2008

Reading Wild at Heart, by John Eldredge has changed my entire view of God and the circumstances we find ourselves in all the time.  We know from Genesis that man was created in the image of God.  An insight Eldredge gives of man is that man needs adventure and a challenge to overcome.  God didn’t just put that in man because He thought it would be nice to prove his masculinity, but He made man in His image and therefore man received the conquering spirit because that is what God is like.

Just look at all the instances in the Bible where God steps in to save the day, or the things God calls on man to do.  Abraham was asked to leave Ur to go to a land God would show him – God didn’t give him the destination first and give Abraham directions before he left on his journey.  Abraham left, not knowing where he was going and when he would get there.  It was kind of like that when Doyle and I went to the Ukraine in ’08.  We knew our destination and thought we knew how we were going to get there.  Little did we know God had an adventure for us on a completely different path than we had originally planned.  We finally got to our destination, but we could see God’s hand in the whole adventure along the way.

Noah was asked to build a boat – nothing small about it (know any men who are always thinking BIG?  Big tools, big projects – the bigger the better) – to prepare for a flood when the earth had not received any rain in the history of the world to date.  When his family and the animals were safe in the ark, God sent a storm like the world had never seen and has never seen since.  God had His hand on Noah during that adventure of historic proportions.

All through the Old Testament we see time after time God’s love of adventure and suspense – Gideon and his 300 men, David and Goliath, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace, Daniel in the lions’ den, etc., etc., etc.  Without stories like these, how would we tell our children about the greatness of God?  God orchestrated each one of these events in the lives of His people to show His glory and greatness.

In the New Testament look at the way Jesus was born – in a lowly stable, among the animals.  God allowed His Son to be put in a vulnerable position as a baby in human hands.   The announcement came to shepherds on a quiet hillside in the dead of night when suddenly a multitude of angels suddenly appeared – what an announcement!  Throughout Jesus’ life, He healed the sick, raised the dead, cast out demons, overturned money tables in the temple, confronted opposition, died a cruel death on the cross and CAME TO LIFE AGAIN!  Talk about dramatic and adventuresome.

Then there were the disciples – Peter was freed from prison in the middle of the night and taken down a dark street to the very house where people were praying for his release!  A touch of humor is evident when the very people who were praying for his release would not believe that he was at the door!  And when Paul and Silas were in prison, God sent an earthquake to free them from their shackles.  Then they were able to minister to the jailer so that the jailer and his family came to know this awesome Lord.

Time after time, God did the dramatic – something completely unexpected and many times completely dangerous.  I think we have heard and read these stories so many times we don’t really even think about the adventure seriously.  We almost take it for granted.  Just think, what would you do if you were threatened to be burned alive if you didn’t fall down and worship some huge, gigantic statue?  So many times when we face a problem, we wring our hands and say that God is testing our faith and we just need to trust God more as if our problem is the worst that ever happened and as if we just need to conger up the faith.  But, if we would look at the situation as an adventure God is allowing us to be a part of, our outlook would be different. God is trying to get us to depend on Him more and to trust that He knows how and is able to rescue us from difficult situations.  He is also trying to say to me, “Where is your sense of adventure, girl?”