Wide Awake

Yesterday I had the chance to really start to recharge after last week's adventures! All of my 4 kiddos were either busy at a camp or grandmas or in Georgia, so I had the whole morning by myself! Ahhh! Just what I needed! I found the closest bookstore, and spent 3 and a half glorious hours studying, praying, reading, and feeding my weary soul!!

One of the books I picked up while I was at the bookstore was "Wide Awake" by Erwin McManus. Whereas I don't always totally agree with everything Erwin teaches, I recently heard him talk about his new book and wanted to look at it more closely. Once I started reading "Wide Awake", I had a hard time putting it down. It got me all fired up and even more excited about living "wide awake"!

In his book, Erwin challenges us to put an end to all the "sleepwalking and settling", and reminds us that each one of us was created by God for a reason. That God has called us to live as Jesus did-a heroic life, void of monotony, teeming with danger, adventure, and the unknown. Living "wide awake" is about realizing that the world desperately needs us to live up to our God-given potential. Erwin shares...

"We need to live wide awake because there are
diseases killing millions and we need to find a cure,
famines leaving multitudes starving and we need to provide food,
economies leaving families homeless and we need to create opportunities for work and wealth,
genocide that must be stopped,
slavery that must be ended,
water wells that must be dug,
children who need to be loved,
relationships that need to be healed,
elderly who need to be cared for,
beauty that needs to be created,
futures that need to be saved, and
dreams that we must not let die or go unfulfilled.."

Sign me up! I WANT TO LIVE "WIDE AWAKE"! I don't want my life to be so focused on me or my comfort or what's for dinner or what's on sale at CVS or whether I'm a size 8 or a 10 or, for crying out loud, what size Jessica Simpson is this week. How easily I can get distracted from what really matters. What matters to God. What is important to Him and to His heart.

Let's live our lives Wide Awake! Let's ask God to use us to make a difference in this lost and hurting world. To reflect His goodness and His grace wherever He might have us...whether it's at Taco Bell, or in an office, or on a missions trip, or in our own neighborhood. Let's live our lives Wide Awake and look for those divine opportunities to be His hands and His feet. Let's live our lives looking for a child that needs love, a friend that needs a hug or an encouraging word, a co-worker that could use a listening ear. Let's live our lives Wide Awake ~ and allow Him to do immeasurably more in and through us than we could even ask or imagine. There is a future that needs to be created, and it is waiting for us all to wake up and get out of bed. The alarm has sounded, and it is time to shake off the slumber. It's time to live, to create, to imagine, to dream . . . Wide Awake. Anyone with me???