Adventure

So I quit my job to go traveling in Asia (I blog from my first stop – Hong Kong). Although I’ve been planning this for years (almost since I started working 2 years ago), I sometimes wonder what I am doing. I had a pretty good job in a growing company. I lived in a beautiful city in a nice apartment in a great neighborhood (although some may argue that Vancouver is not so beautiful when it rains 27 consecutive days). I had great family and friends to share life with. I was part of a new church plant and things were starting to happen. Yet, there was a restlessness inside of me, a sense that there’s more to life.

I just turned twenty-five last month. My friends enjoy reminding me that twenty-five is a quarter of a century. It seems appropriate to have my quarter-life crisis now. Well, let’s not use the word “crisis”. That word implies like I’m in a panic, and I’m not… yet. I’ll call it a quarter-life “evaluation”. Following the evaluation will be my quarter-life adjustment. (I’m really playing on this “quarter” theme for the amusement of those friends of mine).

So, what is life all about anyways? What is meaning of life? Have I treasured the important things? Is my life making a difference? Where is my life going? What is God’s call for me? Am I doing enough or am I trying too hard? Questions, questions, so many questions. I find questions force me to reflect, evaluate, and to change, so I stay on course. Questions like these push me to continue learning how to live life.

This trip will last a few months, depending on how long I can make my money last. It will be time to explore the world, to see China, Taiwan, Vietnam, maybe Malaysia. But it will also be time to explore God and myself, the person God made me. I’m expecting to discover new things, but also rediscover things I know.

John Piper writes in his book don’t waste your life, “I wanted to understand the main thing about life and pursue it”. My search is to find this passion, this focus, this drive in my life. It must be something so strong, so important, and so clear that I will live zealously for it and be willing to die for it.

And I’m on this quest, this adventure – to discover my life’s treasure. It scares me. The outcome of this quest will be extreme joy, but total commitment and sacrifice of my life. But not to go on this quest will be a waste of my life.

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
~Matthew 13:44~