The Adventure Challenge

 

Here we are in April. The past three months have been a pretty crazy (or exciting) adventure depending on how you look at it. On January 7, with a car fully loaded, Dalia and I left our home in PA for the twelve hour drive to our newest property in Savannah GA area. Our mission was to spend the winter months converting an empty 2100 square foot house into a dual-purpose property that could operate for nine months of the year as a thriving short-term rental property and could be a winter respite for us to escape harsh northern winters for the other three months.

 

As we sat in the driveway of our PA house and said a prayer for safe travel, we also prayed for God to guide us through the many unanswered questions that we had such as:

 

 

The point is that there were a lot of questions–many of them unanswerable.

 

Here we are three months later.  Dalia and I returned to our PA home a couple of weeks ago.  Wow, what an adventure it was!

 

Click here if you want to see the final product or to visit our Savannah property yourself. We would love to host you.

 

 

Last week, a good friend asked us each how we felt about the three-month adventure in GA.

 

Dalia spoke first. In all honesty, it was a difficult experience for Dalia. Dalia is a self-described “creature of habit”.  She likes her routine. She thrives in the familiar. She sees our adventure as a stretching experience that took everything she had stay positive and in a good mental state, especially since she had to stay on top of her day job while all the house set up things were happening. I had watched first hand the struggle that Dalia was having with the displacement. That was tough to watch.

 

Then I gave my perspective. I believe I said something like “aside from the difficulty that it was for Dalia, I thought it was awesome”. I loved how God opened amazing doors for us to furnish almost the entire house from a single thrift store with whom I developed a relationship with the owner. I was happy with the contractors that helped us and the cleaner and handyman that are going to make sure the property is maintained in great condition. We met a nice Vietnamese couple that lives only 8-minutes away from us. And, I loved creating a an identity for the property that we call “Savannah Soul” which at least so far has been booked every weekend since we left. And, finally, the weather was awesome. I’m going to enjoy spending our winters there.

 

But, as much as I loved the results of our adventure. I have to agree with Dalia that it was a lot of work and it seriously disrupted our rhythm as a couple–especially because we had to do so with work and ministry demands on us. We often failed to stay consistent with our nightly devotional time or morning prayer time together or exercise regimen.

 

Adventures can be costly.

 

But, here is my message for the couples of Eusebeia. Our walk as Christian couples should be full of adventure. We serve a creative Master who designed us to be creators ourselves as stewards of kingdom resources–stewardship takes adventure. The Lord calls us to trust him to take risk that invite him to show up and be glorified–risk feels adventurous. Growth in marriage happens when your relationship is pushed to try new things or old things in new ways–relationship growth demands adventure.

 

Far too many Christian couples are stuck in a proverbial rut. This year is like last year. Next month will be like this month. Marriage feels familiar and stale. Our Christian witness as couples is lackluster because we have failed at the three R’s.

 

 

None of this happens without adventure. As you can tell from Dalia and my experience, adventure rarely comes without some challenge. But, the challenge is the spiritual and relational growth. 

 

In the spirit of adventure, Dalia and I just ordered this book called The Adventure Challenge: Couples Edition.  Why don’t you order it too and we can take some adventures together. Let me know if you pick it up.