Radical Challenge.

Rich towards God,
In money
And in time
And in love
And in praise.

What does that look like? In every planned phase, in every month, in every job and relationship and task, how can I be rich towards God?

I don’t really know what I’m doing tomorrow, let alone next year. But I do have a plan for my life. My plan is to be rich towards God.

I’m going to take the Radical challenge. But I don’t want to just jump in haphazardly. So I’m going to start on January 1. Until then, I’m praying about how I should give money sacrificially. Sponsor a child? I already help sponsor Steve in CA. He sometimes acts like a child. Give to the Cooperative Program? I love the work Southern Baptists do, but I don’t know that I want to be tied to a denomination. I want to discover my passion, and give to an organization that is in line with my passion.

Ha – Krochet Kids.

But seriously – what is my passion? What is it that excites me about life?

I’ve grown really proud of my friend Kristina lately. She knows her passion in life: she loves to travel. And she is doing that. Every available ounce of her heart, energy, and money go seem to go toward living passionately on a plane, in foreign environments, and with new people. I admire her tenacity, how she knows what she wants and she pursues it. (I spent close to $100,000 at college studying to be a teacher, and I don’t even know if I want to teach after all, at least not in a traditional classroom. I don’t think. I don’t know.) But Kristina just says, “Hey, this is the next country I want to go to, or the country I want to return to, so I’m going to go there next summer. I might do this when I get there, or I might do this, but I’m not sure yet. I just know I want to be there.”

I guess that’s how adventures always start. You get an idea: “This sounds good.” Then you just… Go with it. Being rich towards God – that seems like the start of an adventure. I don’t know how I’ll get there and I don’t know if I’ll know when I get there. I don’t think they’ll stamp my Passport at customs in “RichtowardsGodlandia.” (Side note – I still have that valid Bangladesh Visa. I should go.)

People talk about what they’re passionate about. I talked a lot about myself today. I’m passionate about proclaiming my own kingdom come, furthering my own agenda – at least judging by today, I am. I talk about crocheting often, and I do it a lot. I talk about education and Africa and living in a hut. Lately I’ve been talking about Mr. Darcy (so much so, that I think my Dad is sick of hearing his name).

2011 is almost over. It’s always at this time of year that I get all nostalgic and think about what I did and didn’t do over the last year. And it’s when I make plans for the next year. I’ll be doing that seriously soon – be excited. And live passionately.