Challenge – Life’s Opportunities

Rafting the Arkansas

Some view the challenges life offers up with fear. I view them as opportunities to achieve my goals, set new, better goals, or to change my direction all together. When life gives you a challenge, what do you do?

On a river raft, you drift along with the flow of the water and move faster only when you row ahead. When rocks get in the way, you guide the boat away from the rocks. You choose the course for your boat and encourage the boat to go where you want it to go, hoping the river currents accept your superior choice of direction.

But there’s more…

Before you raft a river, you drive the river and have some clue where the rapids are, how far along the river you can raft safely before you hit high risk rapids, or worse, waterfalls. The objective is to raft the river with expected challenges and know the risk before hand, because you want to successfully raft the river.

Change happens.

Life isn’t always predictable. There are changes that happen without our permission or acknowledgement and those changes are the presentation of challenge in our lives. When those challenges come, you know you can get through, because you have the skills to surpass the challenge presented. You now have the edge.

Confidence.

Once you have the edge, you need confidence to carry you through. This week, I experienced the challenge that builds confidence. I learned some valuable lessons while planning and preparing for a conference. The biggest lesson came at the conference when my star speaker, a man I’d been handed on a silver platter and backed out… With less than 24 hours until the conference started, I contacted him and asked if there was any way he could make an appearance. He worked with me to make the appearance, but at some cost, both to himself and to me.

I gained the confidence to ask him, even in the face of his denial, to appear for the event. He came.

I learned to never take the word of a middle man when I need confirmation from a speaker for an event. I learned to get the facts before the press release. And, I learned that no matter how many awards a person has earned, they’re no different than any other person on the planet.

My speaker lost his pedestal, but he gained my respect.

Challenge Presents – A life Opportunity.

Sand Dunes National Monument – Colorado

Sand Dunes National Monument

Sumer vacations in Colorado almost always mean mountains. Whether we find ourselves in the Sand Dunes or high on a mountain looking out over the valleys or just tromping along a clear mountain view, the opportunity to visit the mountains in the summer just make’s sense.

We love the mountains for many reasons, they’re cool, refreshing, and scenic, to name a few. More than that, they’re an opportunity to see God’s expression in our lives. Although, not everyone sees them as grandeur and majesty, there are those of us who close our eyes on a hard day and visualize escape in the mountains.

Rugged peaks reaching up to the sky, puffy white cluods drifting overhead, clear blue skies, brilliant in their presence, and life in abundance speak to me from the mountain. I understand the blessings of God’s gift, the promise of heaven, best in the mountains. There, I see the opportunity to climb higher and experience the grander side of life, as it is meant to be. I feel the freedom of living in a world created by God, untouched by man.

I’d never seen a river flowing through the dunes before. In all the photos I’ve seen, and all the times I’ve been there, the river has never been visible. I realize it’s there, just beneath the sand, but I’ve never seen it. This photo for me, was a rush.

It reminded me that even though I can’t see God, he’s there. Even when I can’t feel the rushing waters of refreshment coming down from heaven, His love is there, reaching out to me and touching me. I believe this photo says it all. Even when I couldn’t see it, the river was still there. The blessing is that no matter how far away I feel from God at any given time, He’s still there. I simply have to open my eyes and I can see God.

Photo by Ashley Denman