the call to adventure: finding real life takes real courage

THE CALL TO ADVENTURE:Finding Real Life Takes Real Courage

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”- Helen Keller

The ultimate aim of the quest is to find the resources of character to meet our destiny

– to find the wisdom and the power to serve others.

- Joseph Jaworski, Synchronicity.

Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others – past and present.

And by each crime and every kindnessWe birth our future

”I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”

- Jesus (John 10:10)

FLIP THE ICEBERG

THERE’S A LADY WHO’S SURE ALL THAT GLITTERS IS GOLD

AND SHE’S BUYING A STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN.

WHEN SHE GETS THERE SHE KNOWSIF THE STORES ARE ALL CLOSED

WITH A WORD SHE CAN GET WHAT SHE CAME FOR

…AND SHE’S BUYING A STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN.

“STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN” – LED ZEPPILIN

THERE’S A SIGN ON THE WALL BUT SHE WANTS TO BE SURE

CAUSE YOU KNOW SOMETIMES WORDS HAVE TWO MEANINGS

IN A TREE BY THE BROOKTHERE’S A SONGBIRD WHO SINGS

SOMETIMES ALL OF OUR THOUGHTS ARE MISGIVEN.

AND IT MAKES ME WONDER…


THERE’S A FEELING I GETWHEN I LOOK TO THE WEST

AND MY SPIRIT IS CRYING FOR LEAVING

IN MY THOUGHTS I HAVE SEENRINGS OF SMOKE THROUGH THE TREES

AND THE VOICES OF THOSE WHO STAND LOOKING.

AND IT MAKES ME WONDER…


AND IT’S WHISPERED THAT SOONIF WE ALL CALL THE TUNE

THEN THE PIPER WILL LEAD US TO REASON

AND A NEW DAY WILL DAWNFOR THOSE WHO STAND LONG

AND THE FORESTS WILL ECHO WITH LAUGHTER


IF THERE’S A BUSTLE IN YOUR HEDGEROWDON’T BE ALARMED NOW

IT’S JUST A SPRING CLEAN FOR THE MAY QUEEN

YES THERE ARE TWO PATHS YOU CAN GO BYBUT IN THE LONG RUN

THERE’S STILL TIME TO CHANGE THE ROAD YOU’RE ON

…AND IT MAKES ME WONDER


YOUR HEAD IS HUMMING AND IT WON’T GOIN CASE YOU DON’T KNOW

THE PIPER’S CALLING YOU TO JOIN HIM

DEAR LADY, CAN YOU HEAR THE WIND BLOWAND DID YOU KNOW

YOUR STAIRWAY LIES ON THE WHISPERING WIND?


AND AS WE WIND ON DOWN THE ROADOUR SHADOWS TALLER THAN OUR SOUL

THERE WALKS A LADY WE ALL KNOWWHO SHINES WHITE LIGHT AND WANTS TO SHOW

HOW EVERYTHING STILL TURNS TO GOLD

AND IF YOU LISTEN VERY HARDTHE TUNE WILL COME TO YOU AT LAST

WHEN ALL ARE ONE AND ONE IS ALLTO BE A ROCK AND NOT TO ROLL

…AND SHE’S BUYING THE STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN.


“…He has also set eternity in the hearts of men.”Ecc 3:133

“You cannot find peace by avoiding life”- Virginnia Woolf in The Hours

1. Are you on the quest God has set before you in your life – or have you become stuck just trying to get by?

2. What dormant adventures and dreams are buried in your heart, whispering to you of what could be?

3. What is holding you back? 4. What would it take to give you the courage to set out on these

adventures?

DISCUSS

DEPARTURE

THE HERO’S JOURNEY

ROAD OF TRIALS

THE RETURN

• Calling • Hear/Ignore - Accept/Refuse• Guides & Thresholds

• Face trials & ordeals• Gain helpers• Develop skill & character• Supreme trial

• Transformed• Power released

THE HERO’S JOURNEY

“Self responsibility appears to have three significant aspects:

…waking up, standing up, and making choices.”

- Peter Cammock, ‘The Spirit of Leadership’.

“We must all fight and, if necessary die, to teach people the truth.”

Eph 6:12Our war is not with flesh & blood but against rulers, authorities and

powers of this dark world and spiritual forces of evil.

“When the call to adventure is received, two options only are before us…

We must take the journey with all of its inconvenience and risk

or refuse it entirely.

“The refusal of the call is not only a refusal of the request to serve

in support of meaningful causes that are bigger than our self-interest,

it is also a denial of our owninternal images and desires for life.

[To refuse brings] a narrowing of perspective and a…loss of vitality.

If we sustain the refusal we are in danger of losing ourselves…”

- Peter Cammock

SAFETY OVER RISK SURVIVAL OVER LIVING

FEAR OVER LOVE KNOWN OVER

UNKNOWN PREDICTABILITY OVER UNCERTAINTY

STABILITY OVER GROWTHMINIMIZE RISK OVER MAXIMIZE

LIFE

SMALL LIFE WITH SMALL RISK OVER BIG LIFE WITH BIG RISK

BOREDOM OVER

EXCITEMENT AVOIDANCE OVER FULFILMENT

Recipe for a Mid-life Crisis

“If it makes you happy, why the hell are you so sad?”- Sheryl Crow

“I’ll BE THERE” – MEGADETH

I HEARD THE VOICE OF REDEMPTIONFOR ME THERE IS NO EXEMPTION

I STARTED PRAYING

I HEARD THE VOICE OF SATISFACTIONWOUNDING ME FOR BENEFACTION

I STARTED PLEADING

I HEARD THE BELLS BEGIN TO CHIMEWARNING ME

OH LORD, DON’T LET THIS BE MY TIME


I’LL BE THERE FOR YOU WHEN YOU WALK THROUGH THE FIRE

I’LL BE THERE FOR YOU WHEN THE FLAMES GET HIGHER

WHEN NOTHING FITSAND NOTHING SEEMS RIGHT

TIL THE VERY LAST BREATH OF MY LIFEI’LL BE THERE


YOU SAW ME SLIDE YOU SAW ME FALLWE KEPT OUR PRIDE THROUGH IT ALL

WE STARTED SCREAMING

WHEN SKIES ARE DARK NO SUN SHINES THROUGH I KNOW I SEE THE LIGHT IN YOU

WE STOPPED DREAMING AND STARTED BELIEVING


I’LL BE THERE FOR YOU WHEN YOU WALK THROUGH THE FIRE

I’LL BE THERE FOR YOU WHEN THE FLAMES GET HIGHER

WHEN NOTHING FITSAND NOTHING SEEMS RIGHT

TIL THE VERY LAST BREATH OF MY LIFEI’LL BE THERE


IN MY HOUR OF NEEDYOU WERE THERE

ALWAYS

AND NOW IT’S TIME FOR ME TO BE THERE FOR YOU TOO

ALWAYS

1. Read Isaiah 43 – although Jesus promises he is with us always, when is it that God’s presence will specifically be with us?

2. Have you ever felt God and seen God move more tangibly than those times when you took the plunge?

3. Has settling for comfort cost you something of that experience?

DISCUSS

“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned. So as to have the life that is waiting for us”

- Joseph Campbell, ‘The Power of Myth’

“The heroes of religion came back with the wonder of God,

not with a blueprint of God.”- Joseph Campbell, ‘The Power of Myth’

Cynicism is bitterness masquerading as wisdom

“Fear is a bird that believes itself into extinction”- Jewel, ‘Lost.’

“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you

life and death, blessings and curses.

Now choose life, so that you and your children may live”

- God (Deut 30:19)

1. Have you really found something you believe is worth dying for?2. What is it that your heart ‘sees’ that it is trying to get the rest of you

to align with? 3. Have you retained hope, or has it succumbed to cynicism? 4. What legacy are you working towards leaving – how is this place

likely to be different because you were here?

DISCUSS

the call to adventure: finding real life takes real courage

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