Prayer to Venture into the Unknown with God

Is there a great life adventure God is inviting you to try? This Prayer to Venture into the Unknown with God will inspire you and give you Scripture to depend on as you take your first step.

Using a Spectacular Grand View to Meditate on God’s Grand Life Invitations

Come with me to my new favorite spot on the planet. I’m sitting on the leeward side of a granite rock formation after a hike up a paved trail from a mountainside parking lot along the side of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. From where I’m seated this is what I see: Before me is the green tundra of June where marmots and chipmunks chase each other and ptarmigans raise their young. Patches of snow remind me that at this elevation the sun doesn’t melt everything right away.

I’m facing north-northeast at sixty-five degrees at an elevation of 12,270 feet above sea level. As I sit here there’s a calling in my soul. A part of me wants to climb down and walk out across the tundra to a close green peak some two-hundred yards away. If my friend and 14-er veteran, Don Owens, were sitting next to me, I would tell him that I understand. I understand all of the peaks he has summited in his quest to fill a spot in his soul for one thing: Adventure.

We were created for this.

No, we really were. This call to adventure is something that God placed in the heart of man, and when this call to adventure gets crushed the soul of a man is smashed against the granite I’m sitting on.

Think about this: Where else can you sit and watch clouds float along or see rain off in the distance covering peaks that you don’t know are named? Where else can you see how the wind and rain carves the snow on the ground in June? These amazing wonders of our planetary home can only be observed from being on the mountain itself.

Hearing God’s Invitation to Adventure

My soul is torn; I can see a way down from where I’m seated. If I were to amble down the rock formation to my left, there is a way out of the rock garden below me. I trace a path with my mind’s eye to cross a patch of snow before stepping onto the tundra to head out on my hike. I can see a path I would plot from the snow across the tundra to the peak I can see from here.

Don’t you hear it? The call out of the ordinary into the unknown and what might one be able to see from the top of that peak. Has anyone ever walked from here to there? I can’t imagine that from this vantage point no one has ever stepped out onto the tundra to explore the next peak. There must be someone who has made the trek to my nameless destination in the history of these mountains.

Can you imagine a greater adventure than to go where no one else has gone before? What mountain peaks or ocean depths have yet to be explored because they are as-of-yet unattainable? What mountain peaks or ocean depths of your life are unexplored because you have not yet dared to attempt a trip in either direction?

“That mountain is impossible to climb because…”

What is in front of you that you believe to be an impossible situation?

“This is impossible for mere humans, but for God all things are possible.” (Mathew 19:26, NET)

Learning from Peter’s Adventure into the Unknown

Consider Peter’s adventure into the unknown:

“As the night was ending, Jesus came to them walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the water they were terrified and said, “It’s a ghost!” and cried out with fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them: “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Peter said to him, Lord, if it is you, order me to come to you on the water.” So he said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind he became afraid. And starting to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they went up into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (Matthew 14:25-33, NET)

My friend and Tres Dias brother, Tim, had me out on Lake Tawakoni over the Fourth of July weekend. We were taking the family out tubing and skiing, and while Tim drove the boat I was his spotter. I was also the deckhand when we stopped to pick up those who had fallen off the tube or skis. Not once in my mind did I ever think to myself, “You know, I think I’ll just step out of the boat and walk out to grab the tow rope handle so I can drag the line back to the boat.” I knew that if I stepped out of the boat I was going to have to start swimming or grab hold of something that floated to keep my head above water.

An important point of the story about Peter walking on the water is that he was invited into the adventure by Jesus. I didn’t climb down the face of the rock cliff I was seated on in Colorado and trek over to the distant peak because I hadn’t been invited. The park service invites people to stay off the tundra to help preserve it.

Peter was invited by the creator of the water to come out and walk on it.

What have you been invited into?

What it Takes to Be an Adventurer

I had a recent conversation with Eddie James, one half of the comedy ministry team “The Skit Guys” where Eddie made the comment, “Makes dreams normal.” Where is it that God is leading? Who is God calling you to be? What does your adventure look like and what does it take to obtain that goal?

For some, it takes a lot of effort to take that first step. Peter’s dream of walking on the water with Jesus didn’t take very long to realize. However, Peter never would have been out on the water walking toward Jesus if Peter had not taken that first step after receiving the invitation to get out of the boat.

Is that you? Have you not taken the first step? If not, what is keeping you from taking that step to get out of where it is safe and comfortable, and moving into the unknown of the future of following where God is leading you?

“I will give you hidden treasures, riches stashed away in secret places, so you may recognize that I am the LORD, the one who calls you by name, the God of Israel.” (Isaiah 45:3 NET)

“I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you.” (Isaiah 41:9 NIV)

“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed — I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “that I am God. Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?” (Isaiah 43:10-13 NIV)

If God has called you into an adventure and no one can deliver you out of God’s hand, what are you waiting for?

Where Would You Like to Go and What Would You Like to Be?

I had a moment where God opened my eyes to this as I was standing in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico off of Mustang Island State Park in Corpus Christi, Texas.

In the spring of 2022, my wife, Kelly, asked me to write a short song for a library video she was creating. As the elementary school librarian, Kelly’s video was to be distributed out to the teachers to play for students to have summer reading information. Kelly needed the song to play in the video, and since I had already written a library song for her in 2015, why not get a new one for 2022? So, I sat down and wrote “Let’s Go Down to the Library” for her.

The first line of the first verse says, “Where would you like to go? Who would you like to be? An amazing superhero, or take a ride on a bumblebee.”

As I stood in the waves of the surf, I silently started talking to God about my future and what adventure he was going to call me into next. That’s when God asked me my words back to me: “Where would you like to go? Who would you like to be?” What adventure is God inviting me into? I have to figure out what this is, and then step out of the boat. I have to “make dreams normal” and trust that where God is leading me is onto the best thing he could have for my life.

So what about you?

Where would you like to go? Who would you like to be? What adventure is God calling you to take? Follow Peter’s lead and get out of the boat.