I'd Rather Fly a Kite!

When I was a boy growing up in Africa, the temperature at 7,200 feet was a constant 70-80 degrees year round and the winds were mild, ideal weather for flying a kite.

As a kid, we made our own kites out of dried sticks, plastic bags, scotch tape and lightweight nylon string. They flew amazingly well, sometimes so high in the sky that you could hardly see them with the naked eye. Sometimes so high that they flew when the winds at the surface were calm.

I loved those days, carefree, footloose, and as an adult I remember the sheer happiness and joy that flying my kite gave me.

In America we live in a very autonomous, self determining culture where everyone is driven by the tyranny of becoming....rather than just being. There's nothing wrong with growth, progress, or success.....but sometimes just "being" (in Christ) is God's plan.

What if we all decided to be.......what if we decided to fly a kite..........?

Some of the great things about kites....are really about us.

1) The kite was a part of us. We built it. It contained our personality, our character, our DNA. It represents us....it's almost as if we can fly.

2) We hold onto the string. We hold onto the string and when the kite is low we have alot of control, but as the kite flies higher our control becomes less and the winds control becomes greater.

3) We let out more string. As the wind takes the kite higher, we grow by letting outr more string, the uncertainty of what might become of the kite increases the higher it goes but so does the pleasure and excitement of flying it.

4) We fix our eyes on the kite. We would stand for hours watching our kites fly first this way then that way....it was a wonder that we never tired of.

So what is the point here?

What if we lived our lives like we were flying a kite?

1) What if we believed that God has made each of us to fly, each of us with our own DNA, personality, and characteristics...each one of us uniquely important to his Kingdom?

2) What if we understood that to begin with we must hold the string.....but that as we rise higher God begins blowing us this way and that way, causing our lives to fly with his purpose and his design, taking us to places and heights we have never known?

3) What if the longer we fly our kite the more string we let out.....the more insecure we become in our abilities and the more we lean on Gods ability.

4) Finally, as we watch our kite flying under the influence of the wind of God.....we realize things that would have never happened if we had chosen not to fly our kite.

The church sometimes says that we cannot be involved in mininstry unless we fit into a traditional mold, look a certain way, or do ministry the way it has always been done. Sometimes that is good....but not always.

What about the "kite flyers" in the Bible?

Abraham.....just flying his kite, minding his business.....and God came along with a skyhigh adventure...."How would you like to fly your kite in a country you knew nothing about?"

David....just flying his kite.....watching his fathers sheep......when a prophet comes, finds him, and annoints him King of Israel!

All the people in the Bible were kite flyers......when God came along and took them on a sky high adventure.

So, I'm not agonizing, and frantically searching for the next step in my life. My next step is up to God....I'm just keeping my eyes on Him.

I'm not being insincere, I'm just flying a kite.

I'm holding onto my end of the string, watching my kite intently....leaning on God's ability. I know that God is kind and has everything under control....even the wind. And when that gust of wind comes along that takes my kite into a hard right turn....I'll feel the tug and know that God is leading me into the next phase of this sky high adventure.