False Starts

This article is written by Jerry, God's servant, who works as a stock trader in Jakarta. He works to see and testify how God is working through Indonesian's economic today. Jerry and his wife, Trisya, actively serve God in their community church. As they faithfully serve Him locally, God calls them for a global ministry: to share God's work and God's desires in their life. Their blog has been a blessing for a lot of single adults and married couples in Indonesia as it concerns on Jesus, Family, Financial, and Character. Visit their blog  to get more blessings, encouragements, and even convictions: http://www.jerrytrisya.com/

Life has many false starts, and most people don’t even know when their life started. Doctors say life starts at 3 months old pregnancy, conventional wisdom will say life starts at our birthday. But that’s not really it right, like how many of us remember life before 5 year old ? I’m worse, I could barely remember what happened before I was 10! So clearly life doesn’t start there.

Two nights ago I chatted with my wife, Trisya, on how astonishing it is that when we were still in High School, life felt so exciting and alive, but 10-15 years afterwards when we reach 25 or 30, we see those school days as less, as the good-old-days that we could only come back to in our imagination. This is because we realized that those exciting-and-alive feeling was largely coming from an easy life where freedom was abundant and obligations were minimal, everything is parents-provided. Some people say life starts in high school days, but it’s actually not. Everyone who says yes will always look back to those days and dreamed to come back or try to replicate the situation. That will never work, that’s why people like this usually fail in adulthood. So life doesn’t start in high school. It felt like it did, but it’s only the shadow of the real start.

Many would agree life starts when you get your first job, or when you get your first promotion. I would be tempted to agree because this is what I was thinking before. You get to do bigger things, get bigger rewards and recognitions, be an acclaimed adult and rub that in your parents face. I agreed that life started there until one day I realized that I was one out of BILLIONS of other people who do exactly the same thing : Go to school, graduate, college, get degree, graduate, then get a job. It’s a popular mainstream. And it’s not really an option, you’re kinda forced by just about everyone especially your parents, and not to mention society, to FOLLOW WHAT MOST PEOPLE DO, exactly just like going to school.

5 years after being in the workforce, it hit me. I was a zombie. I was tied up to this never-ending cycle of getting money and spending money, and I’m running out of breath and situation is becoming bigger and bigger, more than I can take and it controlled me instead of me controlling it. It was a false start, the biggest one of all false starts! It had me fooled. This is where most people end their life when it actually never started! Is this where you are?

Then I met Jesus. But He too didn’t give me a start, He only told me He has a “start” for me, and I can get it if I was willing to let go everything He asked me to. I agreed, and He stripped me off my shiny banking career, put me in a pride-detox job in a small ministry with no salary, and later on asked me to donate all my life savings. Awesome, I was bare naked with no protection. BUT I GOT MY START !

Save the long story and details, I was able to see where I was going. There was a destination, and it’s not heaven. It’s a real visible destination. It was Rome for Paul, it was kingship for David, priesthood for Samuel,  Canaan for Moses,death on the cross for Jesus. It was the real, genuine start. How did I know it ? Because I can see the finish line. You can never have a start if you don’t have a finish. I didn’t have it, never had it, there was never any start in my life until this.

Heaven is not a destination, it’s the place of resting (God’s Rest – see Hebrews 4), where you can finally enjoy the reward that you get from reaching your destination.

It’s the best thing you can have in life. A Start and a Finish. Only Jesus can give it to you. It’s not free, but it doesn’t require money either, nor higher education or certain qualification/criteria. It only requires you to come as you are, submit everything, let go everything – your dream, your money, your relationships, yourself. Focus only to Him, let Him guide you cross the river Jordan and into your promised land, where you will find your start and your finish, then life can begin from there.