What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done? Skydiving? Bungee jumping? Moving to your dream location? Quitting your job and starting a new business that you’ve been thinking about for years? Trying a new hobby? Travelling to a far away country? Or ordering something new off the menu at your favorite restaurant?
My wife Linda ready to skydive!
An adventure is an exciting or unusual experience. It may also be a bold, risky undertaking with an uncertain outcome. Adventures may be activities with some potential for physical danger, financial, relational, spiritual or psychological risk.
My wife Linda and I are adventure junkies! We’ve gone skydiving. I’ve jumped headfirst off a 100ft. tower attached only to a bungee cord. We’ve been parasailing, whitewater rafting, hot-air ballooning, zip-lining and more. We’ve travelled in all 48 contiguous states. We’ve been around the world. We love adventure!
Yet, the most adventurous thing we’ve ever done is to move our three children over 1,000 miles away from our closest family members to a relatively new city, knowing only four other people who lived there, and deciding to start Cape Christian, a new brand new church that would reach out to young unchurched families in a contemporary way, helping them experience the fullness of God. That was nearly 27 years ago.
After just celebrating the 26th birthday of Cape Christian on Easter Sunday of 2013, we have been reflecting on the rewards of living a life of adventure. Here’s just a sample of our reflections:
We’ve Never Been Bored – When you live with adventure, there is always something new to experience. We have previously imagined some things we’ve seen but God always has a way of surprising us with new and fresh breakthroughs that supersede our greatest imaginations. We always love to anticipate what may happen next.
We’ve Always Been Alive – When you refuse to coast and get comfortable, you stay alive inside. If your life becomes so predictable that you are just going through well-rehearsed motions that you could do in your sleep, something inside of you begins to die. Adventure keeps your senses alive.
We’ve Always Been Rewarded – Our adventures have rewarded us with fruitfulness and a sense of fulfillment. We have experienced the joy of seeing transformation in the lives of others. We are watching young leaders grow to be exceptional leaders. We are now seeing a multi-generational harvest from seed that was sown with risk many years ago.
William Trogdon said, “There are two kinds of adventurers: those who go truly hoping to find adventure and those who go secretly hoping they won’t.” Which kind of adventurer are you? What are you doing this week that will make certain you don’t get bored, atrophied and shrivel up and die inside. Do you have anything adventurous on your schedule?
QUESTION: What kind of adventure brings you to life inside? Please share it below.
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