Tag: question

  • Adventure as a Discipline

    For the last few weeks I’ve been thinking about how wimpy people are.

    There is something strange to me that people allow the most remote possibility of getting hurt, lost, robbed, missing a meal, missing a flight, or even not a clean place to pee define their lives. What a boring life they live.

    I want my life to be full of adventure.

    Not just big adventures– day-to-day adventures too!

    It seems to me that people who like to plan everything, take as little risk as possible, and pre-think too many details are really missing something in life. With an entire ever-changing planet to explore it is inconceivable to me that people like to eliminate discovery and adventure.

    There is something spiritual about adventure. We are hard-wired to explore, discover… and depend on the goodness of others. As children we dream huge dreams! We devour books about adventure. Every adventure we hear about we want to go on. We wanted to go to the moon and mars. We wanted to go Africa. We wanted to live in Central Park in New York City.

    Stepping into an element of the unknown provides an incredible feeling. It acknowledges how God is in control and we are not. When we make adventure the enemy we lie to ourselves– God is in control of every detail all day, every day anyways!

    I love stepping into the unknown with nothing more than a feeling that everything is going to be OK. I even like pressing through the fear of “um, maybe this isn’t safe” and then the joy of laughing at myself when it all works out.

    I like depending on the kindness of strangers when I get lost. I like meeting new people in full recognition that there are no accidental meetings. I like discovering little things and big things. Those that look at these things as failures seem to think that life is meant to be sanitary.

    When we start removing this from our lives we take control. When I hear people tell me that they don’t like to be surprised, that they need to know when they will arrive, where they will eat, and what every detail is– it makes me wonder what is wrong with them.

    A spirit of adventure is not the lack of ability to plan. It is the lack of a need to plan every detail or measure every risk in life’s journey.

    Adventure and Recklessness

    There is a difference between the a spirit of adventure and a spirit of recklessness. It would be reckless to go on a 3 day hike up a mountain with no gear, no food, and no real plan. It would be reckless to jump off of a cliff into the ocean without knowing how deep the water is. It would be reckless to drop off 10 high school students for a homeless experience with no training.

    But embracing life’s adventures is not reckless. There’s always a risk assessment. A general idea of a safety plan. On and on.

    The goodness of others

    I really think one of the things that holds people back is a belief, deep in our soul, that all people are out to hurt us. We think everyone is a potential ax murderer or rapist.

    Hogwash. People are generally good. If you have a smile on your face and an honest question… you can go anywhere in the world and probably find someone who will help you when you get lost, give you a meal, find you a place to sleep, and give you good advice.

    Adventure is an attitude. When you embrace it the world opens to discovery.

    Questions: Do you see a spirit of adventure as a spiritual issue? Do you still dream about the same adventures you dreamt about when you were a kid? What is it in you that draws you to stories/movies/television shows about adventure?

  • A 15-Question Spiritual Growth Plan for 2009

    Tony Myles, a retired youth pastor senior pastor in Ohio, challenged his congregation and blog readers with this list. It has challenged me this week, I thought it was worth sharing for those who hadn’t seen it:

    -How will you grow in your love for God in a way that encompasses all of who you are and all of who He is?

    – How will you grow in your love for the people you see everyday and care about their spiritual condition, whatever it is?

    – In what area of your life do you most need to grow to be more like Jesus?

    – Read Galatians 5 – which fruit of the Spirit needs most development in your life?

    – What will you read in the Bible this year?

    – What sections of Scripture will you memorize so you can “own” them?

    – How will you deepen your prayers this year?

    – What music will help you worship more?

    – What books will you read and/or reread?

    – With whom do you need to build or rebuild a relationship/friendship with this year?

    – How will you maximize the teachings of this church – in person and online?

    – What special events should you be a participant in? What values and activities do you need to become a point person in?

    – What new practices of connecting with God do you need to develop?

    – What resources do you have that you need to release back to the God who gave them to you?

    – Who will hold you accountable?

    Don’t slip into spiritual apathy… take this on with me and some other brave men and women, and let’s see if this world doesn’t respond to some real-deal change from God to us to them.

    HT to Tony

  • How come?

    I was reading a couple ministry blogs this morning who were talking about worship services they either produce or visited. I don’t need to link to them as they are easy enough to find.

    Now that we go to a church with zero theatrics… and new people still come, and people still worship, and people still experience faith for the first time, and people still get connected, and people still give, and people are ever happy with our service!

    It made me wonder… how come people always want to do more with their worship services and not less?

    Why don’t bloggers brag about using one less camera man? One less drummer? One less actor? One less video screen? One less smoke machine? One less lighting board?

    Why is more noteworthy and less not?

    Why does over-the-top = excellence in worship?

    I have my theories as to why this happens in America, England, and Australia but few other places in the world. But I’ll just ask my friends… why is this so? Am I the only one who is annoyed by the logic that more = blessing, less = curse in the church? Am I the only one that finds massive theatrical production odd for “church?” Am I the only one who wonders how odd it must be for visitors to walk into a theater fit for a broadway production of Rent?

  • Commitment: A trend to or a trend away?

    I posted a question here… your thoughts are always appreciated.