Lord, Please Help Me to be a Lifetime Adventurer

Life can be a great adventure, especially when it starts out with my furry friend, Buddy. Adventure is defined as an unusual, exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity. What's so unusual and hazardous about walking a dog?
~ The Terrain -- there's cracks and unlevel walking paths, curbs, roads that have high traffic patterns and if raining, slippery paths
~ Creatures -- there are walkers, runners, bicycle riders, skate boarders, dogs of all shapes and sizes, and, potential critters
~ Physical -- our body parts can be over-used and over-extended
~ Sense of Direction -- can be led astray and even get lost

With all those possible hazards along the way, it would seem that it's better to be a spectator on a bus, where we're safe and secure. BORRRR-ing!! Right? Did God call us to be bus riders and stay-at-home, see after my 4-and-no-more kinds of people?

This thought came to me as Buddy and I took a new trail yesterday. It was beautiful and more secluded than where we usually walk. We walked by a creek, crossed bridges and soon we took a trail that ended right smack dab on The Trails at Frisco Golf Course. To go back where we came from meant same-o, same-o. To go forward meant potential walking distance way further than we planned. To go forward meant a new adventure. We went forward. As it turned out, we did walk about twice the distance we usually walk, but it was rewarding as golfers waved at us, were asked what kind of dog Buddy is, yelled FORE from time-to-time, and we enjoyed the course's beauty, along with those golfers. Once back on our usual trail, we saw a garage sale sign so, of course, we had to stop. There we met an older couple that seemed to need Buddy and I as visitors. Buddy reminded them of the collie they had years before. He gave them some sweet memories and I was able to share my faith and my trust in God's timing with them.

The Bible says that God instills in every believer a phenomenon called a "spiritual gift" which is a divine enablement so that we can share in the adventures of God's plan. It may be the gift of teaching, of giving, of mercy, of encouragement, etc. We are here to be adventurers that make a difference in others' lives.

I've made up my mind that I don't want to be a "tour bus" spectator. I know I've been called to be a participant as one of God's representatives. I don't want to be insulated from the excitement of life and the excitement of doing God's work. For all of us, our adventures begin when we get off the tour bus and go into action!

"Lord, I want to play a role in your grand adventures. Please use me. Use me to impact a teenager's life. Use me to ease someone's loneliness. Use me to help deepen someone's faith. Use me to encourage a broken and wounded person. Use me to feed someone's hunger. Use me to touch lives in Your name. Make me a life-time Adventurer for You!