Our Hard Adventure Guide

Summer is just around the corner, and that means vacation time is at hand.  But what sort of vacation?  For some, it means relaxing at the beach, boating and fishing, or soaking up the sun by a pool somewhere. After all, vacation is supposed to be a time to decompress and “get away from it all,” right?

Well, an increasing number of people seem to disagree with that conventional wisdom. One of the fastest growing segments of the tourism industry is “adventure travel.” Rather than looking for some down time, more and more people are looking to actually get out and experience the world. They want to get up close and personal through exciting, arduous and risky adventures. This might mean trekking through a jungle, climbing a distant mountain or cycling through a developing country.

Travel experts divide these adventures into two categories: “soft” and “hard” adventures. A “soft” adventure involves getting out there but not getting too far away from the evening buffet. Think of going on an African safari, for example. Out there on the savannah, you are not the highest life form on the food chain, but you have the advantage of being in a protected vehicle and get to view the danger through a camera lens.

Or, snorkeling. You can get up close and personal with sea life in shallow water without worrying about a pulmonary embolism ruining your vacation and your life.

A “hard” adventure, on the other hand, would involve actually hiking and camping on the savannah with no steel bars to protect you, or donning scuba gear and heading down into the depths of the sea.

Think of mountain climbing, riding your bike through the Middle East or taking a 1,000-mile walk, for example, and you get the idea of a “hard” adventure.

For these types of adventures, it’s best to have a guide service to direct you and keep you on track. A good adventure guide service will help you plan your trek and even make some of the arrangements for your lodging, meals and dealing with your baggage. The service will provide a good packing list, the extra equipment you might need, maps and directions and even monitor your progress.

When we look at Jesus’ last words to his disciples in the Gospel of John, we might see them as an advertisement for the “hard” adventure the followers of Jesus have ahead of them.

They had been with Jesus every step of the way as their guide and friend, but the time was coming soon when Jesus would trek to the cross, the grave and then to the right hand of the Father. He would soon be leaving his friends behind to continue the adventure.

For that adventure, they will need a Guide. So Jesus promises to send them the “Advocate,” the Holy Spirit, “the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father” (v. 26). As the Spirit has testified to Jesus’ person and mission, the disciples will now take that testimony to the rest of the world. It will be a “hard” adventure, Jesus warns them, but it’s a necessary one if the good news about Jesus is going to reach the distant cultures and remote places of the world.

It used to be that hiring a guide meant that you would have someone directly on the ground with you in whose footsteps you would follow to get to the destination. While that’s still true for many adventures, technology has made it possible for you to be guided virtually instead, tracked by GPS and connected via radio, or mobile or satellite phone to a guide who is always monitoring your progress with the big picture in mind.

Jesus is saying something similar to his disciples. They won’t have Jesus as their on-the-ground guide anymore, but Jesus tells them that’s a good thing. Sensing their sorrow and confusion, Jesus promises them a new Guide who will help them expand their trekking capacity and keep the big picture in mind. “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (v. 7).

The Holy Spirit Guide knows the route. We often make poor route choices because we begin with faulty premises and a poor understanding of the terrain. What the world thinks is important is usually not important. What the world thinks is wise is often pretty foolish.

The Holy Spirit Guide helps us reverse the world’s judgments. Success is not measured by material things. The greatest among us are the servants of others. The wisdom of the world is foolishness to God. By understanding how God judges or looks at things, the disciples will be able to make good decisions.

Remember, God won’t ask what kind of car you drove, He’ll ask how many people you drove who didn’t have transportation.

God won’t ask the square footage of your house, He’ll ask how many people you welcomed into your home.

God won’t ask about the clothes you had in your closet, He’ll ask how many you helped to clothe.

God won’t ask what your highest salary was, He’ll ask if you compromised your character to obtain it.

God won’t ask what your job title was, He’ll ask if you performed your job to the best of your ability.

God won’t ask how many friends you had, He’ll ask how many people to whom you were a friend.

God won’t ask in what neighborhood you lived, He’ll ask how you treated your neighbors.

To paraphrase Max Lucado: The wizard [of Oz] says look inside yourself and find self. God says look inside yourself and find [the Holy Spirit]. The first will get you to Kansas. The latter will get you to heaven. Take your pick.

Finally, the Holy Spirit Guide will help us with the Truth (v. 11). “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come,” says Jesus (v. 13).

Jesus himself is the way, the truth and the life (14:6). In other words, if we emulate Jesus, our lives will not be a lie. Our lives instead will be lives of integrity, honesty, service, selflessness and humility – all counterintuitive from the world’s point of view.

If the disciples want to follow Jesus where he is going, then that means following him in spite of the dangers, twists and turns ahead. The only way to navigate that way is with a Guide who will take what Jesus has said and done and “declare it” to us so that we will glorify him (vv. 14-15).

On this Pentecost Sunday, we remember that when the Guide arrived, he launched the disciples on a new adventure. Following Jesus has never been about retreating from the world to a tropical island and “getting away from it all.” It’s always been about following the way, the truth and the life. It’s a tough adventure, but it’s the only destination that ultimately matters.

As T.S Eliot once said, “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”