**My apologies in advance for the immense overuse of the word “adventure” in this post**

**DISCLAIMER: this is in NO way directed towards any one person or group of people, but is just a general shout-out to human beings.**

You need to get out and go on an adventure. Yes, I am talking to you. You need to get out and go somewhere. Right now your life consists of a job, or maybe school, or perhaps driving kiddos around to soccer practices and piano recitals. You are caught up in chasing after the kids, chasing after the college acceptance letter, or chasing after the girl. You wake up each morning and go back into the same routine; you shower and brush your teeth, eat some toast if there is time, drive your car to school or work where you spend all day with the same people in the same building doing the same general thing. You drive home, eat some dinner, change into comfy clothes, maybe watch some TV and sleep only to repeat the whole thing the next day. I am not saying there is anything wrong with this; oftentimes such routines are necessary for success (think of a student who goes to school each day and needs a routine to be on time and get his work done as he needs to). There are seasons of life where such routines are important, even key to one’s success and progress. But there are other seasons where you just need to get out of the normal day to day routine and go do something or meet someone or go somewhere; otherwise, life just becomes boring and even worse, you become boring. Yes, I just called some of you boring. And that’s exactly why you need an adventure.

Some Benefits of Adventuring
1) You become a lot less boring. Let’s face it; that alone is reason enough to get out and do something.
2) You might discover something new that you love, or someone new that you love, or somewhere new that you love. But you’ll never know if you don’t get out in the first place.
3) Your breath might be taken away. It could be taken away literally because you are running through a vineyard with friends like I did on Saturday, or it could be figuratively as you are stunned by a sunset or a new sight. Both ways are lovely in their own right.
4) You’ll probably try some delicious food. Each new place has some different hangout or restaurant that everyone loves. For example, in Canon City there is a small restaurant called “Michael’s” that has delicious white chocolate cake that I wouldn’t have been able to taste had we not gone there in the first place. Likewise, the tea house I am sitting in has delicious apple strudel coffeecake.
5) You’ll laugh a lot. Especially if you go with the people you love most. And we all know that laughter adds time to your life.
6) You’ll learn something. Each adventure has some sort of lesson somewhere, whether it is because you learn a new road to take, you learn a new skill (such as reading a map), or you learn something about yourself. There is always something to learn. Adventures help you do that.
7) You will discover a new found love for the world God created. How can you not, as you see more sunsets, climb more mountains, drive across more land and meet more people? God made a beautiful world; the more I explore it, the more I love it and love Him, and I think the same will be true for all my fellow adventurers.

These are only a few of the many benefits of adventuring. And this is why I strongly encourage you to get out, even just once a week or so, and do something that you haven’t done before or do something that is out of routine. Become an adventurer. Become an explorer. Become someone who has a healthy level of curiosity. You never know what you’re missing if you never give it a shot.