Your Adventure Is Waiting
AUGUST 4, 2020
By Marianna Meachen, Director of Care Ministries
A couple of weeks ago David Chang wrote a devotional entitled “I Have No Idea Where I Am Going,” where he talked about taking road trips with his family when he was a boy. That made me think of a particular road trip my late husband Rich and I took with my two sons, and where our ultimate destination was Florida. It was going to be a grand tour, three whole weeks to relax and enjoy family.
Rich grew up in Kailua and would often show me the homes he had lived in as a boy. He would tell me stories about living on Kailua Road across the street from Campus Dairy (now the site of Ka Malanai townhomes), and the cows getting loose and eating the flowers in his front yard. He and his brother Skip dutifully shooed the cows back across the road and complained to the workers at the dairy, who would listen and ask if chocolate milk would help the situation.
So now it was my turn to show Rich where I was from, where I grew up and went to school, so we flew into my hometown, Evansville, Indiana. I wanted him to meet my four sisters and their families, and get to know my mom and dad better. It was a great way to start our journey.
From there we drove to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina to meet Rich’s family, and then headed on to Florida. First on the list? Walt Disney World, of course, and then on to River Country, Epcot Center, and then Gatorland, where we saw alligators leap 12-feet into the air to eat whole chickens suspended from a pole.
It was so much fun, and then we got lost!
My husband, whose only sense of direction was mauka, makai, Diamond Head, and Ewa, loved to drive the backroads. It was 1992, and there was no GPS or smartphones. We only had a map that showed no backroads. I'm good at reading maps, but I can't see what isn't there.
Rich and I thought it was great fun trying to find our way, but the boys got a bit anxious. It can be disconcerting when we get lost as adults, but to children, it can be frightening.
I remember one of them asking, "Are we lost?" I responded, "No, we're not lost; we're having an adventure."
Wow! An adventure, how fun. No need to be worried. Let's go!
Perhaps during these past few months, you feel as though you’ve been on backroads with no map and feel a bit lost. Maybe you have felt anxious, discouraged, or even frightened. How are we to steer a course through COVID? We have an excellent road map that leaves no stone unturned. It is called the Bible. It takes us from the very beginning of time and has clear directions to our final destination, our true home, which is heaven. It guides us to our salvation so that we may live with God forever.
Psalm 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
Portions of Scripture are direct instructions and laws from God, such as the Ten Commandments, recorded in Exodus 20. These tell us more about God and His expectations for us. On other pages, the Bible gives God's practical advice and encouragement through parables, lists, promises, and even warnings. Amazingly, though many different writers throughout thousands of years wrote the Bible, each page describes the same God in ways we can understand and apply in our lives today. This book is always His voice talking personally to anyone willing to read and hear.
Ultimately, the Bible lets us know and understand God's love for us through His Son Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. We are never alone when we walk with God. He is always by our side.
Follow Him, and be prepared to have the most beautiful adventure of your life.
Prayer: Abba, Father, we thank You for the gift of Your Word. We thank You for guiding and directing us and showing us Your plan for our lives. As we live in you, may we experience the richness of Your love. May we give You glory in all circumstances, and let us be salt and light and lead others to Your matchless grace. Thank You that we never have to be lost again. In Jesus' precious name, Amen.
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