Bungee jumping for God: It's supposed to hurt

I was playing my guitar for the first time in a few months trying to learn some songs to sing with the youth group in a few weeks. When I took my left hand off the strings I realized that my fingers were blistering.

My thought: 

"OUCH. Praising God isn't supposed to hurt!"

But then I thought about it and realized that everything good we do in life hurts in some way. Sending a kid off to college hurts. Leaving home for college hurts. Taking a new job and moving to a new city hurts. Giving up your "life" to become a missionary in Africa hurts. Let's not forget that we are all called to give up our lives.

And then I thought: Bungee jumping hurts. I mean the whiplash you get is crazy when you're snapped back up and spend your time bobbing up and down mid air. It hurts.

Every good thing, every change, every growth hurts. Think about how painful growing pains are. It hurts to get yourself to a point where you can live your life.

But the best thing about the pain is that something amazing comes with it. When you leave for college you find all of your new friends and have experiences you wouldn't have dreamt of having. When you move to a different country you get to start fresh, and it is amazing.

To make this a little more personal, I recently moved into an apartment in my church to work part time as a Youth Leader. Yeah, when finals hit and I have a meeting to prepare for, it will hurt. Being so away from my parents hurts a bit. But I am being so blessed by all of the goodness that comes with this. My apartment is amazing, and everyone tells me how grateful they are that I am here. It will hurt a little, like my fingers sting in a way that I can't put into words, but I can't put the joy I feel in living here into words either.

Back to the guitar thing, the first few times you play, your fingers hurt so badly you never want to play again. It doesn't even sound like music when you're playing because you can't press down hard enough on ribbed steel strings in order to get it to make a good sound. But the magic of the thing is that when you push through the pain, you develop the ability to play chords, notes, songs, etc. It's an amazing feeling to make music, especially if the music is going back to God.

So yes, following God is supposed to hurt. Growing up and starting your own life is supposed to hurt.

But living His path for your life gives you a high that nothing else can.