to summarize challenge...

My friend Glenn summarized the CHALLENGE experience really well in his recent note sent out.  Basically he said...

"Faithful is the new Radical."   This is a quote that God has seared on my heart since returning from the Challenge student conference.   In our world, we are always looking for a new or better way of doing things.  I want to be efficient and effective in the work that I do.   As a result, I find myself running to the next thing that will help tomorrow be easier or better. The book of Colossians starts out with who Christ is and what life is about.   Then it transitions to our freedom in Christ.  We are free from the chains that tie us down, and no longer need to live with sin.  I am called to live a holy life that is dead to myself and alive in Christ. I would think the next thing we'd find in Colossians would be, so go help the helpless, feed the hungry, release the slaves, or change the world in my name -- but that is not what is said.  Instead, the Word of God talks about some of the hardest areas for us to consistently honor Him:  "Wives submit to your husbands, husbands love your wives, children obey your parents, husbands don't embitter your children."  (Col. 3:18-21)    Could it be that the most radical life for Christ is found in living  faithfully in the common areas of relationships?  When I hear Jesus say you can sum up the Bible by loving God & loving people, it starts to make me think that faithfulness -- in my relationship with GOD and in my relationships with the people closest to me -- is the Radical life that God has called me to.