A Dream, A Purpose

A few days ago, I was on Instagram, and I saw this post by Jon Acuff. (If you don't know who he is, you're living under a rock. And also, you should really find out who he is, because he's stinkin' hilarious and also really smart and a Christian.)

I was intrigued. I had no idea what he had posted, but I wanted to find out. When I went to his blog, I saw another post that simply said that if you were up for an adventure, email your name. address, and phone number to Jon. I was standing in the halls of CCA while Jorie was in VBS, and I quickly went into my email, filled it out, and then I... hesitated. What kind of adventure? What would this entail? I hadn't even read his latest book, Start, yet, so maybe I wasn't even qualified for this journey. But I felt a strange nudging from the Lord, so I sent it.

And then I forgot about it. Hey, it's been a busy week. That was four days ago, and since then I've driven to Collinsville six times, ran errands in Fairview, inventoried books, finished a yearbook, and started planning Jorie's birthday party. Jon who?

And then yesterday, I received an email back. It simply said, "The adventure is a go! Join this secret Facebook group to get the details." And anytime Jon Acuff emails you, you don't say no. Without giving too much of the secret away, here is what's happening, in Jon's words:

Welcome to the Start Experiment. 

Do you know what fear, fears?

Fear fears community.

Fear always tries to isolate you and put you on an island as if you’re the only one on the planet bumping into challenges. 

But how do you build community in a rapidly disconnecting culture?

That is the question the Start Experiment seeks to answer.

And it starts with an adventure. 

We’re picking teams of 24 people to risk 1 new thing individually for 24 days.

The group goes on to explain the logistics of it. And in the 24 hours since I've joined, people (there are 675 in the group so far) have been introducing themselves and connecting with others. I've already met another GC alum and someone else from the StL. There are college students looking to begin life even before graduation; there are people in their 50s and 60s looking to rectify regrets. And there are those of us in the middle who are ready for God to shake things up. 

I'm reading Start now. It's great. You should read it, too. And it's got me thinking. I'm a wife, a mom, a teacher, a friend. But am I average, or am I awesome at those things? Are there unfulfilled dreams in my life? Is there a purpose I haven't yet grasped? 

So to think aloud, here is what brings me absolute contentment, in no particular order (excluding relationships): reading, writing, music, and learning about the Holy Spirit and its power. 

I haven't defined any dreams. I don't know if I want to build an orphanage in Haiti or travel the country as a Christian speaker. Do I want to write a best-selling book or dig wells in Africa? Do I want to travel with missions teams to Indonesia or market Christian singers? What is my purpose? What's a dream that I've been too scared to start? 

I'm not sure. But I think that by embarking on this challenge, I'll get closer to discovering all that God has in store for me. I'm ready to live with purpose, even before I've defined it. In the roles already defined in my life, I want to be awesome.

What are your unfulfilled dreams?