On The Adventure

As I took a day off in the middle of the week to take a day trip to the mountains with my family, the Holy Spirit reminded me that life is an adventure.  Seeing the snow-capped mountains, the roaring rivers, and the lush green valleys I was reminded of the wildness of God's creation.  Often times in our human culture we seek to turn life into a problem to be solved, a puzzle to be figured out, a future to be controlled and predicted, or simply fulfilling a planned out routine.  Every one of these remove the adventure and seek to reduce the risk element of life.

Yet God's invitation to Abram was one of adventure, listen in "Now the Lord said to Abram,'Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house,to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.  And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.'" (Genesis 12:1-3)  Even Jesus invitation to the disciples one full of adventure, unknown, and leaving the familiar "...Come follow Me..."  Inherent in Jesus invitation is relationship mixed with adventure, not a call to a role or a job.

Why do we resist this dimension or aspect of life?  I will tell you the reason for me.  Growing up in an environment of trauma, crisis, darkness, fear, and poverty one major need that often went unmet was security/safety.  So though my heart is sold out to knowing the Father's love, I often find myself looking to hold onto security and safety which means control.  This dimension of orphan living comes out of the wounds of unmet needs but continues where there is a lack of revelation of the Father's love.

A dimension of adventure that we would like to leave out is adversity, obstacles, and barriers.  Adventure means an adversary that must be overcome in order for us to advance into our Promise Land.  Father stripped the enemy of his authority and now we engage with a defeated foe.  A little secret, he often does not appear as a defeated foe (the truth about him) but appears big and scary blocking our path through the lies he tells us.

On the Adventure with Father,
Bret