John 10:10 “…I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” [ESV]
The other morning I woke up with the word adventure on my mind. Since I was alone in a somewhat secluded setting by the woods for a few days of writing, it didn’t seem like the optimum place for anything I would deem adventurous. I didn’t even have a car!
While in the middle of my morning devotions, I heard the thunder roll. Sure enough, raindrops were beginning to fall. This was disappointing because every day I like to walk a couple miles and pray. Now here I sat—stuck—without raincoat or umbrella. So I asked Jesus if maybe he would push the rain back for a while. I can’t say I prayed with a lot of faith, but by the time I finished getting dressed, the rain had completely stopped! As I walked out the driveway, gratitude overwhelmed me. “Yes Lord, let the adventure begin!”
I believe God intends our lives to be packed with adventure. Not necessarily the Indiana Jones kind. But the kind we can experience whether we’re the richest person in America or the poorest in Sudan. Jesus said he came to give us not only life, but abundant life. We experience that abundance every time we open ourselves up to the leading of the Holy Spirit. It involves risk, sacrifice and a little bit of faith. And it manifests itself in more ways than we can imagine.
Adventures can be big or small. When my friend, Mary, was in her early 30’s, she left America to marry a man in Jamaica who ran a home for street boys. She became a wife, foreigner and mother to ten little boys in one day! Bob Goff writes in Everybody Always how he likes to buy about twenty hamburgers from a fast food, then drive around town looking for hungry people to give them to. And if you think prayer can’t be one of the most exciting adventures in life, you probably haven’t read Mark Batterson’s The Circle Maker.
Jesus says there’s only one thing that can hold us back from this great adventure. To find the abundant life, we have to let go of the old one. The predictable, safe, we-gotta’-be-in-control one (Matthew 16:25). Don’t you dare miss out.
Tell God you’re ready for an adventure!
Great devotion this week. Interesting that you mentioned Mark Batterson. He went to our church in Naperville Ill. When I was much younger I taught 5th grade Sunday School and Had his wife Laura, who was our pastors Daughter, in my class. I did not know Mark well, but watched them as they dated, romance bloomed, and eventually led to marriage. Small world…
Very interesting. You might like his book. Small world indeed!