Lion chaser?

I've done a lot of things in my life.  I've been blessed to have opportunities that most only dream about.  For a very long time, I had opportunities to travel to places with my job that some people scrimp and save for years to be able to go.  For some, these places, like France, Italy, and the Greek isle of Crete will remain as dreams and pictures in books and on postcards.  I got to live in these places, albeit for a very short time, and got paid to do that.  Through those experiences I've built quite the resume'.

Under what heading on my resume' does this title fit, though?:  Lion chaser

OK, I just finished (finally) a book called "In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day". Took me six months to read the first six chapters and about three hours to read the last of the book.  At the end, I discovered that I'd been for the last 16 months, I'd been doing what the guy that wrote the book advocated, in a round-about way.  I'd been chasing a lion.

OK, not a real lion, but a metaphorical lion.  My lion has a name.  My lion also has free will.  (Pesky thing, that free will sometimes!)  

You'd have to read the book to understand this better, but if you did, it would explain a lot of the seemingly random things that I notice in my life.  I mentioned this yesterday, so you'd have some frame of reference.  But it's a lot more than that.

For the last sixteen months, I've been on this really wild journey, full of ups and downs, promises and hopes, both realized then dashed.  I kept up the chase with the firm belief that I was not only going to catch the lion I was chasing, but tame it.  I was not successful, but what a trip it's been. 

I learned a lot from that journey and maybe being victorious was never part of the plan.  I can tell you as sure as I know my name that I followed God's path to chase this proverbial lion and, though there were times I stumbled, mostly from trying to take shortcuts instead of being patient, He always seemed to find a way to put me back on the lion's tracks.

Chasing lions sounds pretty foolish, too.  I'm sure some will read this and wonder if it's seriously time to start thinking about sending the guys in the white coats with the jumbo butterfly net again.  I assure you, it's not.  I think one of the first things you have to do to be a lion chaser is to quit worrying about looking foolish.  God says in the Bible that he uses the foolish things of the world to show the folly of the things we'd describe as wise.  I think too it shows that God in all things He is and does, has a bit of a sense of humor, too.  I like knowing that about Him.  

The second thing too, I think I learned through this experience is that you have to sometimes redefine success.  I didn't tame my lion, sadly.  I had to let it go.  But it's not a failure on my part, per-se because chasing this particular lion was never a zero-sum game.  For me, it quit being about winning or losing so very long ago.  For me, it was a motivation to do a couple of things.  The first was to show the Lord that living by His word means a lot to me.  Secondly, it hopefully demonstrated to Him that I'm willing to follow Him, even when I don't understand it.

This year is just about over.  The chase for this particular lion is over.  There will be some things that need to be cleaned up from the chase.  There are some things in my life that were tipped over in the chase that need to be set back in place.  There are a couple of broken things that won't be glued back together and will have to be swept up and thrown away.  Again, not my choice, but with my lion, without throwing some things away, without giving in to something for the longest time I felt was wrong, I'm contributing to something neither God nor myself condone.  

I was thinking about this, too.  There's a bit of a let-down when you catch the lion.  Maybe it's a good thing that I didn't tame the first one.  But instead of being discouraged, I'm kind of excited to see what the next lion I'll chase will be.

For good or bad, foolish or not, lion chaser has become a part of my resume'.

One thing you gotta admit, no matter what you think about it:  

Lion chaser sounds pretty cool!