Better than a cage......

My friend and sister in Christ who is a member of our church (Cheryl Alverson) sent the the following exerpt from an article she was reading. I loved it and thought it would be a blessing to you. THE CAGE IS A SCARY PLACE TO BE!! Be blessed by this article – launch out today – use your faith. Don’t get comfortable in “the cage.” Whatever God is calling you to do – where ever God is leading you – BE OBEDIENT.

HERE'S THE ARTICLE:
Read about a pastor considering whether or not God was leading them to start a church in NYC. He admitted he had a lot of fear in his heart about the city. He just couldn't imagine moving his family to a city that lived under the steady threat of attacks. Also, it was not known to be a place where a new church could become a sustained presence. He admitted that his lack of interest in the city was more about personal fears than about the city itself or God's intentions for them.

Sitting in the hotel room after spending the previous few days in New York City at the invitation of a friend, reading the last book of Tolkien's trilogy, The Return of the King, he came to a dialogue between Aragorn, the heir of Gondor, and Eowyn, a noblewoman of Rohan. Eowyn is pleading to join Aragorn on a dangerous journey. After Eowyn says she fears neither death nor pain, Aragorn asks what she does fear, and Eowyn replies with a profound statement:
~~A cage. To stay behind bars until use and old age accept them and all chance of valor has gone beyond recall or desire.

At that moment, he said he sensed God was saying something like this to him: "The longer you play it safe and avoid risk and the potential of loss, the more you will accept the present and lose your capacity to dream about and shape the future. When you give your fears more authority than the Spirit of God, all chance of God-exalting valor and generational impact is lost." He resolved that morning not to make decisions based on sensitivity and submission to his fears but on sensitivity and submission to the Spirit.

He said from that moment, God clearly began to move their hearts to NYC. One year later, they were closing on an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and preparing for the most significant move of their lives. Since that time, they had come to realize that NYC is one of the greatest places on the planet, a wonderful place to raise a family, and , by God's grace, Apostles Church has become a sustained presence in the city, seeking to renew all things with the message and mercy of Christ. That is much better than a cage.

From:
The What If or If God? article if by Rev. J.R. Vassar, founding and lead pastor of Apostles Church in New York City. This article was in Ligonier Ministries' Tabletalk Magazine, Sept. 2011 pg. 12