Many people crave adventure, and some pay a lot of money to have on, like going to Disneyland, or a trip to Antarctica, or even a trip to outer space.  But all these adventures are short-lived, for then you have to return to everyday life (yawn).

But there is one adventure that needs no money, no travel and never ends in this life. Jesus calls us to this: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.” If we follow Him, He then lays out a course of adventure for us every day: “Run with endurance the race marked out for you, looking to Jesus….” This better than spending a full day with….(fill in the bland with someone you admire).

Every morning as believers, we wake up, strap on our armor and enter the great conflict between good and evil—and we are always on the winning side! Our lives have purpose, a purpose stretching on into eternity. The things we do can last forever. And we will earn rewards as we enter the fray following King Jesus.

You never know what’s going to happen. The adventure could be as simple as things not working out as planned, giving you a chance to defeat Satan by offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving, thereby honoring God—a significant happening.

Or it may be a chance to have a God sighting, like yesterday when I went to the store and there was a fellow I’d been trying to get in touch with. Perfect timing showing God’s working in my life.

In my next post I will share more of the kind of adventures we can have with Jesus

Praise be to you, Lord God, that you are a God of mercy—six times in Psalm 86 the author mentions your monumental mercy, two of them being, “You are good and ready to forgive and abundant in mercy to all who call upon you” (86:5). And, “You are a God full of compassion, gracious, slow to anger and abundant in mercy and truth” (86:15 NKJV).

In this list of qualities, we see the complexity of your perfect character, Lord, putting together aspects that, from our perspective, are mutually exclusive: your marvelous mercy and your tough truth.

The reality is that we deserve punishment, death and eternal separation from you, that you hate sin and will punish it, that this must and will happen—yet in your marvelous, unwarranted mercy you have opened a door in the hard, unyielding rock wall of Truth, a way through for us to flee from what we deserve to the forgiveness you have offered us.

And this door of mercy, grace and forgiveness was opened at great personal cost to you, a cost that is ongoing, as you allow us to grieve you in our rebellion, sin, indifference and selfishness. As J.I. Packer put it, you have willfully tied your happiness to your relationship with us! Therefore, you share with us the sweet and sour experience of waiting for the as-of-yet unfulfilled perfection of Heaven. We have the longing to be with you, yet need to remain here until your time for us is complete.

Help us now to be with you in loving you through obedience, in extending your mercy to others, that we may give you ongoing happiness.

The Lord has a way of testing me, to see if I really believe what I teach. In the last two days he’s given me two opportunities to apply what I know.

The first was giving me a chance to grow in humility by taking me down the road of humiliation. This was another opportunity to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving. That was followed by the need to forgive, let go of what was painful, hold on to eternal truth and rise above. Enough said there.

The second chance came today when, while out shopping, I discovered that my iPhone was missing! I retraced my steps, tried my “find my phone” app on my computer, asked around, but to no avail. It is gone.

This is a big blow: I have lost all my phone numbers, all my pictures, all my texts and the ability to have others call me. And now I have to get another phone, a new sim card and start all over!

It is also another chance to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving. But doing this I honor God and open a way for Him to show me the salvation of the Lord (whatever that will be!) He has a plan and it is a good one. He knows where that phone is and can return it if He wants (humanly speaking small chance of that). And if He doesn’t, it will be ok.

So, I choose to move ahead, giving thanks and trusting God. And as I trust Him He will fill me with all joy and peace. (Romans 15:13). Stay tuned for the outcome.

I tossed and turned in my dreams, struggling with some rules blocking a project of mine; I was desperately trying to find a way to meet their demands. However in the background of the dream I could hear these words, “delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart,” words from Psalm 34.

I woke to the echo of those words, and opening my computer, began to lift my soul to God, telling Him of my frustration, worry and anger. Then I repeated the words, “Delight yourself in the Lord….”  and, after a pause, committed stop complaining and to delighting in the Lord.

I began  by thinking of all His wonderful qualities, His marvelous work, and His great love for me. These are much more important to pursue than my building project.

It is so easy to fight what  comes instead of surfing the waves God allows. And shortly I saw why he allowed my project’s problems. The fellow I hired to draw up professional plans for it turned out to be very open spiritually and through my neighbor made a commitment to the Lord while here.

Then he shared with me his struggles with depression and anxiety. Well, I gave him a copy of my book Equipped!, which he eagerly accepted, and pointed him to a very good Christian counselor. If I hadn’t had those problems, I’d never have met this man. It’s so good to surrender, praise and trust. And the Lord added a bonus: the man said, “Tell you what, I’ll trade my work for the book; no charge!

Here it is, the purpose of our lives: Worship!

“…sing before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.”
Psalm 98:9

We will sing for joy to the Lord! You, Lord God, are the just and holy One and you are on the move to correct the injustice in the world. You have laid the foundation of redemptive righteousness in your great and powerful sacrifice of Jesus and in your raising Him from the dead.

You are now waiting for the right time to come and deal the final blow to all evil in the world, acting in equity and justice. You will eliminate wickedness, banishing it to the lake of fire forever, and you will fully transform your stubborn children into sinless holy beings able to come into the Kingdom of Heaven and live with you for eternity.

What a wonderful God you are, so patient in waiting for the right time, so gracious in providing a shelter from your wrath for all willing to come, so firm in carrying out your good plan to untwist the universe and right all wrongs.

We praise you for the suffering you allow in your wisdom, for you use it to open the eyes of blind rebels, as you did with us, to help us see the choices before us, to help us choose you that you may be highly honored!