullest way to live. I've wallowed in self-pity and an apathetic spirit for quite awhile, but it seems that God is singing a different tune lately.
 
I know that this can be a risky topic, because it sounds like a "health-and-wealth" Gospel message or something. However, I'm not saying that God wants you to be a happy, rich suburbanite with no worries, and that if you're not making six figures a year, then somehow you're not in his perfect will. Obviously, life can be rough, but when good things happen to bad people (that's us, by the way), we shouldn't put up a fight as we sometimes do. I find that in my own life, I'm fighting grace much more than I'm fighting justice (getting what I deserve).
 
I am passionate about seeing Christians (myself included) embrace their identities as sons and daughters of the King of the Universe, enjoying whatever adventure God has to offer along the way. The other night when Jon sang, "I dare you to move; I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor," I heard him loud and clear.
 
For more reflections and specifics from the Jon Foreman concert, check out my blog "I Hate All Your Show."
 
For more on Jon's new EP project, check out: Seasons Change: Jon Foreman's EP Project.
 
Lastly, read my wife's reflections on the evening with Jon Foreman and the past weekend we shared.

*Photo by Joe Gomez.