Adventure With God

What makes an adventure an adventure? I got in trouble a few years back while speaking to a church in Canada.  As I introduced my wife, Sally, I said "she doesn’t like adventure, like I do...” The folks in the church had a good laugh at my expense. They knew Sally and the wild lifestyle she has lived for Jesus.

What I intended to say is that Sally is not an outdoors type, doesn’t climb mountains, hunt with a bow, other stuff I like to do. I was doing the thing a husband should never do, I was comparing Sally to me. I made myself the standard. Really dumb!

But adventure? Are you kidding, me? Sally is the epitome of adventure. She left home as young 16 year old from Texas, and journeyed by faith half-way around the world to Samoa. She lived in Afghanistan, where she gave birth to our first child with a mid-wife in Kabul, pioneered in the Red Light District of Amsterdam and shared her home with 35 long-haired drop-outs on two houseboats. See what I mean? I misspoke big time!!

What I should have said is, "what I have learned from Sally is that embracing adventure has nothing to do with personality or disposition". She is a high introvert, neat and tidy in everything.  But, more than her personality and love for order, is her heart to obey God.

So, to try and get this right, let me say what I think of when I think about adventure...

I think there are risks involved... some danger.

Adventure means difficulty... challenge... attempting the impossible... sacrifice.

There is the unknown... Adventure is not adventure if we know all the possibilities and control the outcomes.

Then there is the element of surprise... what if? What could go wrong?

And of course, when I hear the word adventure, I also think of fun, adrenalin, wild animals in Africa, the 'rush' of walking through the bush with hippos on your left and lions or elephants up ahead, tangible danger!

An adventure has drama and tension, like a great movie or a good story... take away the risk, the danger, the 'unknown’ and what you have is predictable, safe and boring... not an adventure at all!

Adventure also means comradeship... friendship. What’s an adventure without some friends to share it with?

An adventure is a mission. We were created for mission therefore we were created for adventure. God’s original plan for us was to join Him on His great mission on earth. That’s where the greatest comradeship exists.

We were made for God adventure. If we take God adventure out of our lives, then we will selfishly turn people or money into our adventure.

The Bible is full of stories of unlikely adventurers with God. I call them 'The Unlikelys'...

• Rehab - woman of disrepute, who helped spies escape capture

• Daniel - teenager taken hostage by the ISIS of the day

• Joseph – the rejected brother who was trafficked to a foreign land

• Abraham – a sheep farmer going where he did not know

• John Mark - Paul's rejected team member

• John - son of a self-righteous religious extremists

• Mary – who pondered a prophetic mystery

• Gideon - man of fear

• Hosea – who was led by God in the most unusual way

To take adventure out of following Jesus is to rob our life of spice. It removes the emotion from life. God’s invitation to adventure is like a fork in the road. If we say no to God everything in our life changes from that point on.

Think what would have changed if Esther had said no to the invitation from God to rescue her people?

What would have happened if the rich young ruler had said yes to Jesus’ command to sell everything he owned?

My advice? If life has become safe and stable and, let’s face it, boring, it’s time to get some adventure back! Take up the hobby you have always wanted to. Go camping, buy a bike, or take an art class. Do something fun!

And say yes to Jesus. Don’t negotiate. Don’t bargain. Just trust Him and say yes!

See where He leads!!!