Life is about finding people who are your type of crazy.
~Anon
I’ve seen this quote floating around Facebook and I’ve *liked* it.
I’ve seen this quote floating around Pinterest and I’ve pinned it.
I’ve seen this quote floating around Twitter and I’ve retweeted it.
I even walked past a table once in Starbucks overhearing a conversation between friends about how to build friendships that matter. The quote came up, and I totally pulled up a chair and asked them what they thought it meant. You think I’m kidding, but I’m not. Luckily the girls were my type of crazy. They welcomed me into their conversation with open arms. We even hugged when I left.
But yesterday I understood the quote. I actually “got” it. On a deep level, I grasped it. I lived it. I saw it. I heard it. I watched it unfold over quiche and fruit smoothies.
So what does crazy look like?
It seems like our culture has deemed everyone crazy for practically everything. Take fashion for instance. If you don’t dress cool or trendy or fashionable, if you don’t wear certain brands, if you have zero desire to be part of the “in crowd”, then you must be weird, or a loser, or… crazy.
If you could care less about vehicles, and big houses, and toys, and vacations, and stuff… you’re crazy (and yes, there’s a difference between having these things and obsessing over these things).
If you actually want to make a difference in the world, live simply, focus on caring about people more than climbing some corporate ladder – Uh, what now? Come again? – you’re crazy.
If you like your wrinkles and think aging is an honour… you’re crazy.
If you want to live debt free… you’re crazy.
If you think loving Jesus is cool… and a good thing… and important… you’re crazy.
If you work out five days a week and avoid sugar… you’re crazy.
If you love your marriage… and place high emphasis on date nights… you’re crazy.
If you see the older generation as inspiring rather than the younger… you’re crazy.
If you want less… not more… you’re crazy.
Basically, if you’re not a carbon copy of how pop culture lives, you’re crazy.
And by crazy, I mean, you don’t want to live average about a subject. You refuse to settle for how everyone else is doing things and what everyone is doing.
You want to grow.
You want to push boundaries.
You want to challenge and be challenged.
You want to continuously evolve and become a better version of yourself with every day that passes.
And you want to appreciate who you are and what you already have, not feel the pressure to have and be more.
I mean, good heavens, is this crazy?
Take our friend for example – the guy we ate quiche and fruit smoothies with. He wants to live a Spirit-filled life. *Gasp* Shocker alert! He’s a Christian. He loves Jesus. He believes the Bible to be true. And he wants to see it all come to life in the Church and through the Church – and I don’t mean via buildings, I mean via people.
You laugh.
In a blog post it doesn’t seem or sound all that crazy, but you’d be surprised. Nothing ever seems crazy when written down on paper. But living it out, actually living it out, in the day-to-day, spoken out loud, to people over dinner conversation, is when things get weird.
How do I know? Because I’m there.
The Kat and I are trying with all of our might to live non-average lives. We’re trying with every ounce of our beings to surrender our WHOLE lives to Him – our hearts, our souls, our minds, our pasts, our present, our futures. We’re like, sellin’ stuff. We’re like, purging our home and hearts of the excess that has sickeningly diseased our surrounding spaces. We’re devoting ourselves to prayer. Spending huge amounts of time pouring into our kids and teaching them about what is really important in life. We’re spending even MORE amounts of time dying to ourselves (which sucks and is really hard). We’re fasting. We’re desperately reading the Bible, and trying even harder to live it out. We’re trying to find and hang out with people who desire the same kind of lifestyle.
Call it crazy, I guess, but we like to call it sold out. Radical. Freeing. Awakening. Spirit-filled. Spirit-led. Courageous. Jesus focused and Christ-centred.
What has shocked me is that I never knew it would be this hard.
I never dreamt it could feel this exhausting. Different. Lonely.
I never imagined I would feel this “crazy.”
Which is crazy to me.
What’s more?
How is it possible that I’m made to feel “crazy” when I ask these difficult questions, or when I do a little probing, or when I wonder and wander out loud and desire more out of life?
Something refreshing happened when Travis came over for breakfast. He made us feel normal, like we aren’t all that crazy. He made that quote come alive.
I guess what I’m trying to say is this: wanna know how you know you’ve found your type of crazy?
Because they are people who:
- Allow your shoulders to relax.
- Don’t make you feel like you need to explain yourself.
- Don’t give off an air of judgment or awkwardness.
- Aren’t shocked, or intimidated, or surprised, or confused when you ask difficult questions.
- Let you wonder out loud.
- Won’t try to “persuade” you to get your head on straight.
- Will encourage you to press on, to dig deep, and to stand tall.
- Will ask you how you’re doing and not be puzzled by what you say.
- Won’t need for you to explain yourself if you haven’t quite figured things out yet.
They will make you feel normal. Understood. Heard. Loved. Accepted. Supported. Encouraged. Challenged. Refreshed… as if wanting more out of life is perfectly okay… as if living counter to the culture (and yes, even the Church culture) is possible… as if wanting to rise about average is necessary and perfectly acceptable and downright appropriate.
Note: that doesn’t mean they’ll agree with everything you do. In every good village there should be a healthy does of constructive conflict, gentle push back, and supportive accountability – how else could iron sharpen iron? Just remember, constructive criticism done in Christ is very different than condemning opinion done in human.
So don’t stop looking for your type of “crazy.” As Bob Goff says, “People grow when they feel accepted.” And you know what happens when you feel accepted? You feel like you have the potential to change the world – like your life can actually make a small difference.
So dig deep.
Search high.
Poke the box.
Prod low.
Expand boundaries.
Burst bubbles.
Expect more.
And I promise the craziest thing will happen…
You’ll be conversing over quiche and fruit smoothies one morning and suddenly you’ll have this light bulb moment where you feel like living a Spirit-filled, Jesus-loving, Christ-centred life is actually possible because “your type of crazy” will be there to support you.
Crazy, right?
