Jared



The title of this post would make a great book title. Have you considered writing WAH as it should have been? I'm being serious.

By the way, I work as an computer geek working on - yes - Risk Management systems (not the insurance kind, the trading kind). Ironic because I am also risk-averse in life. It's my greatest struggle - being bold, taking chances, etc.



This is such a great post, Jared

It's funny, at the moments in my life that I was actually taking risks, it didn't seem risky. But when I sit back and settle into a routine, I am seriously risk-averse. That's a good challenge, Jared. And I agree with Bill about the post title and WAH-rebut idea.

Thanks, guys.



Have you considered writing WAH as it should have been?



Heh. No.

The danger in these kind of posts is that it can sound like I've got it all figured out, as if maybe I'm talking to people "out there" only. But this was really as much for me as for anyone else. Bill, whatever risks you're avoiding, I firmly believe you're at least further along than I am.



It is a constant struggle for me to be doing what I believe God has called me to do. It doesn't feel too "wild" staying at home with two little girls all day. (Okay, sometimes it can get pretty wild, but you know what I mean.)

And I try to take comfort in whatever ministry I can offer through my writing efforts and my teaching at church. But even those things are relatively "private" efforts.



I want to do something BIG for the kingdom. I think perhaps I will someday, that maybe I just need to make sure I keep pursuing excellence in the exercise of the gifts God has given me and participating in the community of believers (which I think is so key for a lot of Christians today who think they can just go it alone and be "okay"). I guess as long as I'm following, I'll get where He's going. But in the meantime, I long for that wildman faith I see in so many others.



And that is why I'd never entertain the idea of writing such a book. It'd take a lot of hubris to try to pull that off.

Good post, Jared.

I once heard a quote from I-can't-remember, which I'll paraphrase: It's a tragedy that we only have faith for that which we can accomplish ourselves.



God bless.

Why can't you writing a better WAH not be the BIG thing? I think the key to writing for the believer is that the writer doesn't have it all together, but he's learning and sharing what he's learned along the way.

Great post Rod.



This does sound an awful lot like what I think Eldredge had in mind in WAH. The "get off your duff" (my words) comments are some of the positive concepts that I picked up from WAH.



I see so much Christian apathy it often breaks my heart.

I long for that wildman faith I see in so many others.



I think you're being too hard on yourself because you're not taking into account that following Christ is a multi-faceted thing. Who follows Christ more, the hard man with good doctrine, or the nice man with bad doctrine? The man who prays or the man who studies his Bible? The person who faithfully raises another generation, or the person who has a glamorous and apparently "scary" ministry?



These things can't be quantified and plotted on a single chart. They are all pieces of it, plotted on different axes and measured in different units.



1 Timothy 2 outlines part of the Christian walk for men and women. Paul goes through some stuff women aren't permitted to do, and then ends with "Ladies, if 'all' you do is faithfully raise your children, you've done very well." And that's plainly contrasted with the bolder, public role he describes for men.



My point is, a dangerous discipleship to an unsafe God will look radically different in the lives of different folks. And for a great many of us, it looks strangely like faithfully hitting the daily grind, serving in our local churches, raising our families, loving our spouses, etc. And that's noble and honorable. Just because it's common doesn't make it "safe" or "inferior" or "little".