923 Miles in One Day -- On A Mission

   923 focused, purposed, driving miles were accomplished with my car.   I was headed home at mile one, logged in the morning darkness, and at mile 923, accomplished in the starry night.  I was on a mission.  Quick pit stops with meals, fuel and rest crammed in keeping me on task and on time, moving toward the goal.  Like a dog with a bone, I was going home.
     When are you on a mission?  My reflection  these past two weeks of learning reminds me that I'm on a mission to Live Love with joy, welcome, passion, playfulness and abandon.  I truly believe that without God's love people haven't truly lived.  I  passionately believe that God's love isn't restrictive and religious, rather freeing and life-giving.  So I try to share it as I am inviting others to follow Jesus with me.
     A quick history to my passion.  As a kid my parents lived that kind of love with me and the world around.  When I was seven, and taken along with some young adults on a roller skating party, and was about to crash on my keister, one of those young adults saw me, and caught me before I ever hit the floor.  It was a slow motion event allowing me to notice my fear, thinking about my head cracking on the hardwood floor and feeling unseen hands of love care enough to save me from that pain.  That's my picture of God's love.
      I can tell you of many experiences of that kind of love:  a high school Christian rock band and the crew that lived life together as teens; a graduate school study group who helped each other through rough spots with determination and laughter; a mission team who sang happy birthday aboard a 747; and more.  Bottom line,  I have experienced great, playful, life-giving love.   It's happened in the context of what I know as the Church.  I want to share it.  I have to share it!
      A quick confession.  I have shared love consistently in my life, but I have not always asked if I was being strategic or effective on my Love mission.  I've too often been content to just go with the flow, failing to maximize opportunities and multiply moments to share the most love possible.  I want to change that.  So there's my bone.  Where's yours?