​What do you think of when you hear the word “adventure?”

When I think of adventure, I imagine something that gets my blood flowing, something that opens my eyes to things around me, something that awakens me to things I miss on a regular day and makes my soul feel exhilarated. This picture is the first thing that comes to mind. Yet, if we dig a little deeper into this word’s meaning, we find something very interesting. In the book Adventure and the Way of Jesus, Greg Robinson defines adventure as: “An experience where the outcome is unknown” (Robinson). This definition has challenged my previous view and expanded the concept of “adventure” for me.

I decided to explore the word’s origin and found that it is derived from the Roman middle-class Latin word adventūra, meaning "what will happen."  I find this meaning fascinating because isn’t there so much in our lives that we ask this question about? We stress and we worry.  We overanalyze, and the whole time we ask just one simple question: What will happen?

Our very lives are an adventure, but without the Lord to depend on, life can be full of stress, worry, anxiety, and despair. Stepping into the adventure that God has for us is only truly possible when we give up our sense of control over the outcome and surrender it to the Lord. In order to truly live in this state of adventure, we cannot keep taking the reins out of God’s hands. We must continually live in the mystery of the unknown while still having the knowledge and trust that God has everything in His hands.
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Living our lives in the midst of adventure is not as easy as it sounds. Letting go of our worry and stress is not easy. Giving control to God is challenging! 

Here at DM, it often seems things are constantly going wrong, and it can be easy to get sucked into grasping for control, only to find oneself worried and stressed. The past few weeks here have been extra challenging; all sorts of things have gone wrong:

• Our landline phone was down.
• We had multiple waterline breaks.
• We began to worry over finances.
• We struggled to get enough registrants for our expeditions.

​With these worries weighing down our staff and each of us feeling the stress and burden that accompanies such things, we dragged ourselves into our weekly staff meeting and looked at each other, noticing how tired and bogged down all of us looked and how weary we felt.  We went around and shared the things that were heavy on our hearts, and together we cried out to the Lord through prayer.  Then we opened our songbooks and sang…

“Blessed be Your name
on the road marked with suffering;
though there's pain in the offering
blessed be Your name.
Blessed be the name of the Lord,
blessed be Your glorious name!”

​When we had finished worshipping, we looked around the room with tears spilling down our cheeks.  We had poured out our worries, stress, weariness, and struggles on Jesus. We smiled at each other and felt the Lord’s presence among us, lifting each of our faces with His hand and comforting us. We no longer had to carry the worry that the enemy was using to deceive us into thinking we needed control.  Instead, we threw off the weight of stress and worrying about things we couldn’t control, and we stepped into the adventure that God held before us. We took a leap of trust, and while it didn’t instantly take away all of the things that had gone wrong, it did take away the pressure we were placing on ourselves to control everything. From that moment on, we were able to fully experience and enjoy the unknown, knowing and trusting that God would handle it—maybe not in our way but in His way. That, my friends, is adventure!

In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul says…

​The enemy is working hard to beat us down.  He is placing worry in our laps and making it so easy to want to grab control and steer the ship. In truth, we only have the illusion of control of our lives, but what we can control are our attitudes and our posture. Let us choose an attitude of joy and a posture of praise that we may lift our voices to heaven and rejoice, placing our worries on Him and entering into the adventure of a lifetime! 

Over the few weeks since that meeting, I have seen prayer after prayer answered, some in small ways some in big ways, and for some answers we still wait. Currently, though…

• Our phones are fixed!
• The water main issues are fixed (almost)!
• Donors have surprised us with generous gifts to help pay for the unexpected expense of fixing the waterlines!
• We have had more campers register for our expeditions and increased interest from inquiries! 

​And this piece of scripture has continued to encourage me:

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary,​but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18​

​Our lives are a mystery, always asking what will happen—an adventure! Each day we get to choose if we will worry and stress about that which we cannot control or if we will lift our eyes to heaven and give all our questions over to Jesus. What would happen if we truly lived each day as an adventure, trusting the Lord with the outcome and giving our worries and cares to Him? How would this change our relationship with God?  I think it is worth trying and finding out.

​Three little words—a noun, a verb, and an adjective or object—a short sentence, but it can pack a powerful punch.  Take for instance, many of the three little words I’ve heard while leading expeditions: “We are lost,” tearful, trembling participants have confessed to their group members.  “I am afraid,” words admitted by numerous courageous people when faced with overwhelming leadership pressures and decisions.  “I need help,” one girl told her group as she struggled with the weight of her pack.  She had struggled all day to speak such a simple phrase that made all the difference.  “We found it!” jubilant navigators have said after searching for hours to find an elusive waypoint circled on a complex topo map.  One participant, who had wrestled throughout the expedition with self-doubt, emerged from the wilderness at the end of the trip surprised and elated, saying, “I did it!”  Three little words can reveal a world of inner turmoil or joy.  

Consider famous headlines that have marked milestones in our culture.  The headline from The News, April 1955, simply said, “Einstein is dead.”  No explanation was necessary for these three words that communicated the loss of someone everyone agreed was great.  How about the impact of the words that read on the front page of the November 11, 1918, issue of The Daily Telegram?  “World War… Over!”  The soldiers knee-deep in muddy Belgian trenches along with people all over the planet breathed a sigh of relief at those three little words.  And what about the headlines from a little closer to home? “America’s Darkest Day” and “Terror Hits Home.” It took just three words in the newspaper headlines to convey our nation’s shock after the attacks on Sept 11, 2001.  Just three little words, but they expressed the collective horror of an entire society.

With just three little words, so much can be communicated.  It was a cursory read though an all-too-familiar passage of scripture—the crucifixion of Jesus—that started these thoughts.  The gospel narratives of this event are the most central to the entire Christian faith.  It’s the fulcrum of the gospel and the fulfillment of the Old Testament.  I heard it as a child sitting on my granddad’s knee, read it in my children’s Bible primer during elementary school, and studied it in depth as a Bible college student. However, a few weeks ago as I read it again, I latched on to the little bite-sized phrases that pack a lot of theological power, and most of them appear as a three-word remark.  Readying my heart for Resurrection Sunday, I found myself meditating on the old, old story in simpler, more potent terms. 
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Take up the story in the gospel of John chapter 18.  Jesus and his disciples have finished eating the last supper; Judas has excused himself to plot a coup; and the setting is a quiet olive grove at night on the outskirts of Jerusalem where Jesus is praying so fervently that he sweats not bullets but blood.  Then Judas shows up with a band of Jewish armed guards but they stand there awkwardly until Jesus strides out and asks, “Who are you looking for?” 

Intending to seize the Christ they reply, “Jesus of Nazareth.”  In a moment of sheer mystery and utter strength, Jesus says the first three words that caught my attention, “I am He.”  Three little words, but their impact causes the brawny, swashbuckling soldiers to literally fall down upon themselves in a heap.  In the face of this “I Am” statement, they are powerless to obtain Jesus by force.  Therefore, He gives Himself away to them.  As He is led to His unlawful, all-night trial, ironically His chief follower stands outside the gate speaking his own “I am” statement. 
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A servant girl questions Peter, “Aren’t you a disciple of Jesus?”  His response is short and terse, “I am not.”  A second time, he is questioned, and again he answers, “I am not.”  It is a servant of the high priest who finally confirms, “I’m sure you’re a disciple of that man on trial.”  Peter emphatically, with an oath speaks three little words, “I AM NOT!”  Peter’s own three little words uttered right before the cock crows pierce his heart and send him running out into the night, weeping over his own betrayal of the One he has faithfully followed and so earnestly sought to defend.  

​Later in the story, Jesus stands before Pontius Pilot, the Roman governor, for questioning.  The Jews want Jesus dead, but they lack the authority to carry out the sentence.  They need Rome’s permission.  So, the uninformed Pilot questions Jesus.  And, Jesus tells him point-blank that He has been sent by God to testify to truth, something so mysterious and so elusive that Pilot asks with skepticism, “What is truth?” These three little words of Pilot are absurd when you think about the fact that the Truth is standing right in front of him.  Despite feeble attempts to free Jesus, in the end, Pilate simply washes his hands of the business and grants the verdict the crowd is demanding—death. 
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This brings me to the next three little words, so appalling, scandalous, and cutting to my soul that as I read them from my 21st century perspective, I feel a lump in my throat forming: “They crucified Him.”  How is it possible that we could do such a thing to such a Man…to such a God?  See Him?  His arms are outstretched; the rugged spikes are pounded through His wrist bones pinning Him helplessly to the cross.  There’s a sense of finality, like the scene in a movie when you know the hero isn’t going to escape.  We avert our eyes because total surrender, total vulnerability, and total loss are too devastating to watch.  Jesus, the Lamb of God, has made Himself helpless.  “They crucified Him,” three little words that shook the foundations of heaven.
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Jesus is raised on the cross, and struggling for breath, He can only utter a few short statements, which is not surprising considering His extreme exhaustion from the past 24 hours—an intentional last supper, an intense prayer time in the garden, an illicit trial complete with repeated beatings, and an injurious and vicious flogging the likes of which often killed a man, complete with a thorn-studded crown smashed into His skull.  There Jesus hangs from nails with His earthly life rapidly fading.  With his last ounce of energy and with one final breath, He speaks three little words, “It is finished.”  The veil of the temple is torn; the sky is all darkness; the women who cared for Jesus are weeping; and one Roman guard falls to his knees, declaring in earnest, “This was God.”  And Almighty God, Father, Abba, Maker of heaven and earth, whose heart has been breaking right along with His beloved Son’s, with just three little words is restored to His children.

​In the aftermath of these events, the Jewish leaders celebrate; Pilot sulks; and the disciples hide in fear behind locked doors until the third day when some of the women go to visit the tomb of Jesus.  They find neither guards nor a stone blocking the entrance.  Instead, angels clothed in white radiance greet them with the best three words they have ever heard, “He has risen!”  Just three little words resound in time…words that change the disciples fear into boldness, words that confound the haters and convict the doubters, words that turn the world upside down with more than just a far-fetched legend, but far-reaching, life altering, good news.  “He has risen!” three little words that brought life and conquered death.  For us today, those three little words cause us to celebrate three little words that only exist because of Jesus, “We are Free!”  

 “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”  John 8:36

Through the ages, when folks wanted to worship, they would gather supplies, muster their strength, band together, and build.  Worship, true homage to God, demanded a tabernacle, a temple, or an altar be built before psalms, prayers, and sacrifices could begin.   The other day a simple truth about worship sank in as I, too, gathered supplies, mustered my strength, and banded together with some brothers in Christ to continue working on our new staff house here at DM.

We had been working on random days to build but were now under the gun to get a roof on the structure to protect the timbers from UV rays and rain showers.  A team of volunteers donated their valuable time to bolster our staff so that we might complete the task.  In less than two days, we hoped to cover the bare trusses with sheathing, place the underlayment barrier, and finally screw down a blanket of metal panels that would protect the house for the coming decades.  Honestly, as I considered the probability of completing the task within the time constrains, it seemed next to impossible.  

​Because none of us would gain much personally from the work we did, one might expect to see people standing around, leaning on shovels, taking extra breaks to shoot the breeze, or knocking off early in search of some food and relaxation.  I saw none of these things, however.  Over those few hours, joyful volunteers and underpaid camp staff threw themselves into the task as though it were their highest aim in life—as though they would earn a fat paycheck at week’s end or someday live in this home as they raised kids and grew old with their spouses.  No, these workers would see no such benefits of their labor, yet they poured themselves into the assignment.
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As we worked, I discovered something else being built in my heart, mind, and spirit.  We were not just building something that would someday enhance our worship and pleasure.  We had joined together to worship through the process of construction right here…right now.  

​In chapter four of John’s gospel, Jesus rests beside the town well in the despised region of Palestine called Samaria.  Here, He has a surprising conversation with a local woman.  It is surprising because the culture does not approve of a holy-man speaking with a lone woman, and it is even less acceptable for Jesus, a Jew, to speak to a Samaritan.  I love that Jesus disregards the oppressive and engrained social stigmas and forges ahead with His purpose.  He initiates a deeper conversation than the well they were drawing water from, to focus on the topic of worship and identity.  In this exchange, Jesus reveals a remodel of the whole order of things as He clarifies Whom and how we should be worshipping.  As pastor and teacher, Mark Moore puts it, “Jesus now introduces a new relationship with God where the Spirit of God and the spirit of man co-mingle.”  It’s a concept of worship that was inconceivable to ancient believers and somewhat unpalatable even to us in the 21st century.  

Jesus said to the woman, “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.  God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” John 4:22-24 (ESV).

The Jews of Jesus’ time needed the temple, the structure, to really truly worship, but Jesus makes His first clear statement in His ministry about how things were going to change.  Interestingly, it is also to this wayward, Samaritan woman that He first reveals who He really is—the Messiah.  In this private conversation, He simply says that the true worshipers will worship in Spirit and in truth. 
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Jesus says worship requires a willing heart rather than a fancy temple.  But does this make it any easier to worship?  In some ways, yes.  Now we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, so now we can worship in Spirit and in truth any time, anywhere.  But for many of us, it might be simpler just to have a place that makes it official, to have a duty to fulfill, and to have a box to check that says we did enough to fulfill worship for another week.  Maybe this attitude explains why many of us still gravitate to a church sanctuary for “real” worship, complete with an organ piping out the old hymns, penned in past times and leaving us the perception of happier days, hallowed songs written by holier people.  Don’t get me wrong, the church sanctuary, in my opinion, is where last week’s worship ends and this week’s worship begins, but the building is not the place reserved for worship in Spirit and truth.  Worship flows from the heart.  

This brings me full circle back to the house project where, at the end of the time set aside to build, we gazed at our handiwork.  The roof lay secure and complete!   Wearily we leaned on the shoulder of the man next to us and just stood in silent appreciation for the seeming miracle we were beholding.  It wasn’t a church sanctuary; there had been no singing except the song of the hammers and nails, but it was worship in Spirit and in truth. 
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As we considered our accomplishment, we weren’t worshiping ourselves—our abilities or success.  We had been worshiping God through all the long hours of labor because it was within that process of sacrificing ourselves to a greater purpose where our spirits mingled with the Spirit of the Almighty, resulting in nothing short of true worship. 

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”  Romans 12:1 ESV