The Adventure of Not Knowing

Two Sundays ago, I told the youth group kids that following Christ is an adventure.  I want them to know that if they are truly believers, they are not settling for less on the amazing experience scale because they can't do certain things.  Nope, nope, nope.  When you throw your lot all in with the Lord in obedience, adventure comes in many forms. How can I say that?  Well, because when you are a Christian, you never know what God is going to have you to do beyond what is spelled out in the Scriptures.  And you also have no clue what He's going to do in and through you.

Seriously, think on what you don't know ...

• You don't know who God will put across your path to love on, speak truth to, and tell about His saving grace.
• You don't know how He will change your heart, kill your desires, and then give you far more beautiful ones.
• You don't know how or when He will answer all your prayers. 
• You don't know what obedience to His Word will end up costing you.  
• You don't know what amazing gifts will appear out of the mist of His Providence. 
• You don't know the temptations you will face and sometimes fall into.  Or how the Holy Spirit will convict and help you overcome the flesh. 
• You don't know where He might send you.  
• You don't how He will break down your assumptions about your story with twists and turns that when you look back on you smile with joy and say, "Only God." 

                                                     Taking the train back from the Yukon

Friends, this list of unknowns can terrify us if we let it.  But where's the adventure in actually knowing how the story will play out?  The richest plots suck us in because of the mystery.  It's a big fat lie that choosing to be a Christian automatically signs you up for a boring life.  We live in a daily mystery watching the plot unravel. Who will we meet next that needs to hear the gospel? When will the answer come and what will it look like? How will God make this good? What's around the bend?  

Yet though we live in mystery today, we don't have to freak out about whether or not there will be a happy ending.  Because,  we rest knowing that the *glorious spoiler alert,* the conclusion of our epoch is joy.  Our favorite tales end with the hero winning the maiden after he takes out the scoundrel.  And all those stories, be they awesome or just plain stupid, microscopically foreshadow the unfolding of Revelation, when God vanquishes evil and we sit down for our marriage feast with Christ Jesus.

Embrace your unknowns, Christian Adventurer.  Pray for eyes to see opportunity, and then for boldness to seize it. The Master Author is writing your splendid tale. And the conclusion will be sweet. 

"But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you," Matthew 6:33. (ESV)