Recently I told the church about the terrifying time I was chased from the house by a scar-faced man slashing a knife. I barely escaped out the back door and barricaded it shut. Catching my breath, I eventually leaked out a smile and shouted, “This was the best haunted house ever!” I’m inviting you to the same experience right now.
It isn’t a haunted house to which you are invited, but it is to the same intentional suspension of disbelief, to the same potential emotional-state change. A haunted house is fun only if you get scared. And the only way to get scared is to stop criticizing the obvious make-up scar and the fake headless horseman. You have to allow yourself to believe it could be real. You have to suspend your disbelief. Then the fun begins.
You are invited to do the same right now with this scenario: you have been told you have one month to live.
OK, that isn’t true. I know. You will probably live longer than one month. You might even see the Cubs win a pennant. That is why you have to suspend disbelief. You have to pretend, enter the drama, allow yourself to play along. What if it were true (not the Cubs thing, the One Month to Live)? How would you feel? What would you do? Where would you go? Now, you are in the story. Welcome.
Once you allow yourself to experience the feelings as if that were a true story, you can use those feelings to motivate you to do some incredible things. And that is the point. In fact, if you are fairly good at pretending, then your feelings will drive you to live your real and serious life the way you have always wanted to live. Why wait to get motivated when you really only have One Month to Live? Do it now.
It’s the One Month to Live Challenge, and we are beginning it September 7. Go here for details about the sermons. But make sure you are engaged by committing to these four things:
1. Come to church for six Sundays in a row (September 7-October 12).
2. Buy the book One Month to Live at Current (our new book store) for $10 and read a 3-4-page chapter every day for 30 days.
3. Join a C’Nex small group and do this Challenge with some friends.
4. Make every decision during the 30 days as if you only had One Month to Live.
This blog will be a collector of stories and questions. Start living the life you were always meant to live. And don’t be scared!
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