The Great Adventure

This image - as well as the background image for this page - were both captured somewhere in Arizona, on our way to The Grand Canyon.  These are the kinds of roads I spend months searching for prior to beginning one of our great adventures.  Far from the interstates that crisscross our great nation, roads like these are indeed roads less traveled.

I love the solitude.  Away from the clamor of 21st-century connectivity, it seems so much easier to see the hand and hear the voice of The Almighty.

I love the simplicity and purity.  With the exception of the seemingly endless ribbon of asphalt (the adventure stops for me where the pavement ends), this feels like creation the way The Creator fashioned it… unspoiled by "development" of man… as if the Creator needs the created to help with design and development…

And I love the adventure. These words, attributed to Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, resonate with me: We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm, and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.  I want to experience this beauty, charm, and adventure.  I want to live life with eyes wide open.  For me, this happens best when I leave the familiarity of well-worn paths in search of those roads less traveled… in search of a great adventure.

So I ride a motorcycle thousands of miles a year pursuing solitude, simplicity, purity, adventure, and more, always navigating these roads less traveled.  Dangerous?  Perhaps. British adventurer Edward Michael "Bear" Grylls says, "Adventure should be 80 percent 'I think this is manageable,' but it's good to have that last 20 percent where you're right outside your comfort zone.  Still safe, but outside your comfort zone."  This, too, resonates with me.

More than a motorcyclist, I am a Christ-follower - and I have found this to be true:  The adventures experienced in years of exploring roads like the one pictured above, as exhilarating as they may be, pale in comparison to the experience of following Jesus.  In a choice that is now considered counter-cultural, I suppose, I choose the narrow gate Jesus spoke of, as recorded in Matthew 7:14.  Oh, it is the road less traveled.  But it is the road that leads to life… real life… life that is rich, abundant, and free.

If you find yourself in search of adventure, or wanting to be liberated from the mundane, consider leaving "the beaten path."  First, consider the claims of Christ and the call of The One who throughout history has challenged men and women to a extraordinary experiences - almost always along an unfamiliar course.  And then consider finding your great adventure - whatever that might be.  In the words of Christian music singer-songwriter, record producer, author, and orphan-care advocate Steven Curtis Chapman...

Saddle up your horses we've got a trail to blaze
Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace
Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown
This is a life like no other - this is The Great Adventure

Words and music by Steven Curtis Chapman and Geoff Moore

Copyright 1992 Sparrow Song, Peach Hill Songs, and Songs of the Forefront
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