Loved beyond reason

"Life should be a series of daring adventures launched from a secure base"

As a military child, many of my years were spent establishing this secure base; daring adventures we definitely had, a secure base well that came much later...or so I had thought.  When I was young, I wanted to grow up and be a USMC F18 pilot who spent their time in the air soaring above all, on ships cruising throughout the world (when I wasn't flying) and constantly seeking new adventures!!  I desired to see the world, to see all of God's creation and people!  I still do, I just do it a bit differently these days.

There is always something calming about being able to look out onto the ocean and realize how small I am, how insignificant my problems are compared to this big ocean, and to recognize that I'm not alone in this world.  God told Abraham that his descendants would be as vast as the stars in the sky...my favorite time to go to the beach is at night; to look up and see all those out there struggling, surviving, thriving, loving just as I am.  I find peace there.  

SO where do these daring adventures come in?  They come in the ordinary, mundane everyday life.  They come in the heading to the airport and buying a random ticket to anywhere.  They come with a long itinerary that you throw out the window and just allow yourself to be.  In the book of Psalms we are told to "Be still and know that I am God". When you realize how unconditionally loved you are, when you accept that love and pursue that love; the ordinary becomes extraordinary.  

Love is your secure base.  It is something you can always take with you, it is something that you can always go back to.  When my dad would deploy, it was like love walked right out of the door.  We had to, like many military families, learn to adapt and overcome. We had to learn what it meant to let go of love, what it meant to not have him there for important times (i.e birthdays, holidays, major events).  We quickly learned that even though he wasn't there, his love still was.  Like our earthly fathers, we have a heavenly Father who loves us.  He truly loves us and unlike our earthly fathers, will never fail us (we're all human right, we're destined to fail at some point).

When I realized that my secure base was my faith, I quickly realized that it had been there all along.  I may not have always been strong in my faith, but God was always strong for me.  He was always pursuing me.  He chased after me when I had gone off on an adventure without anyone there to protect me or love me.  He chased after me like the one sheep that ran away from the other 99!  And he chases after you as well.  He is always with you, always waiting for you to call on him to save you, always ready to pour out his love and his grace into your hearts.  

Today, he invites us to participate in the Passion of Christ.  He leads us to the cross to show us that there is nothing that we can do to separate us from the love of God, not even death!  How awesome is that.  Today I hope that you take a moment to realize that you are loved beyond reason.

Make the jump, go off on a daring adventure, trusting that your secure base will never fail, never leave, and always be waiting with open arms!!!