When Did You Last Feel Alive? The Sermon That Will Make You Rethink Being "Fine"

There's a particular kind of stuck that's hard to name. Life isn't falling apart. Nothing is obviously wrong. But somewhere underneath the routine, the comfort, the familiar Sunday seat — something has quietly gone stagnant.

Pastor Dave opened this week's message at Courageous Church with a story about a hidden waterfall in the North Georgia mountains. After a family hike, he climbed out on a fallen tree to get closer to the falls — and halfway along, the smell hit him. Trapped beneath the beauty of rushing water was a pocket of stagnant, rotting, foaming mess. Flies everywhere. The kind of stench that makes your eyes water.

And standing on that log, he had a thought that became the backbone of this entire message: that's what our lives look like when we stop moving.

Stagnation Doesn't Stay Neutral

Here's the thing about stagnant water that most of us don't realize — it doesn't just pause. It decays. It becomes one of nature's most prolific breeding grounds for disease and sickness. It doesn't hold its position. It goes backwards.

Pastor Dave made the case that the same principle applies to every area of our lives. Our faith. Our marriages. Our sense of purpose. When we stop introducing movement, we don't stay where we are. We slowly, sometimes imperceptibly, start to rot.

The uncomfortable question he posed to the room was this: when's the last time you tried something new?

Meet the Original Risk-Taker

The sermon draws from Hebrews 11 and the life of Abraham — a man the Bible calls the father of faith. What defined him wasn't a theology degree or a perfect track record. It was movement. He heard God's call and he went — even though he had no idea where he was going.

Oh, and he was 75 years old when he did it.

That detail matters. Because so many of us have quietly decided that the season for bold steps is behind us, or hasn't arrived yet, or belongs to someone else — the younger ones, the braver ones, the ones on the stage.

But Abraham's story obliterates that excuse entirely.

The Step Comes Before the Promise

One of the most striking ideas in this message is that God called Abraham to move before He revealed the destination. The promise came after the obedience, not before it.

That's the nature of faith. It isn't a calculation. It isn't an equation where you can see the outcome before you commit. The Bible describes it as a lamp to your feet — not a floodlight illuminating the road ahead, but just enough light for the very next step.

Two Sides of the Log

Pastor Dave closed with a simple but arresting image — the two sides of that fallen tree. On one side, the mist of fresh moving water. On the other, the stench of everything that stopped.

The invitation is clear. You don't need to have all the answers. You don't need to be religious, sorted, or certain. You just need to decide which side of the log you want to live on.

The flow of the spray. Or the smell of the stay.

Which one are you choosing today?