My Great Adventure July 25, 2011

Back in 2004, I was a stay-at-home mom to a 5 year old daughter and 2 year old son. I was wife to an associate pastor at First Baptist Church, Perryton, TX ~ small town America and the Wheatheart of the Nation. One day as I looked out my living room window at the cows grazing in the pasture behind my house, I listened to Steven Curtis Chapman singing “The Great Adventure”, all while folding clothes, wiping noses, and picking up toys. I remember thinking to myself, “This is the ‘Great Adventure’? You have got to be kidding me.”

It was during this same season of life that I was completing a Bible study by Beth Moore in which we were assigned the task of writing a letter to God answering the question that He asked the blind man in Mark 10:51-52. ” ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said, ‘Rabbi, I want to see.’ ” Being the eager student that I am, I quickly jumped on this homework assignment and began pouring out my heart to the Lord, telling Him all that I wanted Him to do for me. Without rewriting the entire letter here, I will give the bottom line. I asked Jesus for more…just more of Him. I asked for a hunger for His Word and an intimacy with Him that I had heard others speak of in their own lives. I asked Him for my own great adventure.

And I got it!

I literally began craving His Word. I began reading and studying and learning things about Him and His Word that I had never known before. I grew to love the Old Testament, reading the history of the Israelites and applying their lessons to my spiritual life today. I began “seeing” illustrations of God’s Word all around me, making connections in my everyday life to principles of Scripture (and all without the help of my husband’s Top 100 Sermon Illustrations book). It was amazing! Matthew 5:6 became my reality: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. I soon realized that I was being filled with more of Jesus…not only filled…but overflowing…I couldn’t seem to get enough. I woke up one day and realized, “This is the Great Adventure!”

And yet, all the while, I was still folding laundry, wiping noses, and picking up toys. Nothing about my external circumstances had changed, but I realized they didn’t have to…I was living my great adventure right where I was…in small town America…a stay-at-home mom and pastor’s wife. An ordinary girl with an extraordinary Jesus.

We can’t all be Steven Curtis Chapman, jet-setting around the world to concerts, music studios, appearances on TV, book signings across the country, but we, as believers, can experience our own great adventure. We can live the abundant life that Christ promised right here on earth (John 10:10). I am planning to write more about my great adventure in the days ahead, but I am challenging you, today, to live yours.

What I had hoped to be true… July 12, 2011

turned out to be not so true after all…I had hoped that deployment the second time around would be a little bit easier.  I mean,  I know what we’re facing.  I’ve been there, done that.  So surely I can be here and do this.  It’s only 10 months…not nearly as bad as 15 (or so I have told myself).  I thought for sure we had this down.

Nope…just wishful thinking.  It is not easier the second time around(or third or fourth for many military families).  The preparation is just as difficult.  The stress is just as great.  The emotions are just as raw.

But one thing I knew to be true the first time around has already proven to be true again…the Lord is gracious.  He is faithful to give us all that we need when we need it.  He has already covered us with His peace, His presence, and His power.   And it is in Him that we will face the long days, weeks, and months ahead.