What risk are you willing to take?

My husband works in the ER at our local community hospital. He works 12 hour shifts at night and he sees everything imaginable. Since he works on the weekend, the bulk of those seeking medical attention are drug or alcohol related. Most of these patients are not even aware of the commotion that they stir up, especially for someone who is just trying to help them.

Some patients are so out of control, it takes several nurses to hold them down so they do not hurt themselves or someone else. While trying to help, my husband has been cursed at, swung at and even spat at. Every night he works, he takes a risk, just to help someone in need.

Most of us would not be willing to do what he does. Most of us would not put up with what he puts up with. But despite all of that, he loves what he does and has a huge opportunity to minister to people who are lost and confused.

I would dare say that he does not meet the status quo. The status quo requires NO risk! "Nothing ventured...nothing gained!" But if we are going to do something EXTRAordinary...we have to pull away from the pack and shake off the mediocre and mundane, otherwise all we will have is ordinary and common.

Status quo is just staying in the middle of the road, not going right, not going left. And the only thing I have ever found in the middle of the road is a yellow strip and roadkill!

I've heard it said many times...
"If you always do what you always have done, you will get what you have always got"!

So, if you want something different, you may have to do something different. This will require you to take a risk. Perhaps your risk is not the same as the one my husband takes in the ER, perhaps your risk is more like:

Noah... He built a boat in the middle of the desert...talk about taking a risk!

Or Abraham... He left home and had no idea where he was going...that was a risk!

Daniel... He prayed to God even though the king declared death to anyone who did...He was most certainly a risk taker!

How about Peter? He took a risk when he took the first step out onto the water.

Paul also took a big risk...when he declared Jesus Christ was Lord to Caesar!

What awesome men of faith that have led the way for us. They took HUGE leaps as they risked so much for their faith, but yet we are not even willing to risk being ridiculed at work by sharing the gospel with someone who is lost.

Acts 15:26 "Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

There are plenty of people like the ones my husband encounters at the hospital that are crying out for help...but we have to be willing to take the risk to embrace them, even if it means being spat upon, or laughed at.

If our faith was tested...I wonder, what kind of risk takers would we be?