This is a guest post by my daughter Meagan McIntyre. If you would like to be a guest blogger for Attempts at Honesty, please check out our guest post guidelines.
Life is quite an adventure. On Memorial Day I experienced one of the biggest adventures in my life during a trip through a ropes course, and not long ago Mark (who also happens to be my father) wrote a blog post, On the Ropes…Intentionally, about this family adventure. Our trek through the tops of the trees is a perfect metaphor for life: life is a risky, sometimes painful adventure, and Christians have the joy of knowing that God will be with us through the entire process.
The ropes course also taught me a valuable lesson about the church, a group of people who have made the risky choice to follow Christ; we take the risk to commit to Christ and then journey together and encourage each other along the way.
In much the same way, those of us on the ropes course had made the risky choice to climb the ladder. Whether we liked it or not, we had to work together to finish the course. Thinking back, I am positive that I could not have made it to the end without those around me. The constant encouragement, correction and love from my family and friends made the terrifying ropes course a fun, and funny, adventure.
Sometimes it is easy to think of the Christian life as a solo trek that eventually brings us to heaven, yet thankfully God knows we need community. Just as I needed those around me on the ropes course, I do not think it is either possible or healthy to journey alone as a Christian.
This reminds me of the words of the author of Hebrews: Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10: 23-25)
Praise God for the church community which helps us through this risky adventure of life.