Women of Adventure devotional and Luge Information

We will be going to Muskegon on Saturday June 25 and going down the Luge!  I tried it last week and it will be fun.  Meet at the church at 9:15 a.m. with $8.00 and proof of insurance. (It's not an adventure if you don't need proof of insurance, right?)  Here is the devotional for tomorrows adventure.

I was reading a Christian website the other day and the title "Five Signs You're Too Comfortable" popped up.  That title intrigued me because with Women of Adventure, we do things to get out of our comfort zones.  Then I read the article and it was an excerpt from a book, "The Reluctant Entertainer".  Now anyone that really knows me knows that hospitality is not one of my spiritual gifts.  Anyone can come over to my house anytime just don't expect the house to be clean.  I don't even have doors on my kitchen cupboards so people can help themselves and they don't have to ask me where my glasses are.  Basically, if you are thirsty when you are over at my house...if you can see the glasses, get up and get yourself a glass of water.  I can't even cook that well.  When my children were little and we lived in Wisconsin, they use to think our oven was the fireplace.  Now in my defense, there was something wrong with oven but several fires did take place.

You probably want to know what the "Five Signs You're Too Comfortable" are. 

1.  You haven't had people in to your home for at least 6 months.
2.  You worry too much about the appearance of your house.
3.  You haven't forged a new friendship in a year.
4.  You've become obsessed with your family's problems.
5.  You haven't tried a new recipe in months; your cooking is in a rut.

(you got me on the last one)

The author then made a statement that really stuck with me.  "Sometimes we love safety so much, it stifles us.  And when we are stifled, we don't grow beyond a certain point which means we miss out on many of life's blessings."  How true, and not just for hospitality but other parts in our lives.  What about our spiritual life?  How's are reading the bible, or serving?  Have we invited people to church or talked to new people in church or shared with a neighbor your love for the Lord?  Have we sought out answers about God or are you too embarrassed to ask because you don't want to appear stupid or what people would think?

As women, we sometimes think we have to have it all together in order to try something new or meet new people.  The author of "The Reluctant Entertainer" also gave some steps to  "courageous hospitality".  (I love that term)  but we can use these steps to "courageous living".

Ten Steps to Courageous Hospitality
1. Know that you are valuable and important to God and made in His image.
2. Know that you are unique and that people want to know you more.
3. Focus your will onto something meaningful (relationships!).
4. Lean into your fears; learn that things do not have to be perfect.
5. Learn that people usually don't care about the things that bother you.
6. Learn to take a small hill. Start small and invite people into your life.
7. Make soul-friends, friends who get what you are all about.
8. Love the unlovely. Does it really matter what your house looks like?
9. Combat materialism. You don't need the newest or the best.
10. Fight cynicism, which can drain us of hope, creativity, and energy -- all building blocks for courage.

Again, I didn't write the list but thought it was a good reminder.  We are going down a luge...it's something unknown and something that will take courage.  Life takes courage and the more we gain courage, the more we will be able to set aside our worries, problems, fears and negative thoughts and start living a courageous life.