Risk

You remember being a kid and jumping from the top of the jungle gym?

I sure do.  I was in third grade at Albany Elementary School in southeastern Ohio.  Everyday during recess we’d run out to the playground and work our way up to the fourth set of bars from the ground.  Jumping from the first two levels of bars was our warm-up.  It was easy, and honestly, not much fun.

Things got a little more interesting on the third level.  It was a little scary to jump from there.  I remember my feet on the smooth metal, one hand reaching back behind me and up slightly to the fourth bar.  I’d jump and the dust would swirl, my feet would thump as I landed on the ground.

Then there was the fourth bar.  We would crouch on that top level, our hands gripping the same bar our feet rested on; with nothing above us to provide stability.  One didn’t jump so much as fall – trying to push out from the edge of the bars enough to clear them.

I had lots of callouses from hanging on tightly to that fourth bar.

This memory came back to me over the past couple of days after reading about Bishop Jones’ hitch hiking experience.  That journey seems to be pivotal in his life.  He said in his interview that he started to go back to church after spending two hours with a complete stranger who happened to be a Christian.

This is from a guy who could not have a better Methodist pedigree.  Three generations before him were Methodist pastors.  He was raised in a Christian home.

But those hours with a truck driver who picked him up on the side of the road changed his life.

Vulnerability, courage, risk…at Commission Possible, I think Bishop Jones might have a few things to teach us about Evangelism.

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Tags: Bishop Scott Jones, Commission Possible, Evangelism

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