I love spontaneous adventures! There is just something so
thrilling about them. Maybe it’s because in that moment I get to be that person
who takes life by the mane and just rides free into the sunset. I get to be an
adventurer who lives for more than existence. But what if we took this idea of
wanderlust; of desiring to wander into the unknown and live whatever adventure
unfolds from doing such, and combined it with a radical life. You know the
whole Jesus freak kind of radical. What if we desired to live a life that
wandered into the unknown of each day and sought to courageously obey Him with
whatever He asked of us? What if we started off each day and asked God, “Hey
what do you want to do together today?” Can you even imagine a life like that?
The thing is though, I’m not saying let’s all go to Africa
or some underdeveloped country and see what kind of crazy missions he wants us
to do. I mean if that’s the adventure He calls us to, then yeah. But I’m
talking about a Radical Wanderlust that can happen in the day to day. I’m
talking about the kind of life where I walk down the path on my way to classes,
and say, alright God, what are we up to today? Take me where love is needed
right here on campus. Give me eyes to see the hurt that needs comfort. The
brother or sister that needs encouragement. The apathetic wanderer who needs to
be ignited and inspired and then become my fellow Radical Wanderlust wanderer
with me! I’m talking about the kind of life that Bob Goff chose as his book
cover, Love Does: Discover a secretly
incredible life in an ordinary world. I’m talking about just loving whoever
God puts in front of us with crazy unexplainable love. Love that defies status
quos, and is done for no other reason than “just because.” Bob Goff once said, “Don’t
call it missions, call it Tuesday” I want a life like that!
And today I got that (which is crazy because I started
writing out this blog last night, and I thought I was done, but it was late so I
didn’t feel like reading it over, and now I actually have a story to write
about!). It was my friend’s birthday a couple of weeks ago, and for various
reasons I didn’t get to his birthday present till today. So I’m out with my
other good friend getting everything we need for it and it was turning into
this fun spontaneous adventure, and in the car on our way back she says how she
loves how our friend group just does all of these crazy things for each other
that are kind of unheard of. And we talked about how it has become normal for
us, and how we just love doing it, and how it makes us so happy. And it was
crazy, because I saw in that moment that I was on a radical wanderlust
adventure. I hadn’t realized it at first because it wasn’t “Christian” or
anything, and it didn’t feel like a sacrifice or anything since it made me so
happy. But as we talked I saw that it was, I was pouring out a lot of my time
and self into this, but it was joy to me. And that’s when I saw the beauty of
adventures with God. In the world’s eyes it might look like an irrational sacrifice.
Why pour that much into a person. But really, it’s a gift to both the giver and
the receiver. From start to finish I had so much fun. And while I was blessed
in seeing the happiness our small act gave to our friend, I honestly think I
got the better end of the deal. He got the gift in the moment; I was getting
gifts the whole adventure through. And at the end of it all I got to call it
Wednesday!
So Radical Wanderlust. It doesn’t have to be something
crazy. It doesn’t have to be some huge earth shaking adventure. It can be the
small unusual small acts we let into our day. The small adventures we go on
with our friends, which are really adventures we let Him take us on, as we seek
to unleash the love we have been given from Him into the lives of those around
us! It’s just loving those in front of us, regardless of whether it’s a little
crazy or not and just doing it no matter what day of the week, month, or year
it is. It’s a willingness to love for no other reason than love itself! Radical
Wanderlust--it’s the adventures we go on when we love the way God designed us
to.
