Adventures

  I am the type of guy who has grown up needing entertainment all the time. This is an unfortunate quality to have. I am restless and discontent when I am not being entertained.
 
  I don't know how previous generations got by without all the anti-boredom stuff we now have. I remember back to a day when I was growing up and was almost never bored. Ok, maybe I do understand how they did it. I just lost it along the way.

  I used to go out into the fields behind the house and spend hours exploring. I could find unlimited joy in those small discoveries made in those fields.

  I remember one such occasion. There was a frog epedimic in Big Bear. These little guys were everywhere. They were tiny but very prolific. I got the great idea to put as many as I could into a spagetti jar (you remember the tall jar with the springy thingy lid). I took the jar to my mom to show her.

  She was very amused. No lecture about the little frogs on the bottom. Just a simple, "that's great, now go play with them somewhere else".

  I had collected the entire jar o' frogs from around the back and front yard. I set them free in the back yard. Curiously some didn't hop away when I let them go. They must really loved being around me to not want to run away like that!

  But seriously. How do I regain that youthful excitment about this world God has given me to enjoy? I think one of the ways is to be a parent and encourage the kids to be explorers the way we were as kids. We relive our adventures thru them. I don't think they have to be mean to little frogs. I just think that every kid has to be allowed to go on an adventure.

  I lost my adventuring spirit somewhere along the way. It got replaced with a false adventure. This false adventure brought me to my knees. Seeking unholy entertainment causes a bunch of unwanted grief.

  So how do I pick up the trail and find the adventure God wants me to have? 

  To start with, I can be content with such friends as I have. Seeking people to fill the missing adventure in my life is a fatal mistake. Those people are not the adventure, rather, they get to be on the adventure with me. I am to be full of gratitude that God has given me those friends.

  Let me speak a bit more plainly. Women are the pinnacle of God's creation. Of all things that He made women top the list. He truly saved the best for last.

  He also provided a way for a man to love a woman. I messed this all up. I thought that women were the adventure. They were not. The woman was to be a companion on the adventure. She was to have dreams and desires and I was to be her companion on her adventure. Partners in a great caper called life.

  Ok, enough of the talk about guys and gals. Let's get back to those frogs! Just kidding!

  I want to be enamored with God and His creation. Just to sit back in complete awe over what He made for me to enjoy. Such amazing beauty.

  I want to get lost in a stream. Or hike a mountain. Perhaps feel the sand on the beach. To feel the warmth of the sun on a brisk spring day. I get fired up just dwelling on such ideas.

  God has placed me on a new adventure. I was born twice in Riverside, Ca. With my new life the adventuresome spirit should not have passed away. I stopped adventuring and thought that spirit had died. Not so! He encourages His children to go forth, explore and be about the adventures.

  Exploring this adventure called life is so very pleasing to me. I thought that I had lost this feeling forever. Turns out I had buried it under years of sin and laziness. Now I burst forth with earnest expectation for the next chapter in life to unfold.

  Does this mean that I just know lifes adventures will be great and fun. Nope! I got lots of scrapes and cuts on those adventures as a kid. I expect to get some more as an adult. I want to go out and enjoy this life. And no amount of pain should stop me.