More than once lately, I’ve heard the statement, “You don’t like change, do you?” from people in the home improvement industry. Although the question is somewhat off-putting, I am usually willing to engage in some self-assessment, so I’ve been asking myself a version of this question: Am I amenable to change? And I’m finding it a challenging question to answer because it depends on the context. Am I being challenged to design a new college course? Am I being asked to walk away from an organization that I’ve loved for three decades with little regard for how devastating that will be to my life? Or are we deliberating flooring and appliance choices for a new home?

Evidently, when it comes to home design, I am unamenable to change, so I’m building the same floorplan that was custom built 15 years ago and was hoping to choose the same brick, flooring and finishes that served me so well. However, those choices are no longer an option, so I will embrace, with adventurous hope, new selections that will endure and delight in the same way. And as exciting as it may be to embrace the journey of selecting coordinating tile, hardwood, and carpet, the Lord has me on another type of adventure as well, one that might be described as a Godly Adventure.

In his book Adventures in Godliness: Filling the Hole in Your Bucket List, Scott Wigginton shares of his many adventures which might lead you to ask, “Did he really do this?”—bike across country, climb Mt. Rainier, and move to Australia for a season. Yes, he did and survived to write about it! And because he did, I have been encouraged to embrace “adventure as a willingness to venture out into the unknown with no guarantees, to embrace curiosity and tolerate adversity, to boldly go when others shrink back” and to live with the perspective that I can choose to view this as “God’s invitation” to a Godly Adventure. By “receiving the invitation and responding to it,” I am living on Tiptoes of Expectation, reorienting my life in a way that includes my head, heart, habits, and hands.

Wigginton shares that the purpose of his book “is to call you to a [Godly Adventure] and to help you understand that adventures, rightly pursued, are often the portals to spiritual transformation. It is to remind you that God made you to imagine and dream and play and embrace curiosity. He made you to enjoy this amazing universe he created. He made you to explore this world…to travel to new places, to try new foods, to learn about other cultures, to see new things, to develop unique gifts, and to try new things.”

Mirroring some of the ideas shared in the post Follow Me, Wigginton offers, “Living a life of adventure was precisely what Jesus invited his disciples to do. Living the ‘with Jesus’ life meant that his disciples would daily have experiences that would be remarkable and unforgettable…When Jesus invited them to ‘Come, follow me’ it was with no guarantee of the course to be run or the gains to be made.” On this current Godly Adventure, there is a great deal of uncertainty—financial resources, belonging, and self-doubt, and yet there is a willingness to be transformed. Wigginton encourages me “that every adventure is an opportunity for God to teach [me], train [me], and to use [me] in his service. It is to live the ‘with Jesus’ life fully. Exploration and adventure are pregnant with divine truth, ready to bring vivid life and truth to those who are willing to take a risk, venture into the unknown, and listen carefully for the divine whisper.”

Maybe I did not choose to be on this particular Godly Adventure, but I did choose to follow Jesus, and since Scripture informs me that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28), I will embrace the adversity, seek to find my God-Given Space in this new state and on this new campus, knowing that He will Never Let Go. For as Wigginton shares, “The adventures of this life, whether planned or unplanned, always come with hard times…Noah…Solomon…Paul, hardship always rode shotgun.” But they were all transformed by the experience.

Are you currently on a Godly Adventure and find yourself unamenable to change? Let’s take this journey together and see what God has in store for us!

Reference:

Wigginton, S.E. (2023). Adventures in Godliness: Filling the hole in your bucket list. Morling Press.