A Story In The Darkness

I was thinking about the great stories today. You know, the kind you loved as a kid. The ones that now as adults still make us feel something inside that we can't place our fingers on. The stories in which the most unlikely of heroes find themselves facing impossible odds and willingly go into the most dangerous of places, not because they were unafraid of losing their lives, but rather because they were terrified of losing something that made life have value. Sometimes it was the love of a woman, other times it was the protection of their home or loyalty to their friends, but whatever the valuable thing was the idea of losing it was enough to make them face their worse fears head on.

When I first began the process of planting The Venue the people above me asked that I write down the things I valued the most. Looking back, I think it was a silly assignment, not because it isn't important to know your values, but rather because how can you know what you value until those things have been tested?

Since planting this church just a few short months ago I have questioned many things about my world view and what I find to be of importance. At the same time I have found myself faced with fears and challenges that I have never known before. I have come to the conclusion that a lot of things I used to think were important are not and many of the things I never paid attention to before mean a lot to God. It has been an unsettling process and I'm sure that it has only just begun, but I'm already starting to discover the things and people for which I'm willing to face and fight the darkness for.

Life isn't the same as a fairy tale (at least not like the ones we know) and failure is a real possibility. In fact I will probably fail many times before my part in the story is done and for the first time in my life I can handle that, as long as I fail while attempting to protect the things that truly have value and not the things that matter nothing to God.