Full Send or Faith?
By: Missionary Team
“You just gotta do it, man. Don’t think about it. Full send!” My toes dangle off the edge, I can feel the wind biting at my bare ankles and calves. A solid 60 ft cliff filled with jagged rocks ending in a rushing and daunting river beneath me. I closed my eyes and felt the power of the wind. The warm sun on my skin. I could hear the blue jays chirp. My heart pounding so hard I could feel my pulse throb in my temples and neck. Again I heard that voice scream: “JUST SEND IT!”. I jumped... not just jumped, but flipped... for the seemingly endless time I was in the air I felt a powerful unexplainable peace. I perfectly completed the backflip with a twist. I hit the frigid river water and I felt it. The great rush. Icy mountain water swept me away down the stream. I finally popped up out of the cold Arkansas river into the summer sun. My head buzzed. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for the next hour. Looking for an adrenaline rush was a huge part of my high school life. Hiking mountains, white water rafting, cliff jumping, driving recklessly, Longboarding, and snowboarding down mountains at a speed that could easily kill. These are just a few things I did for an adrenaline rush, and in this blog, I will highlight how this idea of “just doing it” can easily be confused with one’s faith.
The Full Send culture
Many teenagers and young people nowadays are getting involved in what is known as the “Full Send culture” where they will perform stunts and insane leaps of “faith” in the name “Full Send.”If you do something “Full Send”, especially in extreme sports, you're doing it full-throttle and with one-hundred percent, even if you end up failing. In extended, popular slang, Full Sendhas the sense of "intense," "hardcore," or "without regard to consequences. But what is “Full Send”? Full Send originated from a group of YouTubers known as the Nelk boys. The Nelk boys got famous by performing crazy pranks and stunts without a care in the world for any risk of physical harm or repercussions. Their slogan is comparable to the Nike “Just Do It” slogan except full send is taking it to the max and not in a good way. Videos of the Nelk boys chugging liters of alcohol, jumping off roofs, throwing parties, and stealing things have been blowing up on the internet. With almost 6 million subscribers on youtube, the Nelk boys are an inspiration to teenage boys all over the country. Say what you will about them; they have certainly invigorated millions of people to live life with no regrets and to take risks. For catholic teens, to live an exciting life with no regrets and to be a risk taker is exactly what most of them want. But at what point do we move from “living life to the fullest” (as God intended us to enjoy his creation) to this extreme of Full Sendculture? Well, I’ll tell you how!
How to know if it’s a Full send or Faith
It is easier to understand this if we know what an adrenaline junky is because in short someone who follows and lives the Full Sendculture is considered one. By definition, an adrenaline junkie is “a person with a compulsive desire for excitement and adventure.” At face value, this might not sound that bad but what's important is the adjective. The “compulsive desire”, is where people can start to move from living life as God intended to just being a pure adrenaline junky. Before you leap into something, ask yourself just how compulsive of a decision is this. If the answer is “a lot” then it might not be the most prudent course of action. The more frequent one gives into compulsiveness, the closer they get to fit the bill for the term “junkie”. Ask yourself that age-old question: What would Jesus do? If you say “no” then odds are your decision might not be the best one. If the answer is “yes this is what Jesus would do” then you must act! Act with faith, courage, and confidence. This is how you tell when you are acting out of Faith or out of just wanting an adrenaline rush. This is even better applied in our daily life. Have faith when you are dealing with day-to-day things such as confrontation, reaching out to encourage someone or any instance where God's will must be fulfilled. We have to do those things with intention and faith rather than just doing it because we want to send it for a rush or to look good. Proverbs 28:26 says: “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered” At the end of the day we really have to do everything we can with intentionality, love, and have faith in God's plan. If we do this we will be doing God's work and exercising our faith and living for more than just a “Full Send”.
