As Spring and Summer are fast approaching, the idea of adventure is bursting through the barriers of everyone's minds, making the wait practically unbearable. Where will you be this Spring Break? Munching on macaroons in Charleston? Perhaps sun soaking in Miami? Maybe you'll be relaxing with Chinese takeout and the boyfriend like me. Then comes Summer. What then? The beach? Mountains? Europe, even? Although, if you're not one for planning, like myself, you may just pick a place and go on a sunny Summer day and create your own adventure. Isn't that what we all love about adventures? The spontaneity of jumping in a car or airplane, traveling for hours on end until you finally reach the destination that you had no intention of reaching until you woke up that very morning- it's THRILLING! We all can agree that a good adventure is well worth the time, money and energy spent.
For some reason though, adventure is turning from an action, into more of a fantasy or dream. You've seen the quotes, reblogged the pictures, pinned the places, retweeted the tweets that spark that ever so famous word "wanderlust" in our hearts and imagination. But, what is the last adventure you went on? When is the last time you loaded up a car full of Vanilla Cokes, friends, sunblock, iPods and sleeping bags and hit the road, driving ceaselessly to a destination of unknown? Better yet, when is the last time you actually went on an adventure without hash tagging, checking in, tweeting, or Instagramming it? Have we really become so plugged into a world of followers, likes, retweets and knock off vintage photos that we can't take a day to do the daring? Recently on Pinterest, I saw a quote stating, "We can’t jump off bridges anymore because our iPhones will get ruined. We can’t take skinny dips in the ocean, because there’s no service on the beach and adventures aren’t real unless they’re on Instagram. Technology has doomed the spontaneity of adventure and we’re helping destroy it every time we Google, check-in, and hashtag.”
Now, ladies, I know that you have heard this speech 1,000,001 times. But trust me, I have a better point.
We all, whether we know it or not, have been called to go on the greatest adventure ever known to mankind. Seriously. This adventure that WE have been asked to take part in would make Finn and Jake jealous (sorry for the Adventure Time reference all my anti-cartoon network folks). This great, spectacular and jaw dropping adventure has been offered out to us freely and get this: we don't even have to pay for gas.
Jesus came into the world to recruit us for God's great adventure: to seek and save the lost. As Luke 19:10 says, "For the Son Of Man came to seek and save the lost." But wait, there's more! God actually wants to join you on this adventure! In Hebrews 13:5b, the Lord says, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Just think of the great commission that He tells us about in Matthew 28! "Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.' ” To the ends of the earth? THAT right there sounds much more enticing than Charleston or Miami.
Recently, I found myself feeling empty. As I sat for weeks with these forsaken feelings in my heart, I wondered to myself what I was doing wrong. What in my heart was keeping me from my Jesus? Then, the Lord spoke to me clear as day and said, "Unplug,". What? What does that mean? All of a sudden, I realized that my heart, head and time were becoming consumed by Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook- you name it, I was probably on it. So, I UNPLUGGED! Without hesitation, I began to race through the settings of my phone and laptop, one by one disconnecting the things that have kept me so connected to the world and so disconnected from my Father. After everything was disconnected, uninstalled and unplugged, I sat back and felt the freedom of Jesus just completely wash over me.
Now, in no way am I saying, "Hey ladies! Uninstall all social media because Jesus wants us to unplug,". Even I, after some housecleaning in my heart, reinstalled Pinterest! NO! I am saying that in my situation, the adventure being portrayed by a washed out picture of high waist shorts, aviators, baggy t-shirts, converse and a Volkswagen bus that we all know nobody actually possesses, was blocking out the actual, real life adventure that The God of the universe is calling me on. No, God probably will not call me to wear a White Stripes t-shirt and roll out to Coachella over the summer or vacation in the keys, but what he has in store for me, and for you, is more precious and exhilarating than any adventure that the internet (or teenage girls on Tumblr with way too much time on their hands) could ever create.
It's a great feeling at the end of the day to say to myself, wow, I serve an impressively creative and adventurous God.
