Adventure: The Greatest

It was Celebration Sunday, a day of baptisms, new members, and profession of faiths. There was so much to celebrate, and on this Celebration Sunday we had about five student immersion baptisms. I was honored to listen for each high school student. I felt God gave me a specific picture and word to share with each person. One of the pictures I got was of a treasure box. The student opened the treasure box with anticipation. As they opened the box there was a scroll of paper, it was a treasure map that led to a greater adventure. Throughout the years I have reflected on that vision. I found it so interesting that the map came within the treasure box. I loved the promise of a greater adventure. I have curiously wondered about what kind of adventures the LORD has taken that student on. But the thing that I reflect on repeatedly is that the treasure was an adventure.

Adventure is how I would define my relationship with God. Since accepting his gift of salvation and freedom the adventure has only gotten greater. I accepted Jesus as the LORD and Savior of my life when I was going into eighth-grade. I was at a church camp and the speaker was talking about how Jesus is the best friend you could ever have. At one point the speaker asked all of us to consider what it would feel like to have every moment of our last year videotaped and shown to all the campers at camp. Immediately I thought I was not too bad this year. I mean do not get me wrong I made mistakes but altogether I was fairly good. The speaker interrupted my brief thought process with another question “what if all your thoughts were in the video too?” I immediately thought I would never want everyone to know what I think about myself, others, etc. The speaker looked out at all of us and said: Jesus has seen it all and still accepts you as his friend. He still wants you as his friend. He then asked if we wanted Jesus as our always loving, always wanting, always forgiving friend. Everything in me wanted to leap up and say YES… I want that. Yes, I need that! It was because on the outside I seemed to have it all together: I was in the right group of friends, I played all the sports, I was a pretty good student, I had a great family… but I did not like myself very and because of that I was rude, mean, and hurtful to others. My friends knew, I knew it… I was not fooling anyone, although I thought I was. That night I asked Jesus to be the LORD over all my life. That night I asked Jesus to be my best friend forever.

At age 13 I had no idea what having a relationship with Jesus looked like. I had no idea how if it would change my life and if so how. I had no idea! There is one thing I am sure I thought… at age 13, I honestly believed that life with Jesus would be like a fairytale: nothing hard would come my way and if there was something hard then my “Knight and Shining Armor”, Jesus, would come and sweep me away from the pain. My Disney Fairytale has not played out exactly like I expected. Yes, Jesus has rescued me over and over. Yes, Jesus has defended me. But more than that Jesus has walked with me as my circumstances have made me feel claustrophobic or as the unexpected has brought hurt, pain, and devastation. Or when I feel like I may want to just hide for a bit because what is happening is too much. Jesus has been my trail guide on this adventure called life. We take each mountain, we wade through every stream, we trudge through mud, and swim in the deep. We have walked in the deepest valley’s, jumped off some of the scariest cliffs. We have rested in some of the greatest fields and seen some of the most breathtaking views. Together. Together we have conquered a lot of ground. Together we have experienced a lot. Together!

This April, as our family prepares to celebrate Easter, I am mindful of the fact that adventure currently looks different then I thought it would a year ago. Relationships look different then I believed they would be. Life is different than the easy fairytale I once wished it would be. However, I would not trade the adventure (I mean let us be honest, if you asked me tomorrow, I might say something different ;)) But there is one thing I know for sure… there is One that I would not want to adventure without and for me that One is Jesus.

May we become a people that allows the Greatest Adventurer to lead us and be with us on our life adventure.