It's not trending on twitter.
It's not celebrated at ceremonies.
Giving up has got a bad name.

You relinquish control, hand over the credit... maybe even lose your dignity.

I was driving the other day with the iPod on. 
I love having music on but never know what to listen to. 
So I usually end up listening to something really old and familiar.

I chose Bethel.

"Play All."

There were quite a few songs (slight exaggeration) and I didn't know what would come on...

I'd been listening a while and then this:

If He goes to the left then we'll go to the left
And if He goes to the right then we'll go to the right
We're going to jump jump, jump jump in the river
Jump jump, jump jump, everybody

Photo by Blake Wheeler on Unsplash

I have found throughout my adult life that there have been certain songs for certain seasons.
Songs that speak so clearly in certain parts of my life.
Times when I wonder if that song was written for me.

And when I hear them, even years later, something is stirred in my spirit and I can't, and don't want to, escape it.

If he goes to the left
WE WILL go to the left.

When it was time to leave our old church, 
and we didn't know where was next, 
I promised this to God.
It's still the same now. 
I promised him that I will continue to walk with him.
I will continue to follow his lead.
I will continue to go where he goes.

I don't know what is next. 
I don't know if he'll go to the left or go to the right, 
but wherever he goes, you know where to find me.

Photo by Pablo García Saldaña on Unsplash

Because I moved interstate, we listened to God, my husband got a new job...
I've been called "brave"
I've been called "good"
I've been called "a nice wife"

Maybe I am all those things
But really I think I'm kinda selfish.

I just want to be where my heavenly Father is 
I want to go where he goes
I want to be where he is
Because I know that He knows the best places for me, for us
So I'm going to go where he is.

I sang these words to Rod that night
and they're still true for him too.
And our little girl is on this journey too.
She will follow us because she trusts that we know the places for her, the best things for her to do
And she needs to know that the best place for her is where we follow his lead, and she learns to follow too.
And we're gonna take her there.

And this is my heart for you.
That you will know him to intimately
That you will trust him so deeply
That wherever he goes, you'll be following right behind.

If He goes to the left then we'll go to the left
And if He goes to the right then we'll go to the right
We're going to dance dance, dance dance in the river
Dance dance, dance dance, everybody 

SaveSaveSaveSave

Photo by Kristopher Roller on Unsplash

But what happens when something, someone...
crosses the divide?

King Abdullah of Jordan is a barrier-crossing king.

If you’ve ever seen the TV show “Undercover Boss,” that gives you some sort of idea.
King Abdullah has made a habit of going undercover
– as a TV reporter,
a taxi driver,
a wounded old man,
a business man in queue at the tax department… he wants to see what it’s like to be an ordinary citizen, to hear their stories, feel their frustrations, walk their paths…
He is a king who knows what his people are going through.

The majority of the people love him... but what if God did what he did?
Surely there would be anger, confusion, fear.

On that first Christmas, there was all of that and more.

Herod was angry,
the wise men were confused,
the shepherds were afraid.

Born in humble surroundings.
              Lived an extraordinary life.
                            He’s a son, a brother.
From a humble family.
              Working the family business.

He’s worked and waited, thirsted and been satisfied.
He’s felt joy and pain, loneliness and community.

Not just any king but the son.
Mighty God in humble babe.
Everlasting father in mortal flesh.

He’s the God who knows us.
He’s the God who has lived the life that we couldn’t.

Justice in place of our injustice.
Righteousness in place of our sin.
The perfect life, the atoning death.

He’s one of us but he’s better than us.
He didn't just bridge the divide,
He made his home among us.

For many, that's the only Jesus they know
or the only Jesus they like.

What Jesus do you know?
What Jesus do you like?

In the movie "Talladega Nights," Will Ferrell delivers one of the greatest graces of all time:


So tiny... yet still omnipotent.
Jokes aside, I think he's actually getting somewhere.

Sure, his Jesus is stuck in perpetual baby-hood.
But his Jesus is no less God.

I'm with Will, I like the Christmas Jesus best!

Because the Christmas Jesus was fully God, fully man.
The Christmas Jesus humbled himself to enter our world.
The Christmas Jesus is God with us.
The Christmas Jesus came to seek and save the lost.
The Christmas Jesus came to bring peace and righteousness.
The Christmas Jesus...
well the Christmas Jesus is the same Jesus as every other day.

The reality is that we don't choose our favourite Jesus,
the beauty is that Jesus chooses us.

But I'm not sure if you've noticed others of them.
You probably haven't, because they're so engrained within us.
We don't even realise there are other options...
Until someone pushes the boundaries.
     Goes against the grain.
          Does something different.

As a mum, I have found myself time and time again doing things because that's what I know or that's what everyone else is doing...
Even though I'm the sort of mum who questions most things.

I don't want to do things just because other people are doing them.
I want to do things because they're the right things for our family,
for our girl 

But often I find myself slipping back, doing what everyone else is doing, because that is so familiar and I don't even realise there's another option.
Or I do what others are doing because I feel pressure. I feel weighed down.
It's tiring standing out on my own.

It's easy to do what is expected of you.
It's easy to do what you've always done and always known.
It's easier not to questions things, to follow instructions, to go with the flow.
But that's not always the best thing.
That's not always the right thing.
In the long run, that's often a damaging thing.

It might be scary
taking the road less travelled,
going the long way,
being a bit lonely
but I believe it's worth it.

Photo by Noah Glynn on Unsplash

In Matthew 2, we read that King Herod, the ruler of the time, sent the Wise Men to Bethlehem to find Jesus. He instructed them,
"Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him." (verse 8)
They found Jesus, gave him gifts and worshipped him.
After this they heard in a dream not to return to Herod,
but to go home a different way.

Who would they listen to?
Would they obey the king or the King?

It's easy to do the things that seems less crazy.
It's easy to do the things that make you feel less scared.
It's easy to do the "right thing."

But sometimes,
for our own sake
or even for the sake of the world,
we need to listen carefully to those dreams,
we need to take the road less travelled,
we need to do the crazy thing,
we need to go against the grain.

Leeland, in his song Opposite Way encourages this:

I want to listen to the voices that matter,
not the voices that are calling the loudest.
Will you join me?