Risky Business (no, this is not about an 80’s movie)
Risk: exposure to the chance of injury or loss; a hazard or dangerous choice (so says dictionary.com).
I think I really learned what the word “risk” meant when I was home for the summer during my freshman year at college. Allow me to explain: my “guy” friends (we all know what that statement means, right?) and I went swimming every Sunday night. We called it “SNS” (Sunday night swim). This festive event began around 9:00 p.m., and it happened every Sunday night throughout the summer. We would begin in our church parking lot (where the most deviant plans are surely hatched), and “borrowed” a church van for our adventure (we had to have it, because we all had to ride together...you understand how to justify to get what you want, right?). The adventure led us to Lake Norman (outside of Charlotte, NC...by the way, close to where “home” is for me). Now, one wouldn’t see much danger and risk to swimming at night in a lake (except my mom), but you don’t know the full context of this risk. Not only was it night, and not only did we “borrow” a church van (don’t ask more details, please), but we went swimming at an abandoned dock at an abandoned house with no lighting.
As young college gentlemen will do, we developed a habit of “crashing” this abandoned dock and making it our own, complete with a gas grill. We didn’t realize the risk until we noticed, one blissful, warm summer night, the flashing blue lights by our van. So what did we do? Did we count our losses and pack up to apologize for trespassing? No way. We swam out into the lake further so we couldn’t be seen (college boys lack the mental capacity to think with brilliance at times). We didn’t stop to think that the church van actually had the name and address of the church on it, and that there was a call being made to the church.
I won’t go into the whole story, but I will say we were not arrested (which could have easily happened due to the following charges: grand theft auto, trespassing, littering, disorderly conduct, and being idiots swimming at an abandoned dock at night, just to name a few). The cops laughed at us and a smooth talking member of our group helped us justify the church van situation. In our case, the risk was definitely not worth the reward.
I wonder sometimes how God looks at his decisions. I understand that he is infallible and omni-everything, but I wonder if he looks at the risk of his love versus the decisions we (humanity) make. The life of Christ exists so my life can be worth living; so that I can have a future. How many days go by that I make decisions that jeopardize this promise? How often do I, like a genius young independent college freshman, pay more attention to my immediate satisfaction over the eternal reality? We are all, at times, like those boys at the abandoned dock, swimming further away.
“Create in me a clean heart, Oh God; and renew a right spirit within me.”
-David (the poet king)
on a more personal and solemn note, the below video is, in my opinion, the new risky business video that should replace the 80's original
ok, take the risk,
n
