Ready, Set, Lent

“Today I put on a terrible strength invoking the Trinity, confessing the Three with faith in the One as I face my Maker.” – St. Patrick

Happy Mardi Gras y’all! As I write this my brother and sister-in-law should be arriving in New Orleans, the land of the ultimate Mardi Gras celebrations. Throw in a little Cafe Du Monde beignets and some fried gator with some back-beating jazz and you can capture the scene. One of my favorite towns.

Ash Wednesday kicks off our Lenten journey tomorrow (or today if you’re waking up to this), and I want to encourage you as we all begin.

Lent is a powerful time to create change in your relationship with Christ and your life.

Don’t be afraid to go further, to go deeper.

Don’t be afraid to push yourself outside of a comfort zone you’ve settled in.

The Lenten journey pushes us, well, at least that’s the invitation, out into the desert. Just like Moses, just like Jesus.

This imagery is not just a nice story, but has real consequences. Real stories are made in this…

I’ve been out into three North American deserts – the Sonoran, Colorado, and the Mojave deserts. Each one with it’s own characteristics and adventure story to go with it. If you’re not used to the environments, they can be hazardous yet the beauty is found in the challenge of them.

I was hiking a trail in Sedona and got super heat sick, even being well hydrated. Not fun. But the views were spectacular. Another time at a bison ranch near Zion in Utah, we took a 4×4 off roader up a canyon and got to see this unbelievable vista and hiked through a gulch with some of the most beautiful desert flowers I’ve ever seen, no doubt rattlesnakes hiding just out of reach from the torching sun.

The heat and aridity can kill you quickly, it makes you appreciate the power of the wild and fragility of life.

I’m sure Jesus and Moses had a much more difficult experience than me.

When the season of Lent embraces this imagery, it’s with great intent. There is beauty and danger hidden in our own subjective experience.

So, this Lent, starting tomorrow, go all in. If you’ve been dozing this far, wake up and take the journey through the desert.

Take a look at the Ash Wednesday offerings below! Godspeed! I’m praying for you.

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Also, if you’re new or lost on your journey and you just need to talk things through, let me buy you a cup of coffee and chat. I’d love to hear your story. Just give me a shout, adamj@righteousco.com. Don’t do it alone, we’ll connect you where you need to be.

Adam Jarosz is the founder of Righteous Co. and author of “Iron Ore: Journal of a Man” – a company built on faith, formation, and adventure. With over twenty years of experience in ministry and business, Adam leads retreats, coaches men to be the leaders they were called to be, and writes from the trenches of entrepreneurship.

He’s a husband, father of four, and believer in Christ and His Church, the power of grit and grace, and good fellowship. Follow along for insights that challenge, encourage, and call you higher with his newsletter, The Climb.