A couple of years ago Colleen Townsend Evans was scheduled to speak for an IMM Pastor's Wives Dinner. She was to fly in early afternoon and the dinner began at 6 p.m. There was only one problem. Her California departure point was fogged in. When I discovered our dilemma and knowing that 80-100 women would be waiting to hear her speak, I began to think hard about what we would do. I have to acknowledge my stress level rose more than a little. I prayed, made plans and greeted her at the door to the dining room about 6:30. I showed her where to freshen up and as we were walking back to the dining room talking about her delay, Colleen said with a full and easy smile and a peaceful spirit, "Life is a grand adventure!" Those words spoken in that circumstance have stayed with me and created in me a longing to look at life from this perspective: LIFE IS A GRAND ADVENTURE!

I'm not there yet but I'm seeking to move in that direction. Are there sometimes bumps in the road? You bet! Do I stumble and sometimes fall, tripping over difficulties and disappointments? I sure do. Do I stumble and sometimes step on someone else's foot and cause them to fall or to hurt? Yes again. But I want to see even the bumps and the stumbles in light of the big picture. LIFE IS A GRAND ADVENTURE.

For sometime now I've been venturing through the gospel of John and supplementing God's word and my thoughts with insight from Ray Stedman's book on John, God's Loving Word. A confirmation to this thinking, LIFE IS A GRAND ADVENTURE!, came to me through Ray's words the other morning. (And by the way, reading his books is a great way to continue to sit under Ray's teaching for those of us who miss him so.)

Commenting on John 10:7-10 Ray said in part, "An abundant life (which Jesus promised here) means a life filled with excitement and adventure. I look back now on almost sixty years of walking with the Lord and I want to tell you I could not have chosen a more exciting life than the one God has given me! It is filled with constant expectation of what is coming next. Sometimes it is dangerous, sometimes it is difficult, but it is always filled with a sense of adventure. That is what Jesus means by "the abundant life."

On the summer night when Brian & Family arrived at our home tired and weary from a nine-hour stint in the car, he and Sarah and I went out into our back yard. As we stood there in the gathering darkness, Brian in his loudest Basketball Coach Voice said, SARAH, HOW'S YOUR ATTITUDE?" Without missing a beat she belted back in the same cadence, "Boy! Am I enthusiastic!"

So my prayer for you (as I hope your's will be for me) is that you develop the heartfelt perspective that LIFE IS A GRAND ADVENTURE! BOY, AM I ENTHUSIASTIC! No matter how difficult or dangerous the day, each one is a part of the adventure. The drama will have a happy ending. To life! To adventure! To enthusiasm! Jesus is risen.

Enthusiatically yours, Carolyn

November 1995