"This is what I signed up for"

What did Jesus get excited about? I mean have you ever stopped to think about it. I read a blog yesterday by my good friend and pastor, Joseph Thompson. The jist of the blog was that a a lot of people that he had talked to where tired of living in the mundane they were ready to "blow up", "get huge" in other words get out of the ordinary and began to live the extraordinary. He reminded us all that as we pray to be like Christ we must remember that 90% of his life was lived in the mundane and ordinary. He lived thirty three years, only 3 was he a popular minister. I had to take a minute and ponder what did Jesus get excited about in those 30 years as he waited to "blow up". Lets think about it; he was going to leave his good paying job, the security and love of his family, the respect of his peers, the comfort of his home. What was he leaving it for. To wonder Israel as a vagabond, to go from one house to the next and not have a home, to rely on the random giving of people to provide for him, to preach and do miracles yet be ostracized and ridiculed by those he came to redeem, to be betrayed by one his closest friends, to die the most painful death man has ever conceived. What did Jesus look forward to. His steps into full time ministry were basically his steps into a suicide mission, when Jesus decided to preach full time he decided to give up every comfort and sign his own death warrant. So what did Jesus get excited about. I remember the day my unit was called into the maintenance bay for an announcement. The announcement was that the 3rd armored Calvary regiment had officially been given the call to arms, this was it we were going to war. I remember a quite, and dull excitement in my soul. It wasn't the kind that makes you jump for joy or will even bring a smile to your face, its a peaceful satisfaction. A "warm fuzzy" I call it. What was this "warm fuzzy" in the pit of my stomach, as I pondered the thought appeared slowly yet resolutely on my brain. "This is what you signed up for" it made perfect sense. What was I excited about? Was going into combat? I knew what combat entailed. It meant sleepless nights and weeks without a shower (Gross but true). It meant cold MREs (meals ready to eat) 3 times a day, it meant no place to call home or to go and rest, it was basically the end of every creature comfort and possibly grave danger and death. Yet a peaceful satisfaction arises in my soul. I was excited about the mission not the circumstances that would surround it. I was excited about serving my country and defending freedom, it was an honorable assignment but let me tell you a soldier in combat experiences no glory, humiliation and discomfort are his medals in the field. The shiny medals and parades come when you get home and not before. So in short I was excited about the purposes I would serve and not the experiences I would go through. I believe Jesus felt the same way as he made his first steps out of Nazareth and headed toward Galilee, "this is what I signed up for" that peaceful satisfaction in his soul.It was finally happening he had begun the process of redeeming creation, despite the circumstances he would endure, he was still excited about the purpose he would achieve. So this thought process has created a gut check within myself, when I get excited about "Blowing Up" what do I get excited. I love ministry but I must admit the thought of getting paid for what I do brings a smile to my face, I have fantasied about the day I hand in my two weeks notice at my secular job, I like the idea of having a budget to work with and not having to raise funds for events, I even relish at times the possibility of an assistant who would help with the small details that I am so terrible with. While those things aren't bad there not what I signed up for. I came for the hurting, the dying, and the next generation, I became a youth pastor to inspire an incredible generation to due the incredible things which God has called them. Those things listed above will make me life easier but did Jesus's life get easier, no, more difficult. This is the thing, if I don't orient myself now on my purpose and calling it will be to easy to get caught up in those things when I am actually there experiencing them. Not to mention when one area gets easier I am sure another , that I haven't thought of, will get more difficult. Further more a correct orientation brings clarity to my present circumstance, as long as I can study, pray for the youth, and minister to them even if its only a handful or only one, then I am doing what I signed up for. The rest is circumstantial who cares whether I work or don't, whether I have a budget or not, or whether I rack my brains on the small stuff or some one else does that for me, the point is I am doing what I signed up for. To the rest of you out there do what you "signed up for" that thing which God has called never mind circumstance. Live the adventure.