POST by LIZ: Against Common Sense

The rain drops racing down the back window of the car blurred the vision of my short mother, madly waving goodbye, completely oblivious to the rain soaking her body.  We turned out of the driveway and her image became just a speck in the distance. I turned looking forward but the rain drops hitting the window panes, which then morphed into endless streams, prevented me from shaking off the reality of my mother's tears which poured down her visage.   

"This was a new beginning! " I smiled to myself.  As my eyes absorbed the familiar houses, buildings, people, cars, trees, red telephone boxes and pillar boxes which I had taken for granted, I heard a quiet whisper "Your life will never be the same again,"  and it was true; my life has never been the same since the day I said goodbye. 

To say that there is never a dull moment in my life is an understatement.  Not a day has gone by without some event taking place.  Jed is mostly to blame for this.

  

Dodging fire-burning tire Sandinistas, the copious cop-stopping events, dragging drunken bodies into church, out-of-petrol hitch-hiking tribulations, mall butt slapping accounts, inviting drugged up strangers to live with us in our humble abode, packing up house and moving quickly like clicking fingers, tree chopping lucha-pool fun...the list is perpetual. 

"OMG Liz, did this really happen?" People following Jed's facebook status updates often ask curiously checking the validity of his words. And apart from the odious lies about me not being willing to share my latest, precious block of Cadbury's chocolate, I have to honestly say that the rest of it is true.

When I met Jed, I was instantly attracted to his impulsive, out-of-the-box approach to life.   He would think up the craziest things to do and he never allowed people or circumstances to prevent him from achieving them. "oooh he's zany, spontaneous and carefree" I cooed, as I threw on a pair of shoes so I could run off and get hitched to this wacky fella.

This August will mark our 16th year anniversary and I'd be fibbing if I said I've always cooed those words.  At times this man known as husband has quite often been the bain of my existence!   "Grrrr... he's zany, spontaneous and carefree," I'd harp on to friends willingly listening to my frustrations. 

Jed's decisions have certainly tested my own faith in God and forced me to go deeper in my faith... "We could get robbed, stopped, put-in-jail, lose everything, gain nothing, get hurt, have an accident, die even...." But Jed's faith-filled actions just grin at my physical fears, and God's faithfulness and glory continues to blow my mind.

"He just lacks common-sense" I've uttered seconds after Jed has announced the next crazy plan of the day, whether it be moving countries with only 10 days notice, deciding on a whim to transport rocks the size of Stonehenge in our 12 year old Nimbus, or picking up drugged up teenagers from the side of the road and plopping them next to my precious adolescent daughters.  

God uses Jed to challenge my very core.  Do I really believe?  Do I really trust? Do I really surrender all? Do I really store up treasures in heaven or do I value more earthly materialism?

  

"Let's not allow our physical fears to hinder us from what God has called us to do" Jed urges, twitching as he waits for the okay from my side before he plunges into the next never-a-dull-moment chapter in our life.  

For some reason, I received the preconceived notion that God equaled common sense.  Yet the Bible is riddled with stories of the people we hail as faith-filled acting without an ounce of common sense in their body.  Just recently my spirit has been prompted to carefully read between the lines and point out the moment these heroes crossed over from acting out of common sense to entering the absurd.

It's difficult to grasp just how much they had to say goodbye to common sense as we know the full story. We tend to focus on the success of the event yelling out "Gloria a Dios," but fail to see just how much their actions would have gone against wise prudent advice.

Noah and his boat is classic: He used all his time and energy to build this boat when it hadn't ever rained and there were no signs of a drop on its way.  What a waste of resources, family time, and lack of common sense!

Moses' mother who knowingly sends her precious baby boy floating down the Nile into the hands of the murderous king's daughter. If that wasn't stupid I don't know what was! I can imagine the words I'd have to say to her before I knew it would all work out for the glory of God!

David facing Goliath, Gideon reducing the size of the army, Moses hitting a rock for water,  not to mention Jesus himself with all the miracles he performed and his strange expectations of his disciples.    

They all had two things in common; they trusted God and said goodbye to common sense.