Adventure

I just finished reading Wild At Heart and am mostly through Captivating. I like the messages of each of these books - that God has designed men and women differently but complimentary so that the happiness of one is also the happiness of the other.

These books both also talk about adventure as a built-in desire of our humanity. Wild At Heart talks about a lot about adventures outdoors, climbing sheer cliff faces, facing bears, doing dangerous things. This desire for adventure is true at least for me and would appear to be true for many more like me based on the popularity of adventure movies, epic sagas, etc.

I believe the author at one point said that some men even turn to stock trading, marketed as "adventures in capitalism" as a substitute for real adventure. I don't know remember if he made this point or not, but all adventures are substitutes for the real adventure. Traveling to exotic lands, leaping headfirst from skyscraper sized cliffs, fighting bears, international intrigue, battlefield combat - these things are all exciting to varying levels but none of them are truly adventurous. The excitement and adrenaline wear off after a while like the high of a drug. All of these are just substitutes for the only true adventure that could ever fully captivate the heart: the pursuit of God. For one man, this pursuit will lead him to distant lands and for another to corporate offices. I trust though that this is true: that the man who follows God on his couch is more adventurous than the man who has his own adventures apart from God.

The trouble is that it is easy to use God as an excuse to remain comfortable. It is easy to remain somewhere safe and say it is because God called you to the sacrifice of safety when in reality you fear the dangerous. And it is easy to live a life of so-called adventure and say it is because you are following God when in reality you fear the greater danger of becoming a tame man. I've often asked "what do you what me to do God?" and I wonder if He often has not answered because I am too afraid of what the answer may be.