Every day
God invites us on the same kind of adventure.
It’s not a trip where He sends us a rigid itinerary. He simply invites us. God asks what it is He’s made us to love,
what it is that captures our attention, what feeds that deep indescribable need
of our souls to experience the richness of the world He made. And then, leaning over us, He whispers, “Let’s
go do that together.”
~ Bob Goff, Love
Does
I
just finished reading a book everyone else in my life seemed to finish as
well. Even my neighbor yelled, “Love
Does, great book!” as I was reading on my back porch. Bob Goff fills his chapters with story after
story of fascinating, whimsical adventures.
And as I read each one, I found myself sitting in awe… not because of
the amazing trips and encounters Bob has been a part of, but in awe of the way
he holds life as an adventure. I have
been thinking a lot lately about adventure.
A lot of times we as Christians refer to our union with the Creator as a
“walk with God”, and honestly the phrase serves as a beautiful image of us
walking alongside Jesus. But I
wonder how our life would change if we sat out on an “adventure with God”
instead of a walk. An adventure like
Peter has the night Jesus walks out to the middle of lake to meet his
friends. As Peter challenges the “ghost”
on the water to prove himself, the voice calls back, “Come”, and Peter steps
out into one of the greatest adventures recorded in human history. Maybe for a brief moment, a few steps or a
hundred yards, Peter experiences life beyond what he could ever imagine. Stepping off the boat I’m sure was
frightening, exhilarating, confusing and more… and lately I have been wondering
if all adventure feels that way.
Too
often I am afraid to step into the adventure God longs to have with me. The fear of sinking, the fear of being hurt, and
the fear of failing hold me back. But what
I am discovering, slowly, that life at its fullest, an adventure filled life is
scary and joyful and painful and confusing and good. To steal a classic scene from the Chronicles
of Narnia- Is it safe? No. Is it good? I am beginning to believe so…
No
one has taught me more about the adventure of life with God than my sister,
Lindsay. Lindsay use to climb the tree
sitting by the creek (which made her younger brother long to even more). One day she fell. The branches were not so kind on the way down
and the drop sent her to the emergency room for a set of stitches on her
eye. Those stitches kept me away from
the tree I so badly wanted to climb, those stitches kept me wondering. Lindsay is now a mom of 3 boys- Campbell,
Graham and little Huck. Campbell and
Graham are twins who live a life of adventure, like their mom, and they have
the stitches to prove it. They climb
trees, run through fields and swim in the cold ocean. The ER doctors know them by name and their
GiGi (our mom) cringes each time they come home in a cast or with a new set of
stitches… But at 5 years old they are beginning to understand how God created
them to live in an adventure with Him, to live a life full of joy, heartache,
surprises, fun, pain, laughter and more… Already they see God as the One who
makes the adventure possible… Already they realize real life, life at its
fullest, a life of adventure comes with some stitches.
I
no longer want to simply wonder… I want to jump into the life of adventure the
Creator of the Universe is calling me into… and I am realizing, life like this
comes with some stitches.
