We were visiting a lovely friend near Owaka and I was taking a turn at dead-heading rhododendrons of their seed heads. You have to be adventurous and willing to live dangerously with the possibility of snipping off the new growths.

I was thinking that in life you can either live safely or dangerously, and OSH and the PC brigade sing lullabies softly to coax us into passivity and security. You can’t go along with that if you are going to dead-head rhododendrons!

The challenge Jesus gives us – not to be dependent on the things of life in the materialistic worldview – is that rather we should be willing to take chances while being obedient to our master. We are called to live dangerously!

Over the decades the Owaka Baptist Church has done that, growing new followers and then sending them out to other places where they serve best. The church suffers from this blood-letting, but it is obedient – even with the chance of death.

Live by faith, not by sight, we are told. 2 Corinthans 5 (CEV): “But we live by faith, not by what we see. We should be cheerful, because we would rather leave these bodies and be at home with the Lord. But whether we are at home with the Lord or away from him, we still try our best to please him. After all, Christ will judge each of us for the good or the bad that we do while living in these bodies.”

• The Wright Stuff is Trevor Wright's reflections.