Your Soul Needs An Adventure

I was looking out the window for any sign of a moose or a bear, or maybe even wolves. Soaring above a thousand lakes and islands, it was exhilarating. This was my first time in a prop plane, and a float one at that. 

It was a short flight, but it was awesome. We splashed down for a water landing, and taxied up to the drop off location. We got out onto the pontoons, untied the canoes, grabbed our packs, and paddled to shore to get our bearings. 

A group of college-aged men in the Canadian wilderness. We wouldn't see another human for 4 days. 

Before we had left, we were given a map and compass. The instructions consisted of this: "Here is a map. We are dropping you off in this location, and you have 5 days and 4 nights to canoe and portage and get yourselves back to the outfitter. Figure it out."

The ultimate question buzzed in our minds.

"Do we have what it takes?"

The risk was real. But as the plane took off and flew away, there was no turning back. It was only moving forward from there. 

There was struggle- paddling all day through rain and portaging through mud and mosquitoes will test your metal. There were arguments- I still remember losing my mind on a frat guy who decided to urinate right in the middle of camp as we set up tents on the last night of the trip. There was pain- when your hands are raw and shoulders shot, but you have to get to your next destination, even with the wind at your face.

But there was also complete pleasure. 

One afternoon we found a perfect island to camp on. There was a fantastic breeze all evening, keeping the mosquitos at bay, and a great sunset. We stayed there the next day, resting, relaxing, and fishing for huge fighting pike and delicious bass. No other people within sight or sound. It was a slice of heaven.

I still look back over my life and note that experience as one of the greatest adventures of my life. The elements of struggle and pain, mixed with epic moments of glory and risk all mixed together in the bowl of the wilderness, combine to cook up a pretty significant concoction. 

And our hearts need those moments. We need those times as young men, so that we can become men. We need those moments as older men to maintain our manhood. They don't have to be death-defying. They don't even have to be in the outdoors. But they do need to be risky, to involve struggle and glory, and they do need to take place in some sort of 'wilderness.'

Without the occasional step into adventure, we slowly become like a caged tiger at the zoo. We get a distant look in our eyes, we become cloudy headed, distracted, and increasingly dead inside. We lose our souls. We forget what it feels like to chase, to play, to be truly alive. 

Your family and brothers need you alive. Your wife and children need you alive. You need you alive. And God wants you alive. He is inviting you to taste adventure- to explore what he has for you, and through that, to know him (and yourself!) more fully. 

And, unfortunately, because you alive gives glory to your Maker, it is also opposed. Don't forget that. There is an evil that wants to keep you caged.

Take a moment and ask God "How are you inviting me to step into adventure?" and ask yourself "How do I notice this notion immediately opposed? What lies might be at work in that opposition?"

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Cody Buriff, Director of Resource Initiatives