What Is A Dare Worth?

     So what is a dare really worth?  Well, I guess that would depend on what kind of "dare" it was.  This was a dare that would cost me my life...one way or the other.  I didn't understand the ramifications then, but I am just starting to now.  Do I regret the dare?  No way!  The cost of my life is a small price to pay for what I will gain.

     A decade or so ago, we moved in next to these radical Christians.  They were pretty hard core I thought and took that whole Christian thing pretty seriously!  Yeah, I was a "Christian" because that was the "popular" label to wear, but secretly it was a little lower on my priority list than the "holy-rollers" next door.  "Sue" was a nice lady...my kind of gal.  Not so prissy and primpy, would tell you exactly what she thought, and a little bit tom-boyish and not into anything seriously fem....

     One day she stopped over and invited me to go to "church camp" to work in the kitchen for a whole week!  Now I had been to those when I was little and had no interest in reliving the event.  But she kept bugging me!  Finally I just said no, NO WAY...NOT INTERESTED!!  As I turned to walk back across to my own yard, she whispered to me, "I dare ya..."  I stopped dead in my tracks.  I turned back around.  "What did you say," I said.  She replied matter-of-factly, "You heard me."

     From that day forward the challenge was on.  We went to church camp and worked in the kitchen.  At first I hated it, but soon it turned into a lot of fun.  One hot 104 degree afternoon Sue and I are cooking beans for 500 kids on the stove.  She turns to me and says, "These are a lot of goddam beans!"  "What?" was my reply somewhat flabbergasted.  "You heard me!," she said.  "These are a lot of goddam beans!"  We laughed as we finished cooking those goddam beans and got them out on plates to 500 kids.  From that point on we were great friends.

     Fast forward 5 years, Sue calls me one day on the phone.  "Hey, you wanna go to a bible study?  It's really good and you'll learn lots!"  Blah, blah, blah.  I let her yammer on and told her I was just too busy.  Without even hesitating she said, "I dare ya!"  Now at this point I am recognizing a pattern.  She has done this before....more than once!  How am I going to get outta this one?  There's no way!  I can't pass up a dare like this!  So I say, "I'll try it."

Its now 5 years later and I am still in the same bible study.  Bible Study Fellowship(BSF); and so is Sue!.  She is a teaching leader for BSF and along the way she has taught me so much about what God has in store for me....really for all of us if we would take him seriously and give him some of our time.  I think God brought Sue into my life to save me from myself.  She taught me to take God seriously, but not myself.  To be an example and show them what kind of life Jesus really lived.  He wasn't judgemental or critical or condescending.  He spoke the truth plainly for people to hear; and live the truth plainly for others to see. 

      I used to think all Christians were "fakes."  "Do as I say, not as I do."  But, I watched Sue from the shadows.  She wasn't a fake, and she wasn't perfect....hence the comment about the beans!  But she taught me so much about what it meant to be like Jesus.  For that I will forever be grateful!  So where are you when it comes to God?  It is hard for most of us to know.  It all boils down to one simple question.  So, I DARE YOU.......Ask yourself, where are you gonna spend eternity?