It’s always fun to reminisce and laugh about past adventures, especially with the people that you experienced the adventure with. When looking back at an adventure, it’s easy to forget the urgency of the fear that was present in the moment of the adventure. When everything went horribly wrong and you ended up stranded in the wrong country without a valid visa and no money to cross the border, you probably didn’t feel like saying “wahoo” at that moment. These moments of unplanned or ‘forced’ adventure are far from comfortable, and they can be pretty challenging to get through. All of the situations and accompanying emotions that you were carrying with you at the time of the inconvenience, hold up, break in plan, or whatever it was leave you feeling exasperated, fearful, anxious, and angry. You’re so caught up in the moment that your circumstances are NOT humorous, they’re infuriating. There have been a few times in adventures like these that I have been able to break out of the emotional and circumstantial debacle and to laugh at the ludicracy of the trainwreck I’m in. I once received a number of angry looks and comments from strangers when I busted out laughing in a very high stress situation. We were all stuck in the same insane situation for a few days and the cazy issues and setbacks continued to stack up and up as time went on. At a climactic point during the fiasco I suddenly saw how insane it all was and burst out laughing. In my experience these moments of hilarity are more often found after the fire has subsided and not when I’m in the fire. It’s easy to laugh about a challenging adventure once you’ve made it through the adventure and after you have processed all of the residual trauma and emotions associated with it, but it’s very hard to laugh at it while you're in the middle of the situation.
What have I learned from these adventures? Why on earth do I relish and seek adventures out if they have tiring, challenging and gross moments? Why are the stories that fall apart the funniest and most memorable? Why on earth is it fun to look back on those moments and experiences? Is it those painful moments that make those memories the most memorable? Or are they memorable because of the way they weave into your story and have altered the way you understand and interact with the world?
I think that figuring out what adventure is and means is a bit of an adventure in itself. I’m not sure that there’s one definition that can fully express what adventure is. Google defines adventure as “an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity.” This definition made me laugh when I read it, as a flood of memories popped into my head that fully fit that description. I’ve heard people describe life as an adventure. Is your life an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous experience? Would you ever want to experience your life in that way? I’m often tempted to look at adventure as an experience that I enjoy and want to be in; something that takes place when I leave my “regular life” to enjoy myself outside of it. I tend to think that adventurous experiences outside of “regular life” are desirable and positive and that adventurous experiences inside “regular life” are negative and not desirable. What if I thought of the wrenches that are thrown into my life as adventures? I would probably be a lot more excited about my life and would likely roll with the punches as they come more gracefully. In this case, adventure could be a way to view life, a mindset or perspective to carry with you into any experience that you encounter, especially the challenging or “hazardous” ones.
If adventure is an experience or activity that is challenging or difficult wouldn’t it fit the James 1:2 description where James says, “consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials, difficulties, challenges [adventures?] of many kinds”? It seems like James was saying that trials (adventures) are cause for us to have pure joy. Why would that be? James goes on to say that, “because the testing of your faith [eg. trials, adventures] produces perseverance.” He seems to be saying that if we choose to embrace a spirit of joy during these adversities which will inevitably come, we will gain endurance because of them. I searched the Greek meaning of the word perseverance from this passage and found that it could be described as perseverance, patient continuance, patient waiting, steadfastness, endurance, patience.
This seems to be true biologically as well. When you workout it is uncomfortable because you are tearing your muscles. But the tearing of your muscles is exactly what your muscles need to grow and become stronger so that they can endure longer and lift more than they could before. A scientific study was conducted on trees by growing a forest in a controlled biosphere that was completely enclosed. The soil, seeds, temperature, air, etc. was controlled. The biologists noticed that all of the trees kept toppling over after only a few months. They were perplexed as to why because there were no diseases present to kill the trees, no pests present to kill them and nothing else that could potentially kill them. They came to discover that the reason for the premature death of all of these trees was due to a lack of wind. Without wind, the trees never built up the required strength to hold themselves up. They discovered that when wind bends trees, it causes fibers in the tree to be torn. After being torn, the fibers heal and become stronger, it also causes the roots of the trees to grow deeper to build a firmer foundation. similar to how human’s muscles get stronger from being torn when they work out.
It’s a growth mindset. It’s a process that strengthens your faith. It’s an exciting and lifegiving way to view life. It’s the act of responding with joy in challenging situations. It’s a way to resiliently interact with life. It’s a way to eagerly jump into the thick of it. It’s a way to anticipate the future with excitement and yet be fully present in each moment. These ideas represent my current understanding of the meaning of adventure based on my experiences and how they have shaped me but it is definitely not a complete definition. Knowing what I do about adventure, I want to live a life of adventure wherever God leads me and relish life’s challenges with a mindset of adventure.
How would you describe adventure?