What's in a name?

Some of you may be wondering about the name of this blog, "Crashing into Life." Really the name was inspired by Erwin McManus' book The Barbarian Way. In the final chapter he talks about the rhino. I have seen rhinos up-close in Africa. They are beautiful, powerful and potentially dangerous animals. Erwin points out that the rhino can run at a top speed of 30 mph. Who knew? But the catch is that a rhino can also only see about 30 feet in front of them. Does that stop the rhino from running full steam ahead? Absolutely not. That is why the name of a group of rhinos is a crash. Interesting. They are called a crash because of their potential, the potential to crash into anything at any given time. This is how God designed us to live our lives. We are designed to crash into life. Not wreaking havoc or wrecking things, but with an abandon toward the things of faith. We have been hard wired to live life on the edge. We have been conditioned to "live safe." I think it is time for those of us who call ourselves Christians or believers to assume the role of the rhino. That is, to run full blast into each day and know that when we run into something that it is an opportunity for encounter, whether it be an encounter with God or an encounter with people or both. Crashing into life is to live life in the fullness of faith. The writer of Hebrews tells us that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. It is living life with a confidence of collision. That our lives are going to collide with God and people everyday. The question is: What kind of impact are we going to leave? Crashing into life means living each day with the assurance of a collision because we cannot see all the things that the day holds. Just like the rhino, we can only see a short distance into our future. We must not let that fear of what lies beyond our sight hinder us from charging ahead. Charge ahead! Crash into life!