True Passion Knows No Fear

I know nothing about birds. They're interesting, kinda cool to watch, but that whole fascination with soaring like a bird or whatever -- not my thing. Give me invisibility -- now there's a superpower! More to the point, I have started lapping the parking lot at work for exercise a couple of days a week. It just so happens, our building (and, by extension our parking lot) is situated near a wildlife refuge. All sorts of birds frequent the grounds, and I really am quite proud of myself when I can identify more than the garden variety seagull or the eagles we've become so accustomed to seeing. The other morning, as I was lapping, two red-winged blackbirds were swooping and diving some thirty feet or so away. There was a battle or romantically-intended chase going on, and things were getting heated. My approach did nothing to deter them. Still swooping. Still diving. Still engaged in whatever intense exchange compelled them. When I finally passed them by, they had been mere inches from my feet. These delicate creatures, weighing ounces, were so bent on what they were doing, they had no fear of this enormous beast tromping through their flight path at full tilt. They were fearless. This time.

One day I was sitting in my office at work; our windows overlook the gate where tractor trailers enter. A driver arrived, and as I had her on the phone, she described to me a scene that was taking place in the yard beside her. A few birds had decided to "harass another bird" (her words, not mine). She was pretty upset about it, and quickly jumped from her tractor to shoo away the foul fowl. She was at least ten feet away when her flapping arms, her yelling, and her imposing presence drove the lot of them away. According to her, the offending creatures "had nothing better to do." That may have been true. These birds were certainly not committed to their bullying -- they dispersed at the mere sight and sound of her!

That's the difference between just being something, and being passionately engaged in being something. I can't imagine a skydiver who "kinda likes it." You're either terrified and fully committed to stay on that aircraft, or you relish the thought of abandoning it to fall freely to earth for the next sixty seconds or so. There really is no in-between. Passion removes the middle ground. You're either passionate about always using a seat that doubles as a flotation device to descend, or you're passionate about using a hanky some guy making minimum wage and pulling an all-nighter has crumpled into a backpack. True passion knows no fear.

What does your relationship with Jesus look like? Passionate? Or passionless? Are you just killing time, looking for trouble to get into -- or, maybe, trouble is finding you? Or are you tenaciously engaged in chasing off the enemy, single-mindedly pursuing Jesus Christ? If there is passion in what you're doing, nothing will keep you from it. Nothing will deter you. Nothing will run you from that hallowed ground you seek to occupy.