An Adventure Awaits!

I'm thinking about going on an adventure this summer. A real journey of epic proportions. Or so I've imagined it.

Maybe I'll go volcano hunting in New Mexico, where hundreds of extinct volcanoes dot the landscape. I just read the other day that one of them is not yet considered extinct because it still shows signs of volcanic activity. I've always been attracted to volcanoes. They're just kinda really... cool.

Maybe I'll go on a mountain expedition to Colorado, hiking up 14,000-foot peaks and descending into 2,000-foot canyons. I haven't been to Colorado in nine years; not on my own since the mid 1990's.There's a lot of history there, too. Maybe I'll find me some gold...

Maybe I'll seek out some sun and sand by the sea. I have a desktop background that always seems to beckon me to come to the Caribbean (or the South Pacific) and relax by its scenic waters. I can see it now... sitting in a hammock stretched between palm trees, my hat pulled over my eyes, an ice cold lemonade in my hand, listening to the sound of the surf...

Maybe I'll do something with deeper meaning, and go serve on the mission field this summer in some far-off place. I think I can work with my hands, even though I make my living in front of a computer.


Wherever I go, there's adventure waiting for me! I just know it! And my camera crew will be coming with me....


I have discovered during the journey of my life that I have a spirit of adventure infused into my soul. Like a tapestry, it is woven into the fibers of my being. You cannot take the desire for adventure away from me without destroying me in the process. I long to explore new places, meet new faces, and do new things (non-crazy things, that is). I'm rarely content with where I am in my life if there is a lack of adventure, challenge or growth. I cannot accept the status quot if it isn't taking me or those I love somewhere better than this.

I have recently concluded that sitting in a desk chair all day is the antithesis of adventure. But since it is my job at present, I need to stretch my explorer side this summer. Where I go is what I have to determine.

There are some challenges to going on adventures. Take being single, for example. Without a traveling buddy, anywhere I go for extended periods of time will have to be done alone. And as I discovered last summer during my vacation to California, being alone in strange places can be tough. I did a LOT of talking to myself. And to my camera crew (a Panasonic, a JVC, and a Canon).

Finances are another challenge to adventure. Right now I'm struggling to get my financial head above water, so wherever I go needs to be cheap AND satisfying. I have been blessed with a newer car that gets great gas mileage, so I'll probably drive wherever I go this summer. That limits my range of adventure, unfortunately, and I wish it wasn't that way. But every adventure needs to be balanced by some (if little) reality.

There's something spiritual in adventure, too. My heart is restless and I can tell you with confidence that this is not a thing of the flesh but of the spirit. I am not at home in this world and my heart knows it. I am different than the world and I see it everyday by observing people around me. Oh, I look like them, for sure, but the eyes of my heart have been opened and enlightened by the Holy Spirit, while those who do not know Him are still asleep. One of my favorite movie lines comes from an adventure movie, "Joe Versus the Volcano." The female lead says this to an adventure-seeking Joe, "My father says almost the whole world's asleep. Everybody you know, everybody you see, everybody you talk to. He says only a few people are awake.  And they live in a state of constant total amazement."

My restless heart comes from a yearning for freedom, freedom of the mind, freedom of the heart, and freedom of the body. I want to be free! I also want to find a place of rest for my weary heart and mushy head. I've been taxing my body in that desk chair and straining my eyes and my mind for way too long. I owe them a break. I need a place of rest.

One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 55. In that song, David is stressed out by the revelation that his enemies are slandering him and his best friend has betrayed him. His heart and his soul are weary. So he says,

"Oh, that I had wings like a dove! 

I would fly away and be at rest. 

Behold, I would wander far away, 

I would lodge in the wilderness. 

I would hasten to my place of refuge 

From the stormy wind and tempest.”

This is the relief for which my heart longs. An adventure that brings rest. Is there one waiting for me?  I hope so!  I just know I have to get away to find it. No metaphorical "adventures in life" for me — I need real, physical adventures.

So I plan and dream until I find one.

— John

.