“God’s glory is on tour in the skies, God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.” Psalm 19:1 (The Message)
I don’t think God called us to live a boring life. Unfortunately, somewhere in the last fifteen years, I’ve lost some of my adventurous spirit and turned into a cautious mom. God started my journey of embracing the adventure back in January and since then, He has given me many opportunities in 2015 to remember how much fun it can be to live a little on the wild side.
One such adventure occurred this summer. It was the beginning of June and during the monsoon period that affected the midwest this year – that period of time when it rained more than not and we had flooding, although nothing as severe as Texas during the same time period. It was close to my father-in-law’s birthday and we wanted to get him a specific present and knew we could get a good deal on it at a specific store. So, after dinner one night we planned on leaving the kids home to clean up (their normal job) while my husband and I decided to run real quick, get the present, and come home. As we were leaving, it started to rain.
My first thoughts were, “Maybe this is a dumb idea…we’re putting ourselves in harm’s way when we should be responsible and stay home until the rain stops,” but we had time constraints and it was just a little rain. We weren’t in the car more than two minutes when the flood gates opened and in all seriousness, the windshield which had been dry moments before was now in a wash out and the roads were flooding two to three feet high.
However, I soon realized something. I’m not irresponsible to run an errand in the rain. There is beauty and excitement to experience in the adventures of life. Once I looked around at all the different sights, sounds, and smells of the torrential downpour, it was exciting to sit next to my husband and just relax, letting him worry about the road while I admired his strength. It reminded me a little bit of the adventures we used to take when we were first married, sans kids.
We ended up having a great time: laughing with other customers of the store while we wrung out our clothes from the 30 seconds we ran through the downpour to get into the store, reminiscing about the past and enjoying our impromptu date.
By the time we got home, the rain had almost stopped and our adventure was coming to a close. We were back to our roles as responsible adults…but for a brief moment that June night, we transported back to young love with less responsibility and more adventure.
© Cheri Swalwell 2015