An Extraordinary Life

“Extraordinary things happen to extraordinary people” Reepicheep in The Chronicles of Narnia and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

As many of you may know I am a bit of a Narnia fan, in face one of the sayings that the youth from FUMC Katy often remind me of is “Thats Amazing like Narnia”. Since I have been here in Cambodia I have since finished reading all of the books from the series. I find great inspiration in the tales that they tale.  So when I saw the newest Narnia movie in the DVD store I had to get it.

At one point in the movie the lovable mouse character named Reepicheep in comforting a young boy who has been turned into a dragon by no fault of his own, says the words at the top of this post. “Extraordinary things happen to extraordinary people.” That got me thinking.

At first thought I found myself disagreeing with the idea that some people are extraordinary and so these things happen to them. Its like the idea that there are students and then their are “gifted” students. In saying that a group of kids are “gifted” in my opinion your telling a whole lot of other people that they are everything but. However, then I started to think about this in a different light.

Its not that some people are born extraordinary, in fact in all of history I can only really think of one person who was born extraordinary, but even then he wasn’t born a king or in a palace but in a manger. No, I tend to think that being extraordinary comes from within, and is not limited to only certain people but found in all children of God. It seems to be about choosing to live the extraordinary life we are all capable of.

Like so many other things in the world we are given a choice. We can choose to live a boring, mundane life, day by day, just doing whatever we can to get through the day. We can also choose to take our lives, regardless of what they look like, and turn them into something special. This is not a matter of affluence, though it would be nieve to think that money doesn’t bring with it opportunities that the poor may never have. That being said it may be that affluence brings with it more challenges than advantages. Regardless, I see people everyday who are extraordinary and they aren’t this way because they were born so, or because they have a lot of money, because most of them I know dont. They are extraordinary because when given the choice to care for others or take care of number one, they choose to take care of others. They are extraordinary because they choose to be.

I honestly can’t even to begin to name these people because there are way to many but they all inspire me to be more. I was going back and reading some of my old blogs and I came across one about dreaming big. I feel like this fits well with that idea. In order for extraordinary things to happen we have to be able to open ourselves up to allowing those things to happen, sometimes, many times that means taking a leap of faith. But if we take that leap of faith then I promise you extraordinary things will happen.

I am taking one of those leaps of faith. This week we hope to break ground on what we have dubbed the “Home for Hope” project. No I have not already raised the 6000 dollars for the building, but we have been told my the supplier of the materials that we may pay for the materials after the job is completed. So for now all we need is money to pay the workers, which I feel confident that through pledges we can pay for. The rest is a gigantic leap, hoping that the money comes together as we feel confident that it will. The fact of the matter is that what God is doing, through our hands, is really the extraordinary thing and we are just blessed to be a part of it all.

Extraordinary things are happening all around us everyday, we simply have to choose to be a part of them. So what am I going to work on doing this year as a sort of resolution? I am going to dream big and settle for nothing less than an extraordinary life grounded in unrelenting faith in God to partner with me in all that I do. I feel confident that this year is going to yield some extraordinary results. The real question is will you choose to be extraordinary, or let the ebb and flow of life lull you into an apathetic slumber. I pray that you choose to be extraordinary, cause after all thats what we were all created to be. Thanks be to God!

Posted in: Hope, Personal, Revelation