Have you ever wondered how the word "adventure" is connected to the word "advent"? What exactly is going on there?
The etymology of words is an interesting branch of study which quickly leads into rabbit trails and time warps. The word advent, as most of you know, comes from the latin verb "advenire" which is a perfect infinitive version of a verb meaning "to come". We tend to connect advent with the coming of Jesus and the season leading up to his arrival.
Adventure, as it turns out, has the same stem. It comes from the same latin word, but doesn't focus on the act of arriving as much as the item to which we've arrived at. Turns out when people say that it's not about the destination, it's about the journey, they're wrong. 😏
Adventure is all about the destination! Which is why when my guys were little an adventure was: Target. Adventures come in all shapes and sizes. The toddler running around Target in the middle of winter is having a grand adventure. Winnie the Pooh walking through the woods is on a grand adventure. Each and every new sight is a grand adventure. Teaching our children to "see" like AA Milne, Beatrix Potter, or Wendell Berry, turns the most mundane location into an adventure destination.
We spent hours driving through red rocks this past spring. Did my guys watch movies in the van? No way man! They embraced the adventure of those red rocks. Did they look similar? Ayuh, but they weren't exactly the same and we noticed it. That's the beauty of adventure. We learn to see. This perspective shows us the heart, hunger, and humor of God. He created those red rocks. He sent the flood to refine them. He delights in them daily. When we embrace this world as the place for advent, we seek the one who gave it to us, and we grow closer to Him in our adventure.