It's an Adventure

Do you remember the part of The Lord of the Rings where Frodo and company walk through the woods on their journey, chat about random things all day, make it pretty far, and go to bed that night? Or how about the story of Tom Brady throwing footballs in his back yard with some friends for hours? Actually let me tell you about when I was in college (makes me feel old saying that) and I stayed up until 2am (or later) to finish a homework assignment. The reality is, none of us care about these moments, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t necessary.

Recently I have been overwhelmed with a desire for adventure. I want to satisfy it but I don’t exactly know what to do. I want to go climb a mountain, but in case you were unaware, there aren’t many mountains around Fort Worth. But God told me to live here. So what am I to do? Quick my job and move to Colorado or stay here? Follow God or follow this longing that I think God put inside of me? The answer – yes.

What I’ve come to realize is we can’t go on an adventure without the “dull” moments. Every story has these awesome moments of going through challenges or having breakthroughs or getting revelation, but every story also requires not as high moments. Frodo had some crazy adventures, but I’m sure there had to be some slower moments (and I’m sure he was thankful for them). Tom Brady (disregard any dislike of Tom Brady for the sake of my point) would have never won a super bowl if he had never practiced throwing a football as a kid. I wouldn’t have been offered my first internship in Seattle where I did get to climb a bunch of mountains without staying up late to finish homework. I wouldn’t even be at my current job without doing all of that. Even when you go on a hike you don’t (at least not usually) start at the top. The slow moments are important. They are necessary although they are not as exciting.

My Kayak and Baby Fish

Graduating from Texas A&M I could have worked my way into just about anywhere in the country (except College Station because I tried). I could have gone to Houston and been closer to friends and family and probably made more money. I could have gone to White Salmon, WA, or Raleigh, NC and enjoyed the mountains and have a really cool job. I could have gone to Orlando, FL and been at the beach. But I felt like God told me to move to Fort Worth, TX because He had an adventure for me here. So that’s what I did. It doesn’t make a lot of sense in my own eyes, but God has a better adventure for me than what I can make up. And what have I done up here? I’ve made some friends. I go to work. I attend LifeGroup and church. I guess I do take occasional business trips to California, but it’s mostly pretty plain. I do have a kayak so that’s pretty cool. God told me He would teach me how to fish up here (spiritually that is) and yet I haven’t led anyone in Fort Worth to Jesus. But I believe that God is faithful and that I’m on His adventure whether it feels like it or not.    

Fort Worth LifeGroup

So what’s my point? My point is you’re on an adventure. Although it may not feel like an adventure, you’re still on one. The Creator of the Universe has made you an integral part of his divine plan in an epic adventure in the greatest story that could ever be imagined. Step into it, and do it with the people around you. When you get to a nice comfortable area, don’t set up camp but keep walking. When you see a patch of woods don’t immediately jump off the path and sprint towards them in desperation. Whether you like the more dull areas or you despise them, God has a purpose for them. Jesus didn’t even start his ministry until He was 30 years old. I’m sure he wasn’t sitting at home as a teenager building a chair or something all upset that he wasn’t doing something more exciting. He knew He was just getting ready.  

God has an adventure for you and it never goes stale. There will be mountains and plains, but in the end it all matters that you’re heading towards the right destination. The key is keep your eyes ahead and focus on the goal rather than on your current situation because you never know what’s just around the bend.

So some additional notes: There is nothing wrong with moving to a place where you can go hiking and do crazy fun outdoor adventure things as long as that’s where God has you. Going into His creation or doing some other random exiting thing teaches us about God and it is good. I wish I were writing all of this from the top of a mountain right now. But in my thinking of all this adventure stuff over the past few weeks, I did decide to make a bucket list because why not. Some things on there are kind of ridiculous, but it is a bucket list after all. You can find my bucket list here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j7KOgwPPfSb_z23hjYOTP-_bLlpEABjTQ7mnCF4RoSg/edit?usp=sharing
Please feel free to read it, add items to it (include your name if you do), and if you want to join me on any of these adventures let me know. I’m free most weekends if you plan ahead and I have no intentions on living adventure alone.

What We All Want

How would you imagine your perfect life? Big house, lots of toys, CEO, party central, amazing spouse? What are the attributes of that life? Adventure, meaning, security? What dreams do you want to come true? We all have things deep down inside that we desire and long for, and the reality is we all want the same thing. If you take all the questions above and boil them down to their roots I believe you come up with two desires: life and love.

Life and love. Life – we want fullness, energy, purpose, good-will, etc. Whether our dream is to be a school teacher, president of the United States, astronaut, or missionary we are trying to satisfy our desire for life. Love – we want meaning, approval, intimacy, safety. We want this unexplainable heart-felt goodness from another and we want to give it back. This isn’t necessarily only in a husband-spouse relationship, but in any relationship. Not even the most introverted person in the world would want to be completely alone forever; everybody wants community. So the real question comes down to this: how do we satisfy these desires?

So the other night I got home with some time to spare on a Friday night (fancy way to say I had no plans) and I had the opportunity to go spend some quality time with Jesus but instead I decided that since I worked hard all week that I deserved a little me time and plopped on the couch and spent some quality time with Netflix. I watched one episode of Agents of Shield (great show btw). It was so good that I couldn’t help but watch another. I scrolled through Facebook a little bit and hope was just welling up in me about how good the next episode would be so I watched another. Looked at Facebook a little more. Still had this need to watch a 4^th episode so I did. I scrolled aimlessly through Facebook AGAIN and although I longed to watch a 5^th episode somewhere inside I mustered up enough self-control to call it quits and went to bed. 

Now after you finish judging me/finish doing the same thing I want you to think about something, did I go to bed satisfied? Did Netflix and Facebook satisfy my desires for life and love? I kept going back for more didn’t I? I just couldn’t get enough! But, the reality is that I couldn’t get enough because I was never satisfied. I kept going back hoping for satisfaction. One episode (which was a great episode) just didn’t satisfy my deepest desires, so maybe another one. The second didn’t? Well maybe a third, a fourth… I scroll through Facebook but really what am I looking for? To find a fun article? To see how other people’s lives are treating them? To see how much more/less satisfied other people are than I am? Netflix, Facebook – I had hope that they could satisfy but in reality they are empty. So as I lay in bed unsatisfied I thought about what makes me satisfied.

Aggie football. Of all things Aggie football must satisfy me. The term “bleed maroon” is an understatement for me. Standing up in Kyle Field waving my flag screaming my head off with 100,000 others must satisfy my desire for life and love. But then we throw a pick, we get behind, make poor play calls, people start leaving the game early, and we lose, or I mean “run out of time”. I’m disappointed, frustrated, still committed and in “love” with Aggie football, but in the moment unsatisfied. Even when we win I do carry a sense of joy but it only temporarily lasts. So I began to think through everything in my life that may satisfy and there is only one thing that every time, consistently satisfies me. His name is Jesus.

When I learn about His goodness, talk with Him about the world, worship Him, His presence does something different in my soul that nothing else has ever compared to. I get this stirring, warmth, joy that wells up inside. When I worship, especially with others, His presence overwhelms me with something that can be found nowhere else and it’s satisfaction.

The satisfaction that is found in Jesus is also ever-increasing. The more I learn about His goodness, the more I understand who He is, the closer I get to Him – the more satisfied I become. You see with the Netflix example I kept going back from lack of satisfaction because I left each time feeling disappointed, with Jesus I go back every time because I’m blown away with the revelation that “whoa! He really is that good! He really does satisfy!”

What’s even more mind blowing is that God can satisfy in every situation. He doesn’t only satisfy when I’m worshiping at church, He satisfies in every situation that I let Him in on. He can satisfy when I’m at work. He can satisfy when I’m cleaning my room. He can satisfy when I’m hunting or playing golf. To be honest, for a while I really didn’t like living in Fort Worth. I had thought about trying to move to a place that I thought I would better satisfy me such as Denver, Orlando, etc, but when 2016 started I decided to trust that God put me here for a reason (he kept telling me to stay here when I would pray) and that His plan was better than mine and I began to thank Him for being in Fort Worth. The more I thanked Him and the more I let go of certain desires and trusted them in His hands the more I was filled with life, hope, joy. I got out of the way and allowed God’s satisfaction to come in. I love it here, but it’s not because I’m in Fort Worth but it’s because this is where God wants me to be. 

Satisfaction is not dependent on your circumstances but rather on your acknowledgement of God. 

What’s even more important that it’s not “Jesus things” that satisfy but Jesus himself. There are a lot of people who show up to church on Sunday and leave unsatisfied. There are ton’s of people who are not excited about spending time with Jesus. Their focus on Jesus related things fills their soil with rocks and thorns and get burnt out, but those who focus on Jesus Himself will be satisfied. Everybody wants this whether they realize it or not. The only reason people don’t want Jesus is because they don’t know Him. “Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Instead, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’” – John 4:13-14

The reality is, I can sit here all day and tell you about how much God can satisfy, but it does no good if you leave from reading this and don’t go sit in His presence. Think about your life. Think about the things you do and if they completely satisfy. I’m not saying desert everything you do (it’s ok to watch some Netflix to an extent), but what I am saying is don’t waste your time draining yourself and not filling yourself with Jesus. “Taste and see that the Lord is good” – Psalms 34:8a