


Twelve years ago I was living in Seattle as a successful Christian music industry guy climbing a great career ladder.
But, I was also living in sin.
I was addicted to drugs, pornography and myself - struggling to love Jesus, let alone anyone else.
Around the time my sin was at it’s best, someone gave me a copy of Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper, which was when I realized I was doing just that: wasting my life.
While driving into the office one day, God powerfully met me. I sensed Him asking a question while simultaneously breaking through my hardness of heart; “Why are you fighting Me?” Right there, during the morning rush hour on the Seattle viaduct - hopeful none of my commuting neighbors were noticing - I broke down crying, weeping even, confessing my sin and asking Jesus to give me the kind of story He wanted to write over my life.
Fast-forward a few years and I was at a conference in Minneapolis when I still-small-voice heard the Holy Spirit answering my Seattle prayer from years earlier with four simple, bold instructions:
1. Make your life all about Jesus.
2. Stop worrying about money.
3. Make disciples of artists and others.
4. Give yourself away.
That was when my true calling came - at the peak of industry success - an unexpected, undeserved twelve year career that had securely affixed my name to an album or two. Five days after the conference, I put in my music-industry resignation to begin awkwardly stumbling after Jesus. I was one part impassioned and three parts foolish. I cashed out 401(k), gold plaques, my record collection and the unremarkable old for a messy, extravagant new that has led me - reluctantly - to every continent on the planet.
Obedience is what every single Christian is called to, even if that looks drastically different for you than it does for me. Following - actually trailing after - Jesus, wherever and whenever He leads, is the greatest joy and yet easiest place where we fail. Had I not listened to what Jesus was telling me back then, I would not have this story to share with you now.
To obey is better than sacrifice, to listen than the fat of rams. - 1 Samuel 15:22
What if you took only one risk to love God and neighbor as you love yourself? How much would your own experience - not to mention the whole global world - turn upside down?
Equipping you for a life of risk is why I'm here.
If God can move through me, He can flow through you.
Fear is not your friend.
Take a risk, your Father is King of the Universe.
Chad
To learn more about Chad, or "One Thousand Risks: Fighting Fear for an Awkward, Awesome Life with Jesus" visit chadisliving.com/onethousandrisks
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Youth Rising - Middle East
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STORIES
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