Adventure

I don't belief life has to be boring. But most people I talk to think it does. They tell me "I have to do a bunch of things that I don't want to do - how can I be anything but bored?" I guess I believe that there is always a choice about whether I want to live life as an adventure, or as a long death march.

Lately I find myself really into meeting people. I will start up conversations with the waitress, the guy out parking cars, the kid bagging my groceries, the telemarketer calling at 8:00 at night (Ok, I don't really talk to telemarketers, but I admit I like hanging up on them). I have been exploring just what potential I have to connect with people. I have always known I have this knack of being able to talk to folks, but it crossed my mind the other day that I could choose to be intentional about it and find out just how much influence I could have in the world. The experiment has been uncanny.

I am discovering that there are two truths surfacing in this adventure. The first is that if I am authentically interested in a person, they really want to be known most of the time. People love to have someone actually want to know them. And people will tell me the most intimate stuff when I just take the time to actually (and honestly) want to know them. It is the coolest thing.



The second thing I am discovering is that I was designed to do this. What I mean by that is there seems to be some innate thing inside of me that was intended to care for and about people, to connect with them, and to lift them up. I absolutley love drawing the good out of people, confronting or ignoring their tendancy to focus on the things that need to change in their lives, and instead noticing the gifts there. I find so many people who act like no one has ever noticed their gifts. I think most of them bought an untruth about themselves years back, and are still operating out of something they think is true that never was.



As I write, we are staying at a high end hotel. There is a young guy out front who is supposed to greet people and meet whatever needs they might have. But behind the podium where he sits is a football. And every once in awhile you can just tell he is dieing to throw the thing - to play catch with somebody in the middle of downtown Denver. So as I passed him last night, I said, in mock stadium announcer fashion "He's goin long...." as I started running down the sidewalk. He grinning and tossed the ball in perfect spiral. I caught it and scored a touchdown with 3 second remaining, then tossed it back. He grinned from ear to ear.



The adventure in life lately for me has been entering in with people, being light, making people grin. It is like touching light bulbs and having them instantly turn on. It is like gathering around a warm, glowing fire with some friends, with no hurry to get on to something else. It genuinely is a great adventure, and one I am glad to be on.