Risks

It was my 20th time into Sherwin Williams paint store. Okay maybe not 20th but close enough. I could not make a hard and fast decision about the exterior paint color of our home. I thought I had my mind set on something but if you have ever painted anything you know that sometimes what the paint color looks like on the little card is not necessarily what it looks like on your wall or on the siding of your home. But it was about 2 weeks ago when I had decided I was walking into this paint store for the last time. To decide an exterior color at least, I knew there would be more drama ahead for the interior but this was the final decision for the exterior. I had gone round and round between light browns, dark browns, medium browns, I was playing it safe. Because that is what I usually do. I am not generally a risk taker. I like control, organization, and safe colors thank you very much. But I had a weak moment and in what I would like to call, giving in to my builder(he wanted red all along), I took a risk. I went with red.

Now part of my worry was that this house already stands out enough, I did not need to paint it barn red to bring anymore attention to it. But I went with Rustic Red just to show I can be a little crazy every once in awhile. Well, last week the exterior was painted and it is absolutely gorgeous if I do say so myself. It has turned out better than I could ever have expected.

Tonight I was reading a newsletter from Bob Lupton. Bob started a ministry in Atlanta www.fcsministries.org a lot like the Binghampton Development Co in Memphis, in fact the BDC actually studied Bob's ministry before they got started. Braxton and I have a lot of respect for Bob. He is a very wise man with lots of "hood" experience. We even had the privilege of having him come to our home one time. He has written a book called Return Flight that I highly recommend. Anyway, in his newsletter this month he speaks of risks. Not paint color risks but real risks. It made me laugh because I realized that truly I have been a risk taker all along I was just wondrously covered in God's grace so much I did not even realize it.

This is what Bob says when speaking of cross-cultural ministry, "If we were aware of all the potential pitfalls, if we understood all the risks, if we waited until the way ahead was safe and predictable, we probably would never embark on the journey."

I am so glad that God did put some risk taker into this obsessive compulsive, type A, pick a safe color so your neighbors won't gawk, body. I am glad because so far this journey He has had us on for the past 4 years has been amazing and just like the red paint color of my home, it has been better than I could ever have expected.