Life -- The Ultimate Adventure --
When my daughters were younger we'd often watch the movie Hook, starring Robin Williams as Peter Pan who had grown up and become a business "pirate" named Peter Banning. Peter's kids were kidnapped by Captain Hook and so to rescue them Peter Banning had to discover what he had once been -- Peter Pan.
Near the end, in sword duel between Hook and Peter, Hook states that the ultimate adventure is death, to which Peter Pan retorts, "No, the ultimate adventure is life!"
Jesus in John's Gospel tells why he has come. He declares "I have come that people may have life, and have it to the full."
I am beginning to see that the more we try to control our lives, make it move in the directions we want it to, to secure this, to secure that, to ensure certain outcomes that life isn't full, that life is far from adventurous.
As I see it, life is adventurous when we are not in control of it. Adventure is discovering what is around the next turn in the road, the next bend in the river, the next development in our lives. Life is an adventure, not when we try to shape and control it by some "plan" we try to fashion, but when we are shaped by the rhythms of life to be who we never thought we could be.
In the past few months I have come to discover that God is active in the world like I have never noticed before. I don't think its because God is finally doing something, rather it is because I am finally beginning to see more clearly that God is present and active in even the most common things in life -- and that makes life adventurous. When I saw life through the filters of what I wanted it to be, I was so closed to all that God is doing. Now as I begin to see the activity of God in the world, I begin to sense how I am a part of the rhythm of life that God creates. God is moving all of life to a purpose where all creation will be restored. Being a part of that purpose, in participating in God's activity, in God's mission in the world give shape, direction, purpose, and a deeper rhythm to my life which is free from my frenzied attempts at control, my dead-end attempts to find pleasure and peace. Rather, in getting in line with God keeps me wondering what is ahead, and what people and circumstances I will encounter -- life in this way, with God is indeed an adventure that I want to continually be embraced by.
The reality of this kind of life is fully manifest in the person of Jesus Christ for me. He is God, who became a human to be amongst us, to show us what an adventure life is in the midst of a struggling world, and to invite us into this life, which he created for us to experience. He came to give this life that we might experience it fully -- that only happens when we let go of our own controlling attempts at regulating life and enter into the adventure of life with God that we are called to live out each and every day.
When my daughters were younger we'd often watch the movie Hook, starring Robin Williams as Peter Pan who had grown up and become a business "pirate" named Peter Banning. Peter's kids were kidnapped by Captain Hook and so to rescue them Peter Banning had to discover what he had once been -- Peter Pan.
Near the end, in sword duel between Hook and Peter, Hook states that the ultimate adventure is death, to which Peter Pan retorts, "No, the ultimate adventure is life!"
Jesus in John's Gospel tells why he has come. He declares "I have come that people may have life, and have it to the full."
I am beginning to see that the more we try to control our lives, make it move in the directions we want it to, to secure this, to secure that, to ensure certain outcomes that life isn't full, that life is far from adventurous.
As I see it, life is adventurous when we are not in control of it. Adventure is discovering what is around the next turn in the road, the next bend in the river, the next development in our lives. Life is an adventure, not when we try to shape and control it by some "plan" we try to fashion, but when we are shaped by the rhythms of life to be who we never thought we could be.
In the past few months I have come to discover that God is active in the world like I have never noticed before. I don't think its because God is finally doing something, rather it is because I am finally beginning to see more clearly that God is present and active in even the most common things in life -- and that makes life adventurous. When I saw life through the filters of what I wanted it to be, I was so closed to all that God is doing. Now as I begin to see the activity of God in the world, I begin to sense how I am a part of the rhythm of life that God creates. God is moving all of life to a purpose where all creation will be restored. Being a part of that purpose, in participating in God's activity, in God's mission in the world give shape, direction, purpose, and a deeper rhythm to my life which is free from my frenzied attempts at control, my dead-end attempts to find pleasure and peace. Rather, in getting in line with God keeps me wondering what is ahead, and what people and circumstances I will encounter -- life in this way, with God is indeed an adventure that I want to continually be embraced by.
The reality of this kind of life is fully manifest in the person of Jesus Christ for me. He is God, who became a human to be amongst us, to show us what an adventure life is in the midst of a struggling world, and to invite us into this life, which he created for us to experience. He came to give this life that we might experience it fully -- that only happens when we let go of our own controlling attempts at regulating life and enter into the adventure of life with God that we are called to live out each and every day.
posted by Roland G. Kuhl @ 7:53 AM
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