Life is an Adventure.....

Have you ever been climbing?
I mean like really climbing not walking up the side of the hill, that is often called 'scrambling' or maybe I'm the only one who calls it that, but really climbing.  Like if you were to fall with out a rope and harness you would have a fun fall to the ground before breaking your legs or maybe dying?  If you've ever gone climbing you will understand this, if not I'll explain it! As best I can because I haven't gone much in my life.

Climbing is hard work, really hard work.
In fact in many ways climbing sucks!  When you get done climbing a wall, or as they are called in climbing a 'problem', you are truly spent.  Your hands and wrists are sore and you feel beat up... but you also feel like you are on top of the world because you have done something amazing.  You have climbed to the top and made it through all the pain and problems that come with climbing. 

Now I have only ever climbed inside, in a very safe place where short of stupidity or disaster I was not going to die or even break a bone.
But that isn't real climbing and even if I was outside its still not the craziest climbing style.  There is a form of climbing where you climb up mountains for days in freezing cold temps well you sleep on the side of the mountain in a tent hanging hundreds if not thousands of feet off the ground. And if that is not crazy enough you are always on the edge of death.  And yet you press on toward the top because that is where you missions goal lies.

I guess I think the craziest thing about a sport like climbing is how much of it is no fun
I mean you spend days and days on the edge of death just to reach the top for a few minutes of great joy.  You have to work so hard just to get a few minutes where you are on top of the world.  And then even when you get there you have a few day trip back down to earth.  Where once again you walk on the edge of death.

So I guess the way I see it is this is a great example of our lives with Jesus
We seem to want to spend all our time on the mountain top these days with conferences and worship services and what not trying their darnedest to keep us on that freaking mountain top.  Its like everything about Christianity in America is trying to keep us on this crazy emotional high that is just not reality.  Because what the hell would be the point of a mountain top if you didn't climb anything?

I guess to me it seems like God wants us to spend less time trying to stay on the Mountain top
Dare I say I think God is tired of us acting like its possible to stay on that one mountain top.  He's tired of us thinking that the goal of living with him is to stay on said mountain top.  It seems like God is calling us all to live and adventure not a safe existence on a mountain top.  It seems like he is calling us to a higher mountain top than the one we are fighting so hard to stay firmly planted on.

In a great adventure there are ups and downs.  There are hard times and good times
But yet we often want only the good times.  Here is another way to think about it.  If you are a caffeine user, like myself, then you know that the more caffeine you drink daily the less effective it is at keeping you awake.  The reason for this is that your brain stops producing the chemicals that keep you awake and the more you drink caffeine the less of these chemicals your brain produces.  So you become dependent on caffeine to keep you awake because your brain forgot how to do it. This is the same thing that happens to people who are taking much stronger drugs.  But when you take stronger drugs you get to the point where you brain stops making the chemicals that bring you happiness and joy and so you are stuck having to keep using in order to find happiness.

But yet this is how we want to live
Even though God calls us to live a life that climbs one mountain and then heads down to climb another we still just want to stay on mountain top number one, even as we look out and see there are more mountains to climb. Again it seems to me like God is calling us to live an Adventure.  An adventure with ups and downs.  Pain, heartache, and joy.  Because God wants us to understand that he is faithful and will carry us up greater mountains than the one we find ourselves on now.


In adventure, as in life, it seems like 90% of it is hard as hell and painful as can be
But if we don't have valleys how can we ever understand how great the mountain top is?  If there is no work to get to the top than what is the point?  If we are never struggling through the hells of life than how can we ever understand Gods faithfulness? If we are at the top than why do we need God?

I guess to me Life is an Adventure.... Get out and start living it!
Start climbing another mountain.  Start living on the edge.  Because God is tired of us sitting on our hands trying to stay safe.  So here's to Adventure!

What adventure is God calling you to?  Is he simply calling you off a mountain and on to a greater adventure?