As a literature student, most would think that my favorite genre of book may be classic, the gothic, or perhaps comedy.
But I love adventure stories. The epic narrative.
Stories that have a hero, a task, a dragon, there is testing and endurance and fighting.
In adventure there is love, loss and learning.
Adventure speaks to me. It is the dreams of children, these dreams seem to be stifled somewhere on the journey to adulthood, and adventure is soon only present flickering in the nostalgic memories, and within black ink printed upon a page.
I want it to parallel my life, I cannot go on living a life that I plan for myself, because life is unexpected, and the unexpected happens within the narrative of adventure. I have to let go of the life that I have planned for myself in order to embark on the journey that is waiting for me, the adventure that God created.
This is my life.
And life is scary and daunting and sometimes it is so tempting to just remain where I am comfortable. You can go through life just watching the action, but there will be a sense within you that you are missing out on something huge, you will get restless.
A life of safety and comfort does not make a good story.
There is a kind of life and elation in doing something that scares me.
Unreal things happen when you do something that scares you.
It is in these epiphanic moments that God is present.*
To push through the scariest thing that I can imagine: This makes me the hero in my own adventure.
I will conquer my own limitations, I will fight the bad guys, I will achieve my task. I will do this with the guidance and by the strength of God.
May you always do what you are afraid to do.
*epiphany |iˈpifənē|
noun ( pl. -nies) (also Epiphany)
the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi (Matthew 2:1–12).
• a manifestation of a divine or supernatural being.
• a moment of sudden revelation or insight.
And thank you to the lovely Francine Chapman for taking the photo.
That is me, at the pinnacle of the pinnacles.
