Getting older allows one a chance to reflect on our lives. Now that I’m into my sixth decade, it has given me more things to ponder and reflect upon!

I remember some of the experiences as a child like learning to ride a bike, my first day of school, getting a driver’s license and eventually graduation from high school. As an adult, there was getting married, having our children, going back to school and the journey into ministry.

In all those experiences, the “success” or “failure” was based upon choices. Choices you make will lead you down two paths – an ordinary life or an extraordinary life… it’s up to you.

Hebrews 11:23-29 says this, “By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.”

Moses was born into a life of privilege. He could have stayed where he was and lived a comfortable pleasant life. In the end, God spoke to him through a burning bush and sent him off on an adventure beyond anything he could have imagined. He doubted himself and tried to get out of it but God told him that he was the one He was going to use.

Like Moses, we need to live our lives by God’s opinion of us. He believes in you and created you for extraordinary things. It is easy, like Moses, to look at our shortcomings and failures and think God can’t use me. We can fall to public opinion and base our worth on what others think of us. Or, we can see ourselves as God does: His masterpiece, His child, created in His image for good works. Moses didn’t know what was ahead of him. None of us do. We know that this next stage in life will have its challenges. But what we also know is the One who holds all things in His hands and will give us opportunities to grow and be used by Him. Some of these opportunities will be hard, but in the end, they will be mind blowing.

Earlier in Hebrews 11, we read this, “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.” (verse 7)

Genesis records that Noah was a righteous man. In fact, he is described as the only one of his time. Noah was living an ordinary life, raising a family and doing the things people of his day did. But then God stepped in and he was given a mission that was seemingly impossible. God called him to build a boat 450x75x75 in the middle of the desert. And not only that, he was to become a zoo keeper for thousands of animals for a year… feeding, shoveling, feeding, shoveling… sound disgusting? But in the end, God restarted humanity through his faithfulness and willingness to follow Him. In a sense, his faithfulness saved humanity.

As unreal as it may sound, God may lead you down such a path. Moses didn’t expect it. Noah didn’t expect it. But like Moses or Noah, for any of us to realize our full potential in Christ, we must be willing to do what you have never done before – even things you may hate. To become extraordinary means doing extraordinary things!

In Hebrews 11:8-12, we see the story of Abraham. It says, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.”

Abraham was a man who listened to God when no one else was. When God spoke, Abraham heard Him, believed Him and obeyed Him. God called him to move with no forwarding address. God said he would be a father even though he was an old man. Can you imagine what it would have been like to leave friends and family and follow the voice of God?

We are all at different stages of our lives. Some of you are closing one chapter of your lives and beginning a new one. But we need to remember that the One who is writing the book of our lives is at work too. We all have plans for our lives. We all have hopes. We all have dreams. There is nothing wrong with having them.

But God also has a plan for our lives and sometimes that plan will take us off the beaten or planned path onto an adventure where you will experience God working in and through you in ways you could never imagine. It is in those opportunities where God can take our seemingly ordinary lives and transform them into extraordinary adventures for His glory.

Having an extraordinary life of faith begins with the call to follow Jesus. Like Moses, Noah, and Abraham, they didn’t know where the adventure would take them, but by faith, when Jesus said, “Follow Me,” they obeyed.

So my question for all of us is this: “Are you ready for the adventure to which God has in store for you?” Are you willing to risk it all for His glory and the extraordinary life of following Him? If you are, then I believe you will have the wonderful opportunity like the saints in the past, to experience God working in and through them and share in the unspeakable and boundless riches in Christ.