The Adventure

Frodo, an adventurer if there ever was one, from the allegory The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, quoted his also adventuring uncle,

"Remember what Bilbo used to say: 'It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door.  You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.'"

Amid the whirlwind of the past few weeks, we've come to catch the spirit of adventure Frodo and Bilbo refer to.  What seemed a routine email to a former employer, turned into a crazy idea, which suddenly loomed as an actual possibility, which then, before we could even catch our breath, became a reality.  When Jonathan was first pitched the idea of spending this Spring traveling the southern hemisphere, he thought I'd never agree to it.  When I did, rather excitedly, we decided not to let our hopes rise, since it was still just a fanciful theory and facing great odds.  We agreed to let the doors open or close... and just be willing.  Soon Jonathan had a leave of absence from USC allowing him to postpone his thesis defense and graduation until the fall semester, I was quitting my jobs, and we faced a very real adventure.  

Throughout those days of doors opening and things falling into place, God kept speaking to us about seasons.  "For everything there is a season..." said the wisest man who ever lived.  That resonated.  Our God, the one who first called us to lives of adventure--and trust me, any life fully dedicated to Him is an adventure--was now opening the way for us to, in faith, leave the comfortable, predictable, "make-sense" life we lived in our little beach cottage in southern California, at least for a season.  

So, here we are.  Tomorrow we embark on our sojourn.  The thing about sojourning is that it's temporary.  And there's nothing like leaving your comfort zone to realize that this entire life we get so caught up in is really only temporary.  We hope to learn that lesson--and by learn, I mean experience, this isn't book-learning anymore--and so many more.