DAY 1:

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Do one thing every day that scares you.”  Well, the other day, I took Eleanor's advice, and I did something that has always scared me to death. Now, come to think of it, this particular activity has scared me to death because of the possibility of death! Skydiving. That’s right. I went skydiving! 

I wish I could tell you I was the picture of courage, but I was peeing my pants, truth be told. As the time for my departure grew closer, I thought about making a run for it—hopping in my car and driving away—but here's the thing: this was my idea. I was shooting a music video for the song “What If”—a song about making the most of the one life we get, a song about taking chances, a song about no regrets and no ‘what-ifs’. So I said to the director, “Hey, what if I jumped out of a plane at the end of the video?” It sure seemed like a good idea at the time, but then I was strapped to this skydiver who had one of those helmets with a bright pink mohawk on top (you know, the kind of helmet that says, “I'm a responsible adult but not really...”). Professional skydivers surrounded me on this plane, and I learned that they all have this twisted skydiver humor, and they got a kick out of joking around with me, the new guy, as we slowly climbed to 16,000 feet. In between all of the instructions they were shouting to me, they would slip in jokes like, “If something goes wrong, I would tell you to scream, but by then, it's gonna be too late anyway!” I peed my pants a second time. Then they all laughed and high-fived each other. Not cool, professional skydivers, not cool!  

The scariest moment of the entire experience was just before we jumped. We reached 16,000 feet, and the instructor shouted to me to sit at the edge of the opening on the side of the airplane and dangle my feet off of the side... Excuse me?? Dangle my feet?? He made it sound like I was sitting on the edge of a neighborhood pool about to take a leisurely swim in the summer! I'm starting to sweat just reliving this moment right now! Then it was a gentle rock back and forth, and the next thing I knew, I was free-falling at full speed in the direction of the ground that I wished my feet had never left in the first place. I’m just gonna say right now that Jesus and I had a real heart-to-heart conversation in the air that day. 

Thankfully, I survived! I kissed the ground upon my arrival back to Earth and then called my family to tell them they weren't getting rid of me just yet. One of my biggest fears had been overcome that day, and I lived to tell about it. Even better, I got the video to prove it. 

Here's the thing: living a no-what-if-life is about so much more than just a thrill-seeking adventure like skydiving. Me jumping out of that plane was just a crazy illustration of the bigger point that I want to make and, really, for the kind of life I want to live. 

John 10:10 seems like the perfect jumping-off point for this devotional series. (See what I did there? Jumping-off point? Skydiving? Okay, let's move on...) This is what Jesus said in John 10:10. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” In that one scripture, Jesus lays out Satan's three-point plan to derail and destroy our lives: steal, kill, and destroy. But then He counters that with His one-point plan for us. He has come to give us: not life halfway, not a life unfulfilled, but life to the full. 

Throughout this reading plan, we're going to be looking at those two pesky little words—” what if?” We're going to challenge ourselves, ask ourselves some hard questions, and examine which direction our lives are heading with this goal in mind—life to the full. That's what I want. Isn’t that what you want? 

In each of our lives, we're all going to have to face some ‘what-if’ questions. We can't escape them. The biggest question is, will we face the what-ifs now, in the present tense, while there's still time to make the most of the one life we get? Or will we wait until the end of our lives when our race is run and we're looking back asking ‘what if’ in the past tense? 

What a sad story that would be. 

What if I had fully surrendered my life to God's plan?

What if I had spent more time with my family? 

What if I had cared less about what people thought about me?

What if I had let go of that grudge? 

What if?

What if?

What if?

Let's ask those ‘what-if’ questions now so we can reach the end knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that we have tasted life to the full that God offers us, and we reach the end of our race with no regrets and no “what ifs.”