Have you ever experienced adventure? Have you wanted to? I think most people do… each person’s great “adventure” looks a little different but at the core of each person, I think there is a desire to belong to something and to be involved in something that MATTERS and is edgy.
This week I was told that you had to choose either adventure OR Jesus. When I heard the guy say, “Do you want adventure? … or do you want Jesus??” I almost stood up and opposed him to his face. As I went home that night I realized that this is what most people think, ‘If I live my life for Jesus it will be boring. I will have to sit with my Bible in my lap, praying and singing Kumbaya.’
Tell me something; does this sound boring to you?
Receiving 39 lashes 5 times… being beaten with rods 3 times… stoned… shipwrecked a handful of times… in danger from everything under the sun (and everyone for that matter!)… going without sleep… hungry… thirsty… cold and naked… and constantly worried. This was the adventure that walking with Jesus got Paul.
I do not claim to have the most adventurous or dangerous life. Believe me, there are people around the world who will suffer more today than I will in my entire life. But can I tell you a little about what God has allowed me to be apart of in my short 26 years of life? I have been all over the world and met all different kinds of people. I have seen forgiveness given to a father who did not deserve it by a daughter who had held on to her anger for far too long. I have been able to walk with a teenage girl as she’s struggled with the daily pressures of teenage life. I have seen an apathetic kid take a huge step into missions and watch God rearrange his life. I was able to hold my friend’s hand as she took her first step into an Evangelical church. I’ve cried over a glue-sniffing Guatemalan girl as I mourned her lostness. I’ve seen the face of a crippled child as he held out his hands to a sun he only sees once every week. I’ve been yelled at and accused of not loving when I was giving tough love. I’ve had people not speak to me for months because of sensitive information that I had to tell their parents. All of these experiences, both good and bad are part of the adventure that the Lord has for me. And in each one, I can only say as Paul did, “Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weaknesses.” When you live a life sold out for Jesus, you won’t live a boring life, but it also won’t be pretty. You will live a life full of PAIN and full of JOY. Try it out, I promise you won’t regret it. Paul didn’t and neither do I.
1 comment:
To have an adventure... Awhile back I was on a solo backpack trip thinking about having an adventurous life. I went in an area that is insignificant in mountaineering terms, but while I was out a friend of mine was out having an adventure of his own. He has only one arm and was planning a solo summit on Mount Rainier. That is an adventure. While thinking about my own measly trip, I realized that to have an adventure is pointless! Anyone can have an adventure. Put down $3,000 with REI and go to some foreign land and do something exciting. Anyone can be adventurous. That's not the point. It's what you do with the adventure. It's how people are influenced and how the adventure shapes you. Perhaps some peoples adventure needs to be more in line with serving the poor in India, perhaps some peoples adventure needs to be so crazy that fears are faced in a healthy way, perhaps some peoples adventure is their spouse! And perhaps the greatest adventure of all is trusting Christ with your life and embracing a power that is weak in the worlds eyes and un-necessary for a pragmatic professional.
Post a Comment