This is part of a series called “Starting From Zero”. I am chronicling my current mission and what it looks like to start something new, in a new place.

The water park is designed to stretch you beyond your fear.

And, so is God’s mission.

When it comes to apostolic mission, fear is always involved too. Trying something new, leaving what you know behind and stepping outside the walls of conventional wisdom has a way of both exhilarating and paralyzing us with fear.

In May, my family and I moved from Los Angeles to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to restart the work of InterVarsity in the state. Currently there is zero ministry happening with our organization in Louisiana but there are 38 campuses and 300,000 students!

This is new. This is lonely. This is energizing. This is restarting.

One of the main things to do here in Baton Rouge during the summer is to go to the Blue Bayou Water Park. My kids are young – 8, 6 and 3 – so this is new to them and it would take some getting used to.

However, like God does many times, He spoke to me through the water park experience each time we went. The water park was new for my kids and this summer was about learning to enjoy it and stretch themselves. This place is massive for their relative size and can be completely overwhelming at times. I could see them in their actual bodies wrestling with the tension of fear and exhilaration. Are they having fun, or are they scared to death? Do I want to leave now or do I want to climb the ten flights of stairs and conquer that slide?

Sometimes its hard to tell if fear or joy is winning – it can switch at an instant like the wind.

But what isn’t hard to tell is this:

The satisfaction of doing a ride a hundred times bigger than you are – when you’re scared to death – and then realizing you love it! When those moments happened this summer it was incredible to watch. My kids went from scared and whinny to begging me to do the ride all day long over and over.

The reality is that this summer – as we have moved and are settling in – has been a mix of “I am so blessed by you God that you would call us to this mission (joy).” and “Why in the world did we move here, Lord? Can we go home now (fear)?”

God was using the water park and the experience of watching my kids feeling called by the slides to “come and enjoy” while they also wrestled with crippling fear that left them some days unable to move forward.

The goal here is that you would step boldly into the mission God has called you to and while you may encounter fear along the way, you wouldn’t be crippled by it or shut down.

I don’t want you playing in the kiddy pool of God’s mission because you are too scared to step into God’s invitation that is too big for you, but not too much.

In the same way my kids learned to enjoy the water park that is infinitely bigger than they are, I want you to step into God’s unnerving and gigantic mission as he calls you. Your joy and others transformation depends on it!

So, as it comes to this unnerving mission, there are a few things I want to highlight to give us better awareness of the emotions and spiritual forces that might be at play as we step out.

1) Fear Gets Bigger As You Get Closer

The first day we went to the park my son, Noah, jumped onto a slide that was honestly a little scary for me. I couldn’t believe it. So, he was feeling adventurous and full of confidence. Next up was the a long, straight down, enclosed slide that you ride on a raft and it ends with a funnel that swirls you into a giant pool (pictured above). He begged me to go with him. We stand in line for twenty minutes five stories above the earth and as each minute passes we hear scream after scream as people embark into the tunnel. As we get closer it only gets louder and more intense until its our turn. We are now on the platform and it’s time to jump into the raft and fly downhill into the dark tunnel waiting to invoke much screaming and thrill.

Immediately Noah screams, “I do not want to do this!” He then proceeds down the seven flights of stairs, back through the crowd, full speed and runs to the exit of the park.

Every part of him wanted to get out of there and every part of him thought I was sorely disappointed in him as well. We didn’t leave and I assured him I wasn’t disappointed.

But God spoke to me about my emotions in that moment. Stepping into Louisiana and feeling the responsibility for the restart of InterVarsity across the whole state invoked many of these same emotions. While I didn’t quite on the mission right before we moved across the country, there were many times I thought about it.

How often do we feel that as we step into the things that God has called us to do? Our initial emotional experience is joy and gratitude that God would call us to such a task. We can’t wait to get started. But, then, when we approach the reality of actually stepping into what God has said for us to start, we freak out and have a moment like Noah did, “I don’t want to do this!”

If you have “run away”, how are you hearing the invitational voice of God inviting you back? God is not a condemner or accuser – that is Satan. But, God does want to talk with you about living in faith not fear.

How can you prepare yourself to stay the course inside your mission even when tremendous fear meets you as you step in? Who are your mentors and spiritual friends that can talk with you about these feelings?

2) The Ride is Awesome; The Journey is Tough

The next time we were at the water park all three of my kids went with me on a much higher elevated slide. It wasn’t that fast but it was really high up. Maybe nine stories. One of the times we were walking up the stairs to go again we saw a boy about the same age as my kids crying. I asked him what was going on and he said,

“I am scared of heights.”

I looked and saw his grandparents way off to the side watching. He was stuck. I then asked him,

“Do you like the water slide but you are just scared of heights or do you not want to go on the water slide?”

He proceeded to cry loudly and he sobbed,

“I love the water slide, I am just scared of walking up.”

So I held his hand and I walked him all the way up to the top. He was crying and he didn’t want to look down. But, as soon as we got to the platform he jumped right up there on the slide and off he went laughing!

Again, God spoke to me in that moment. Sometimes the ride is fun but the journey tough.

Kristina and I hate the fact we had to move from Los Angeles. We loved everything about it – our friends, our ministry team and fruit, our neighbors, the kids sports teams, our church and multiple family members now in the area. Leaving Los Angeles sucked.

But the ride in Louisiana is so exciting! This is what we are wired for and more importantly called to do. Start new works with Jesus in difficult places. We love getting new ministry started and creating culture and systems to lead planting work out of.

Some days we feel like that kid crying on the stairs. We haven’t loved the climb (more about what we have had to leave) but we are so excited for the ride.

How about you? Where do you feel called and excitedly so, but the cost of stepping into that mission is debilitating? Is there someone that can hold your hand and walk you up to the top?

3) We Need “Loving” Peer Pressure

My kids are fairly adventurous now at the park. They went one day with my wife when I was out of town and when I came back they were begging me to go down multiple gigantic rides. What happened? Well, they went with two new friends who were a little braver than they were. These friends wanted to do the rides and my kids wanted to be with them. So, they got over their fear and stepped in. And, they loved it!

Isn’t this so true though. Many times we need friends that have stepped out before us to show us what is possible. Many times we need friends stepping into scary places with Jesus to show us we can too. Sometimes we need friends who are just more bold and daring in our lives to push us over the edge.

This moment made me reflect on the handful of friends I consider more bold than me that helped me say “yes” to this mission. People that have moved far away, left family behind, etc. When you can talk with them and experience them “loving it” with cost, that is refreshing and emboldening to say the least.

Who is that person in your life that you can spend more time with? That person that moves you outside your comfort zone into more bold and more joyful experiences with God?

Say “Yes”

My kids are leaving the water park this summer – school starts tomorrow – full of joy and dreams of coming back next year. They had a blast and grew a ton. My hope for you is that you would say “yes” to the greater challenge and mission that God is inviting you into now. Yes, the slide is too big, and there are lots of screams, and it does invoke fear. But, if God is calling you, it will create joy and life in you and also to those around you. Their transformation depends on you stepping into this new reality. The call of the planter is to step into fear, full of faith, and create new spaces for God to transform people!