Verve

Ever been parched for adventure? I can't seem to get it off my mind, and the more I crave it, the more I think you want it just as bad as I do. That's right, you. And me. We want adventure. We want to feel alive, vibrant, like we're on top of the world! Bear in mind that our levels of adventure may be different.

Your heart might skip a beat when you buy 2% milk instead of skim. Or when you turn off tom-tom and just drive. Or when you pack up and move to a place where the face in the mirror is the only one you recognize. Or when you jump off a rock 90 feet above the sparkling blue water of the Mediterranean Sea.


Whatever it is, we crave adventure. It makes my heart burst. Adventure is the rush that comes with knowing that something about this moment is out of your control and you absolutely love it.

I received Francis Chan's book crazy love yesterday. The foreword says this, "God put me in Simi Valley, California, to lead a church of comfortable people into lives of risk and adventure. I believe He wants us to love others so much that we go to extremes to help them." I have a funny feeling that if I keep reading I will be challenged beyond my wits and, should I choose to change, every day will be a crazy adventure.

I'm confident that you and I crave this because God made us to want passionate, vivacious lives. If jumping out of planes can become routine, then why were we created with this bottomless pit? Jesus -- God -- left a heavenly throne to come to our floating sphere of dirt and water to save us from the worst imaginable fate... eternal separation from him. He's given us rather adventurous guidelines to follow if we want to be part of his work here. Reckless abandon is all he asks...

Here's the bit that gives me confidence to jump: "...we are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor , yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything." 2 Cor 6.8-10