"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." -Jim Elliot

That's one of the most compelling, uncomfortable, freeing things I've ever  read, and I carried that quote around in my Bible growing up. It's compelling not because it is particularly pretty, but because Jim Elliot lived those words and eventually gave his life for this truth that marked him.  There's something to the words that come out of the mouth of a laid down lover.  They are alive and active.  Transforming.

I read that quote again the other day...now feeling inspired to break out the stories from childhood of men and women who became my heroes.  Jim Elliot, Amy Carmichael, Corrie Ten Boom, David Livingston, John G. Lake, Charles Finney, and of course!  Mother Theresa, Heidi Baker (a more recent hero), Joan of Arc and the Moravians.

Actually, especially the moravians...the happy lot whose joy brought John Wesley into a life transforming conversion experience that changed everything for him.  I want that kind of joy, that kind of surrender. 

So adding to my list of things to be intentional about in this season of life:
reading the stories of these heroes who "wasted their lives" on Jesus, so ruined for any other pursuit because of the revelation they walked in of His incredible, extravagant, generous love.