Today was a watershed moment because I was leaving for a trip, and the thought of traveling without my iPhone nearly paralyzed me.  I realized that this would be the first time that I would be on a trip without it. So I wondered how I would deal with the Uber scheduling, how I would check-in for my flights, how I would keep track of my expenses, how I would share photos in social conversation, or even take photos, for that matter! My flip phone has a camera, but it isn't useful for the kinds of things I need the camera to do -- things like scanning documents! And, would I now have to go back to the primitive idea of printing my boarding pass rather than using the boarding pass on my iPhone? Yikes!

Before I even left the house, however, I had to decide whether to take my iPhone or my iPad since they now work about the same. I decided on the iPhone because it's smaller and lighter and I'm a very light traveler. (Well, except for all my devices and cords, that is)! One goal I have is to get down to just two devices -- a laptop/tablet and a phone.  My Microsoft Surface Pro actually is made to function as both a tablet and a laptop, so I really don't need it, and an iPad, and an iPhone, and a flip phone!  But, gosh, each one does something the others don't do, so I feel I need them all!

I started down the highway driving my regular 3 hour route to Las Vegas to get to the airport.  Before I had even gotten out of my little town, I suddenly had an urge, which I now realize was a withdrawal symptom. I just wanted my iPhone back. I didn't want to have to struggle anymore trying to make accommodations to a flip phone.  I had suddenly forgotten all the reasons for engaging in this experiment.  I just wanted to have what was comfortable and natural to me --- my iPhone 7!!  I even wondered how I would occupy myself for the 3 hour drive to Vegas. After all, I was going to stop in Searchlight, NV for lunch -- a small 2 casino/1 post office kind of town -- and if there was nothing I could do on my phone I would have to just eat lunch!! And another thing, I wouldn't be able to listen to what music I do have on my iPhone -- I would be stuck with only one CD for the entire trip. Since I was already partly out of town, I knew it would not be in my best interest to go back to my regular AT&T authorized dealer. So, I said to myself, "I'm sure they have an AT&T authorized dealer in Needles, CA. I can just stop there and tell them to switch everything back to the way it was."

After these moments of darting back and forth in my mind and feeling like a trapped animal, I took a scan of the landscape and I remembered. I remembered when I used to drive these highways long before the thought of a iPhone (or any cellphone) had ever germinated in the mind of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates.  I traveled 200 miles every Sunday on these roads with no phone at all -- nothing but my hitchhiking thumb if I broke down or needed help. And, I certainly had no device to 'occupy myself.' What there was on those drives was the beautiful desert landscape and my own big, broad thoughts that spanned across the desert horizon. I saw rocks and sand, the moon hanging in the sky, the heat warping the pavement, the mountains stolid and sure, the sky as immense as heaven.  I sang, and prayed, and dreamt up new plans and ideas. When I remembered all of this, I felt a sense of calm descending on me.  I wondered to myself, if maybe, I could do that today instead of needing some external electronic device to keep me company.

So, I soldiered on past Needles, had a quiet lunch in Searchlight, and headed to Vegas -- draped in the holy landscape that feeds my soul.

On Pandora this morning, I was listening to Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber, from an album titled, “Adventures in Early Music.” It took a moment to think about what an adventure in early music might be! Perhaps, that’s because when we think of an adventure, we so quickly think of skydiving, or climbing the Himalayas, or learning to surf when we’re 70, or (like Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien), raiding the treasure hoard of a dragon. It is because we think of adventures as such fantastical experiences that we come to the conclusion that we are not adventurous. 

In truth, every time we do something that is outside our normal and regular routine, we are embarking on an adventure.  The word adventure actually means to ‘take a chance’ or ‘take a risk.’ Surely, raiding a dragon’s lair is that, but so is writing a poem and putting it on Facebook where everyone can see it. Climbing the Himalayas is a risk, but so is purchasing one’s first home. Skydiving is taking a chance, but so is taking a yoga class. Stretching ourselves beyond our normal boundaries always requires us to exercise some degree of risk and chance, because what is outside our normal boundaries is, as yet, unknown to us.  It feels to us as vast to us as the ocean that separated Europe and the New World for the early explorers. It doesn’t matter that others have done it before us.  Because we have never done it ourselves, it becomes an adventure.
 
You know you’re on an adventure when you feel just a twinge of anxiety or excitement – when you feel a touch of fear and uncertainty – when you feel your breath catch in your throat – when you’re unsure of the outcome of your actions.  Even in the realm of the soul, adventure beckons.  Consider the Israelites being asked to cross the Red Sea, or Jonah being asked to go to Nineveh, or Martha being asked to believe in the resurrection, or the disciples being asked to pray in new ways.  These and countless other stories show us that the life of the soul requires a willingness to step into an adventure.

So, you may be much more like Bilbo Baggins that you think! Rather than telling yourself you’re not adventurous, why not think of the 5 adventures you’ve had in the past week?  You might be surprised to find that you have been leaving your little comfortable hobbit house much more than you thought, and oh, how you’ve grown because of it!

A dear friend of mine who spent a number of years in prison once said to me, “Everything is a sentence.”  What he meant was that everything has a ‘season’ – a time of beginning, the living through, and a time of ending. We often get ourselves distorted because we want to control those ‘seasons.’  If what we are experiencing is delightful, we do everything we can to keep it from ending.  If what we are experiencing is difficult or unpleasant, we do everything we can to jump to the end to get it over with quickly.  Consequently, we sometimes miss the middle bit – the bit about the ‘living through.’ Just as there is a ‘season’ to everything, there is also a journey involved in that season – and that is where our good friend Bilbo Baggins comes in!

Bilbo Baggins, (from J.R.R.Tolkien’s The Hobbit) was like many people in the Bible, and like many of us.  He was going along with life day in and day out – eating, drinking, socializing with friends, and maybe even getting a little fatter with all the food and drink he had! Life may not have been perfect, but it was okay.  It was routine and relatively predictable. When Gandalf, the wizard, came and told him he was needed for a dangerous and likely unsuccessful adventure, Bilbo was immediately dismissive.  “We don’t want any adventures here, thank you!  You might try over The Hill or across The Water.” But, Gandalf was as insistent as Bilbo was dismissive.  “I will go so far as to send you on this adventure.  Very amusing for me, very good for you – and profitable too, very likely, if you ever get over it,” said Gandalf.  Bilbo, quick on the draw, cried out, “Sorry!  I don’t want any adventures, thank you.  Not today…but please come to tea – any time you like!”

Sounds a bit like Moses at the burning bush when God suggested he take on the adventure of leading the Israelites out of Egypt.  He had similar excuses – I can’t talk in front of people… I don’t know what I’d say to people who asked who sent me…Can’t you choose someone else?  In short, he was saying, “Try over The Hill or across The Water.  I’m not your man.” But God was as persuasive with Moses as Gandalf was with Bilbo.  And each ended up embarking on an amazing adventure – an adventure that was good for them and good for others. 

Countless people in Scripture went through this exact process – being asked by God to get on board with an adventure, finding every excuse to stay in their current, comfortable, cozy life, and finally accepting the adventure offered and finding themselves and others transformed as a result. The adventures that come across our path may not be the same as those of Bilbo Baggins or Moses, but we can blurt out the same kinds of denials and excuses, especially if we’re in a ‘season’ that we’re enjoying.  We don’t want things disrupted, after all! We might find life a little easier, even if a bit more edgy, if we simply expected one ‘season’ to end and another to begin.  If we simply saw the possibility of the next ‘season’ as an adventure worthy of the taking.