(From the Young Adult Blog at http://youngadultministries.wordpress.com/)

By Dan Gregory, West Des Moines, Iowa, USA

I don’t know about you, but it seems like God puts the challenge right out there for me in this scripture. “What’re you waiting for?” comes the question. What am I waiting for? Why do I continue to hesitate, though I know the adventure awaits my response?

The time is now, but I’m still sitting on the porch, hoping for more time, more energy, more resolve, more direction. I have my rhythms, my circle of friends, my way of thinking. Come to think of it, I’m really quite comfortable where I am, thank you very much. But am I?

I went to see a movie, The Hobbit, recently. I was caught up in the intrigue of Bilbo, a simple Hobbit very attached to his cozy home, who was invited to go on a faraway adventure by the wizard, Gandalf. As Bilbo struggles with the immensity of the request, Gandalf prods and encourages him to consider what he has to gain by leaving his porch.

“The world is not in your books and maps. It’s out there!”

Bilbo continues to weigh his heart, wondering if it’s worth the risk to leave all he has ever known. As Gandalf tells him he will have stories to tell when he comes back, Bilbo hopefully responds, “You can promise that I will come back?” After a pause, Gandalf tells him the solemn truth: “No. And if you do, you will not be the same.”

The adventure with God and community will change us—we will not be the same at the end of the journey. But it is the adventure of a lifetime. God is calling us, you and me, to move, to put behind whatever our hesitation may be, and to dive in, ready to see the world beyond the books and maps others are content with.

For we want to live. We feel the restlessness to seek beyond the horizon, to step off the porch and into the rush of the world sustained by our Guide. We want to move…but are we willing to?

Several hours after being asked on the adventure, Bilbo still finds himself sitting in his armchair, pondering. “I just need to sit quietly for a moment,” he tells Gandalf. He was not expecting the reply: “You’ve been sitting quietly far too long!”

Have I been sitting quietly far too long, letting the moment slip past me? What about now, when God calls me on an adventure? It’s time to move—move into a deeper level of commitment, move into a new and exciting phase of the journey with a congregation that will love and support you, move to invite others to come onto the path of discipleship with you.

Bilbo finally decides the time for hesitation is past. Neighbors call curiously to him as he races down the lane, and he responds, “I’m already late!”

“Late for what?”

“I’m going on an adventure!”

It is never too late to join Christ on the adventure of a lifetime!