Every real adventure I've experienced contains a portion that is very difficult. Whether it's a tough hill to climb, running out of water in the desert, capsizing the canoe, or an injury, every adventure carries with it a significant challenge. Frankly, that's why we go! There's something awesome about surviving one of these challenges! And, they make the best stories!
Paul writes of the persecutions and challenges he and other disciples have endured (see 2Corinthians 4:8-9). He goes on to explain that there is a purpose being served in this suffering.
2Corinthians 4:10b
...so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
Every real faith walk contains portions that are very difficult. Whether it's enduring a tough church meeting, a search process for a key church leader, personal or family illness, the loss of a job, or the death of a friend, every faith walk carries with it significant challenges.
When we face these challenges leaning on God, it is God that gets us through them. It is, therefore, appropriate that God gets the credit for our "survival". And, these adventures make the best stories!
As you face today's adventure, lean fully upon God. He will get you through and in the process Jesus will be revealed!
Have a great adventure!
Lon
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Adventure seems to be a relative term these days, and yes, there would also seem to be greater propensity toward fortification, or rather, arm-chair adventures for many people today. I'll risk it all, behind the fortified walls of my anonymous screen name...
The topic of adventure has come up a lot in conversations this week with friends. I have one who is "picking up" and leaving Cleveland and heading to California. I commented that I wish I still had my sense of adventure. He shared with me how he was raised in a house where for years they would literally pray for food to materialize on their porch step. His father worked but times were hard back then (his father was a pastor) and what others saw as living by faith they saw as their simply reliance on God to provide.
What that instilled in him now as an adult is the knowledge that God provides, and even if the timing is off on your adventure, God is still there. Andrew's parents told him, "Look, just go for it; worst case scenario you move back and regroup." WOW! I don't remember my parents ever prompting me to walk on water, or to go and map uncharted seas. Some people's world today is certainly smaller (or larger) than others.
I have to admit though that our family over the last 13 years has often had to pray for groceries, vehicles, and jobs to materialize in various seasons. And although God did come through every time what concerns me now is how my experience has left me increasingly fortifying a survival mentality (and not in a good way) to the point that I scarcely entertain "launching out" into deeper uncharted territories.
How is it that some people with similar experiences internalize and project a very different vision of the future, and what risks they are willing to take? Perhaps it's the responsibility now of having a family, but i suspect it's something much deeper.
Thoughts?.....
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