I have started this blog a few times tonight…. My wife calls me “shiny boy”, because when something shiny passes by, I am immediately moving on…till some other shiny flash gets my attention… You get the point.
I love the old movies from South Africa and there is one in particular that makes me laugh. It is called “Beautiful People”. One scene has got my attention lately. A man travelling through a very dry area needs to find water. He knows the baboons always stay close to their water source, and that they don’t share the secret. He also knows that baboons are very curious creatures. He makes sure one is watching him while he makes a small hole in an old deserted termite mound. He then throws pumpkin seeds through the hole into the termite mound. The hole is just big enough for the baboon to push his hand through, but when he grabs the pumpkin seeds, and closes his hand to form a fist to keep them, he cannot get his hand back through the hole again. He is either too dumb or stubborn to let go of the seeds so that his hand will come back out of the hole. The man quickly grabs him and he does let go of the seeds, but a little too late. The man then proceeds by feeding the baboon salt for a while to make him really thirsty. When the man lets the baboon go, he leads the man straight to water.
I thought about what a terrific analogy that is for our lives. We hold onto things that we don’t really need, and we hold on tight! We really don’t want to let go. We will hold on even if it kills us, even if it hinders our mobility. If the baboon will just let go of the seeds he will be free and his freedom so outweighs the stuff he is holding on to.
Freedom means different things to different people. We all desire to be free. At our core we want to fly and feel the wind in our hair and go explore what lies behind the next valley. This is what people tell me when I ask them about freedom. Yet somehow we manage to get tangled up in life and like a lion in the zoo we just imagine that there must be more to life than just this cage..…but we never leave the cage.
Jodi and I lived like this baboon for the last few years. It is just now that we are beginning to taste the joy of living free. We were just talking earlier this week about how we’re amazed that after selling our cute little house and nice furniture and other “stuff” that we don’t really miss it at all. Quite the contrary. We’re tasting the glorious freedom of not holding on to our stuff any more. Nothing wrong with stuff, except when it keeps you from where you’re supposed to be….
We are trucking along with our support. We’ve raised about ½ of our monthly goal, so we’ve still got some ground to cover before we can hop on that plane to Swaziland, but we’re getting there. I gave my notice at World Market and my last day will be July 25th. That same day we will fly out to Montana to connect with people and speak in some churches for two weeks. Scary, yet thrilling!! This is BIG for me. This is where I stop offering lip service to this call and start walking in FAITH. Exciting journey of faith, and one that I want to continue living radical and free….
