Real Purpose

"This is true joy in life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."

- George Bernard Shaw

Where is the place you have felt most real? Your most purposeful? The place your true self let fly. Maybe it's when you're with a certain person. Maybe you have a place where you feel most at home. Maybe you have a song that helps you really dance like no one is watching. Maybe none of those things are true and you struggle with consistently being who you are.

Today I post about a special place - Frontier Ranch, a Young Life Camp in Buena Vista, CO. Some places are just special, and Frontier is one of those places. The heart behind Young Life camping is to bring people, high schoolers, out of their normal environment to a place that is anything but normal. The end goal is to have purpose; to find their real selves, in the heart of their God.

At home we wear identities like cloaks. They protect. They hide us. They are the mask everyone sees. 

"The fact is, He just wasn't interested in those who fake it."

- Francis Chan, Crazy Love

I propose a new identity. One of Belief. The dedicated: "Joy is something that we have to choose and then work for it," a statement made by Pastor and author, Francis Chan on our human identity as people sold out as children of God. May we be people who are obsessed with his or her character than comfort. 

Young Life Camo is a place that opens up a ton of doors in the heart in order so that we may hear our true purpose. The tens of thousands of teenagers who have walked on those grounds catch glimpses of it, and for some it is a place that shakes them to the very core of their being. They walk away knowing who they are meant to be without the masks. Without the crafted identities that guard their true selves. They leave free.

"In our quest of the extraordinary, we often overlook the importance of the ordinary, and I'm proposing that a radical lifestyle actually begins with and extraordinary commitment to ordinary practices..."

- David Platt, Radical

I've realized there is no comfortable alternative. Risking it all is the only option. Help our love to be reckless and free. Take every fiber of our beings and use it to live freely in the life we have been given. May we be taught to live and love with abandon. When we are Loved we are secure in ourselves. 

And as always, we cannot do it alone. This sort of life is meant to be lived together. "We will need to show one another how to give liberally, go urgently, and live dangerously," (Platt, Radical). 

My hope for you today is that you would catch the vision of purpose and that your would know your true self. That life would not be weary, but a place to newness and desire. A life of realness is waiting for you.