Love Extravagantly

Hey guys!
I want to thank Bob Goff (author of Love Does) and the whole ThriveUnleashed team for putting on an awesome confrence. These people have inspired me in ways that I can't describe. I also want to thank Bob Goff for giving me the ideas to write this.
May this make you think,
Jen
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 "You breathe upon my weary soul and I come alive." I walk along these paths that I have known all my life, yet I have never walked down them at all. Isn't that astounding? When I walked down this path that I am on, it was a different path because it lead me somewhere else. The path I am on now leads me to Jesus.

I worry so much about the path I am on.  Oh guys, I know what it is like to worry so much. But if you have a guide you can trust, who cares what path you are on? Because if you stumble or if you fall, you just bump into Jesus again. Jesus takes me down a path that I would rather not go down; he leads me over and around things that I would rather avoid entirely but I went wherever he went; tripping every third step. And Jesus didn't say a word about it because He knew I was following closely.

Guys, what if no one went to voicemail? What if we became more available? What if we loved extravagantly? Giving our all to this broken world around us, and becoming more available to people. God is love, and we are an image of God. And everyday, Jesus is changing us to be more like Him. We are truly turning into love.

Guys, God loves us for who we are, not our worst day. What if we did that? What if instead of seeing people for what they have done, we see them for who they are turning into? If you tell a girl in Iraq that she is the hope of this country, that is what she will become. If you tell a child that they are brave and strong, that's what they become. If you tell someone who they are, it changes the whole game because that is what they will become.

So go out and love extravagantly. Go tell people who they are, because they are living in shadows. They are living with the belief that they are their worst day. So instead of coming to someone and saying happy birthday or happy anniversary, say how far they have come. If someone came to me on my birthday or Valentine's Day or Christmas or any other major holiday or even any day of the year and said "Look how far you've come." I would be absolutely joyful and even to think about someone saying that to me one day makes me feel so loved.

Because none of us are our worst day. That is what Christ is all about. He has freed you from your worst day and given us the ability to say "Look how far you've come."

Are you comfortable? Is everything going the way you want it, just when you want it, down to the very letter? If that is so, first let me congratulate you on that fact and would you email me some tips on how to do that? Second if you are comfortable, then go find someone who isn't. Now what about if you are living on the edge of "YIKES!"? What if you are just barely holding it together? My response is this: we are to live right on the edge of "YIKES!" because if we are comfortable, if we are fully healed, then we don't need Jesus, our Comforter, our Healer. People who are comfortable don't need Jesus. And if you are one of those aforementioned people who aren't on the edge of "YIKES!" go find someone who is, and take their hand and say "DOUBLE YIKES!" Because then, you will actually need Christ.

Guys, give away extravagant love. You know the difference between extravagant love and stingy love. Stingy is like stepping into a pool and extravagant is like doing a cannonball. So do a cannonball in people's lives; love extravagantly because somehow in this reverse economy of Jesus, it is never ever wasted.