There’s an epic adventure waiting outside your front door…
“It’s a dangerous business going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” (Tolkien, J.R.R. The Fellowship of the Ring)
Sixty years before Bilbo spoke these words to his nephew, Frodo, he was invited into an epic adventure by a wizard named Gandalf the Grey. But as Bilbo tells Gandalf, “Hobbits are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!” Hobbits were simple people who enjoyed food and drink (6 meals a day if they could get them), peace and quiet, and “good-tilled” earth. (Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit: There and Back Again, 7)
Many of us aren’t so far off from hobbits…
Here’s the problem: the things we long for are usually found beyond our comfort zones.
In the end, Bilbo did step out his front door, and he had the adventure of a lifetime. He fought trolls, orcs, and goblins, found a magical ring, and he even stood face-to-face with a dragon and lived to tell the tale. He returned from the adventure with a fair amount of treasure and some unbelievable stories, but most importantly, Bilbo came back a different man. His life and the lives of generations after him were forever changed, including his nephew, Frodo.
All because he was willing to step out his front door and do something he had never done before.
A little over thirteen years ago, my wife and I stepped out our front door on an epic adventure toward Cambridge and Boston. There have been many challenges, obstacles, and even enemies along the way, and we are different people now. We are battle-hardened but a little weary, too, and in need of rest.
If I’m honest, I’m also battling some cynicism about life and ministry: disappointment over dreams that didn’t come to pass, questioning whether certain sacrifices our family made along the way were worth it, processing deep hurts and wounds inflicted by people we thought were “with us,” and the regurgitation of a consumer-based ministry model I’ve come to despise.
I’m working through it with my wife, some mentors, a few friends, and a counselor, too. I refuse to let it define me, but it would be disingenuous to say it’s not there.
In the end, those hurts and disappointments are not why we decided to leave the ministry. They come with the territory, and I am working through them in a healthy way. To put it as simply as possible, we just knew it was the right time to move on.
And I was ready for a new adventure. Something other than traditional ministry. It took a while to feel I wasn’t abandoning my calling, but that’s a story for another time.
A New Adventure
Sixty years after his first epic adventure, Bilbo felt it was time for a new one.
There’s a metaphor in Bilbo’s statement about stepping out the front door. His Hobbit hole represented his comfort zone, the front door mirrored his greatest fears, and the pathway outside symbolized fulfillment, purpose, and adventure.
I can relate to Bilbo; it’s time for a new adventure, and I’m looking out, over a new horizon, with anticipation and excitement. Though we’re not sure what’s coming, we are willing to step out our front door…again…and be swept off on a new adventure.
Are you with me?
Maybe it’s time to leave your comfort zone, confront your fears, and step out of your front door. If so, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to. You don’t need to have all the answers. You only need to say yes.
Let me know if you’re in. Leave a comment and share a bit of your adventure. It helps to have comrades along the way.
With you,
Kent
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*Photo by Chris Hardy on Unsplash
