I Married Adventure: Looking at Life Through the Lens of Possibility

By Luci Swindoll

In this fun and creative full-color jewel filled with photos and artistic sketches, Luci Swindoll gives the reader a fascinating journey through a life well lived, one in which she purposefully chose to "marry" adventure. The classic, artful design and intriguing stories highlight Luci's unique insight and perspective that transform otherwise regular days and occurrences to experiences worth living.

With the challenge to stop saying "if only" and "why me" and start asking "what if" and "why not," Luci encourages everyone to lead truly adventurous lives that yield countless blessings, lessons and inspiration. Never before has anyone modeled the joy and adventures of the journey with such clarity and insight.

Readers will be drawn to I Married Adventure as it is Luci's first full-length book in over 10 years and is a personal tour of her unique approach to squeezing the most out of a life led by Christ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Release date: Jan 6, 2003
• ISBN: 9781418515836

Luci Swindoll

Luci Swindoll is author of Celebrating Life and a co-author of various Women of Faith devotionals. She has served as a business executive of Mobil Oil Corporation and as vice president with Insight for Living. She lives in Frisco, Texas.

Book preview

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR

I MARRIED ADVENTURE

I know of no one who drains more energy and derives more joy out of each waking moment than my sister, Luci. As you will discover in her book, she and adventure eloped many years ago and have been happy partners ever since. As you travel with Luci through these pages you will understand why her marriage to adventure has lasted a lifetime.

CHUCK SWINDOLL, Pastor and author, Radio host, Insight for Living

Warm, funny, vibrant, dear, and wonderfully inviting—this is vintage Luci. It draws you in and inspires you to live life with the honesty and zest she does.

OS GUINNESS, Founder, Trinity Forum, Author, The Call

Luci colors outside the lines . . . and invites us to join her! Count me in! My life is wider and deeper because of this woman’s rich reservoir. Don’t miss the adventure! It will rattle your complacency and illuminate your destiny!

PATSY CLAIRMONT, Speaker, Women of Faith,

Author, Mending Your Heart in a Broken World

With exuberance Luci SWIND OLL shares her heart with readers, letting them feel her excitement as she enters into the abundant life Jesus promised. No matter what the challenge, her question was never ‘Why’ but always ‘Why not?’ After reading this book you will ask yourself ‘Why not me?’

J. DWIGHT PENTECOST, Distinguished Professor of Bible

Exposition Emeritus, Dallas Theological Seminary

Luci’s book is best approached with a full stomach and a well-rested body. Why? Because you won’t be able to put it down—not even for pizza or a nap. Luci is vulnerable, wise, fun, inspiring, and leads us to consider Spirit-directed adventure with the reading of every page. If you don’t agree, I’ll buy the pizza.

MARILYN MEBERG, Speaker, Women of Faith, Author, The Zippered Heart

This is a remarkable book by a remarkable woman. Every page is full of adventure! What a thrill to come alongside Luci on the road to the Serengeti to the road to Agra and see life through her colorful lens.

STEPHEN ARTERBURN, Founder, Women of Faith,

Co-Host, New Life Live!

This book is Luci’s life wrapped up in a map of the world, tied with her proven expectations that life is an adventure, and sealed with her love for every culture God created. Experience this great adventure with my dear friend Luci as you read her book.

THELMA WELLS, President, A Woman of God Ministries,

Speaker, Women of Faith

Luci has a rare gift. She can hold a moment in her hand like a snowflake so that suddenly you see things you might have missed. In this beautiful book she shares the map of her own life adventure and invites us to fully live our own.

SHEILA WALSH, Speaker, Women of Faith,

Author, All That Really Matters

Luci SWINDOLL didn’t marry adventure on a whim; it’s obvious they dated a long time. Now they’ve been together for so many years, it’s hard to tell them apart.

NICOLE JOHNSON, Dramatist, Women of Faith,

Author, Fresh Brewed Life

I never cease to be amazed at Luci’s prodigious memory as well as her broad acquaintance with so many fields of the arts and literature. But the most impressive characteristic of her books is her contagious enjoyment of life. And, as her older brother, I bear witness to the fact that she has been this way since childhood. All of her books are delightful, but this one takes the cake! Reading it has been a real adventure!

ORVILLE SWINDOLL, Missionary, South America

I MARRIED ADVENTURE

LOOKING AT LIFE THROUGH THE LENS OF POSSIBILITY

LUCI SWINDOLL

IMarriedAdventure_0003_001

Copyright 2002 Luci Swindoll

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other— except for brief quotation in printed reviews—without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published by W Publishing Group,

a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, Tennessee, 37214.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the The Holy Bible,

New International Version (NIV). Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society.

Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Other Scripture references are from the following sources:

The Message (MSG), copyright 1993. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication

Data Swindoll, Luci, 1932-

I married adventure / by Luci Swindoll.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 0-8499-1743-3 (hardcover)

1. Single women--Religious life. 2. Christian women--Religious life.

3. Swindoll, Luci, 1932- I. Title.

BV4527 .S877 2002

277.3'082'092--dc21

2002012815

Printed in Singapore

02 03 04 05 TWP 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Photographs and drawings throughout the book by Luci Swindoll.

Pablo Picasso, Weeping Woman, 1937, © 2002 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Art direction and design: David Riley + Associates

Newport Beach, California

Dedication

With sincere gratitude, this book is dedicated to

my maternal grandparents,

Orville and Jessie Lundy

my parents,

Earl and Lovell SWINDOLL

my brothers,

Orville and Charles SWINDOLL

From my earliest childhood, they encouraged me to love God, enjoy life, and look for beauty and meaning in everything. In effect, they set eternity in my heart.

[God] has made everything beautiful in its time.

He has also set eternity in the hearts of men;

yet they cannot fathom what he has done

from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

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CONTENTS

Introduction: Looking at Life through the Lens of Possibility

PART 1 CAPTURING THE JOURNEY

CHAPTER 1 Ready REMEMBERING THE VOICES OF THE PAST

CHAPTER 2 Set HEARING THE BEAT OF THE DRUMMER

CHAPTER 3 Go LAUNCHING A LIFE OF ADVENTURE

PART 2 CAPTURING THE MOMENT

CHAPTER 4 Here LIVING IN THE PRESENT

CHAPTER 5 There STAYING ON THE LOOKOUT

CHAPTER 6 Everywhere ACCEPTING THE DETOURS

PART 3 CAPTURING THE LIGHT

CHAPTER 7 Good ILLUMINATING THE ARTS

CHAPTER 8 Better ENLIGHTENING THE SOUL

CHAPTER 9 Best SEEING THE HEART OF THE MATTER

PART 4 CAPTURING THE ESSENCE

CHAPTER 10 Yesterday BUILDING A FOUNDATION ON TRUTH

CHAPTER 11 Today OPERATING FROM A MYSTIC CENTER

CHAPTER 12 Tomorrow FOLLOWING THE SPIRIT OF DESTINY

PART 5 CAPTURING THE POSSIBILITIES

CHAPTER 13 No LETTING GO OF REGRETS

CHAPTER 14 Maybe EMBRACING VISION AND DREAMS

CHAPTER 15 Yes CELEBRATING LIFE AS IT IS

Notes

Acknowledgments

É meglio vivere un giorno da leone che cento anni da pecora.

It is better to live one day as a lion than one hundred years as a sheep.

Benito Mussolini

kai ta pro bata th V fwnh V au˘tou a˘koeui kai ta i[dia pro bata kalei kaj o[noma kai ejxavgei aujtav The sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

John the Apostle

Since childhood the Lord has been my Shepherd and his goodness has never failed. Being one of his sheep is the best adventure of my life.

Luci Swindoll

Introduction

LOOKING AT LIFE THROUGH THE LENS OF POSSIBILITY

When I was a young teenager, my father and I were in a little boat on the bay when a squall came up. Daddy was in the back of the boat working the motor, guiding us through uncertain waves, while I sat very still, trying to act unafraid. I remember thinking we might not make it to shore, which could be seen in the distance, when my smiling father said in a calm voice, Remember this moment, honey. We’ll be able to tell everybody about it at dinner. There was something about his calm and playful demeanor that assured me I would be all right as long as I was with him and he was in charge of the boat. We made it to shore, put the boat in the slip, ran to the house hand in hand, and told that story to our small but wide-eyed audience.

I have only one regret about that occasion: I don’t have a picture of my father during that squall. I’d like to have captured his face on film, to remind me that he caught the wave of adventure because of his capacity for delight and wonder. Daddy helped me see that even in that tiny event, adventure was there for the taking. He opened my eyes to the opportunity of viewing life in a different way. And because of my dad, I’ve viewed life differently ever since.

God has designed countless opportunities for each of us to enjoy a spirit of adventure, no matter where we are or what we’re doing. Instead of being adrift in the mundane routine of everyday life, we can be captured by wonder. As my friend Anne Lamott says,

We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It’s like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can’t stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship.¹

The whole concept of adventuresome living may feel foreign, scary— outright dangerous to some. It may seem beyond our reach financially, emotionally, physically, and even spiritually. But that’s not true, not for anyone. Because many of us have been duped into believing that adventurous couldn’t possibly apply to a person like me, we’ve simply given up the quest for adventure at all. What a loss! And it need not be. As Marcel Proust wrote, The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.

This year I’ll be seventy. I look at the word seventy and it doesn’t seem possible. Have I really lived that long? Where did all those years go? The reflection in the mirror answers the question to the whereabouts of some of them, but only my heart can tell me whether or not I have lived well. And it’s very important to me to live well. God wants us all to live fully . . . and well. It is part of his dream for us. Jesus said, I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of (John 10:10, MSG).

We have no idea what lies ahead or how God will open doors of potentiality when we consciously choose to get out of the ruts we’re in and start moving down new paths about which we can be excited—even passionate. Some think being adventuresome means taking a trip around the world, bungee jumping, or walking into a lion’s cage at the zoo. Not at all. It’s an attitude, not a behavior. It’s daring to be curious about the unknown, to dream big dreams, to live outside prescribed boxes, to take risks, and above all, daring to investigate the way we live until we discover the deepest treasured purpose of why we are here.

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None of us knows the answers to life’s hardest questions, but it’s in the pursuit of these answers that we grow, change, and mature. The thrill is in the journey, not the destination. As Amelia Earhart said, Adventure is worthwhile in itself. The voyage is the most important part, not dropping anchor at the dock. We’re going to get there soon enough, but how? That’s the question we need to consider if we want to live well. Why? Because as we consider our established patterns in life, confront the unknown, and dig inside ourselves for courage and resources, something new will gradually emerge. We will change. We will gain a perspective that touches every part of our beings, and it will bring to life in us latent and unrealized capabilities and dreams that are ours simply because we’re alive.

There is something electrifying about individuals with adventuresome spirits. They see life through a different lens. They don’t wait on the sidelines. They don’t keep saying, If only . . . or Why me? They don’t battle against unusual circumstances or departures from the norm. It’s as if they operate from a whole different voltage or current. They almost emit electricity because nothing about them is dull or uninteresting or unplugged. When a squall comes up, they don’t panic; rather, they take in the details, knowing this will make a great story.

A life of adventure is ours for the taking, whether we’re seven or seventy— whether we run a paper route, take care of an aging parent, study for a degree, work around the clock, stay at home to raise our children, or circle the globe in the service of our Creator. I’m convinced that the whole world is better when we, as individuals, capture and savor each moment as the gift that it is, embrace the challenge or joy of it, marry it (if you will), and thereby transform it with the magic of creative possibility. Life, for the most part, is what we make it. We have been given a responsibility to live it fully, joyfully, completely, and richly, in whatever span of time God grants us on this earth.

I read once, The pessimist may be proved to be right, but the optimist has a better time on the trip. How true! It’s much like something Nikos Kazantzakis wrote in Report to Greco, a record of his spiritual journey from childhood to the age of seventy-one:

Nothing is certain. For that very reason every people, every individual, has a great responsibility in our amorphous, uncertain age, a greater responsibility than ever before. It is in such uncertain, possibility-filled times that the contribution of a people and of an individual can have incalculable value.²

What if everybody in the whole world decided to start looking at life through the lens of possibility? There would be no boring people. There would be no average days. There would be no mediocre activity. There would be no reason for prolonged discouragement—nothing to hold us back from conquering the enemies that steal our joy or disturb our souls. Everything would be possible because our focus would be on the Lord Jesus, who makes all things possible and is himself the Master of adventure. It is he who is in charge of the voyage and asks us to capture the moment as he guides the boat. Think of the stories we’ll have to tell at dinner.

Luci SWIND OLL

Palm Desert, California

May 2002

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CAPTURING THE JOURNEY

PART 1

PART 1

CAPTURING THE JOURNEY

The Masai village lay about two miles from our tent, on the Mara River in the Serengeti. You got there by the seat of your pants. Well, almost. That Land Rover was at least twelve years old, and as we bumped along, with dirty, gray upholstery hanging in fringes from the ceiling, I was being bruised on every part of my old, tired body.

This place was literally right out of nowhere. Here, an entire culture carried on their lives day after day—eating, drinking, marrying, conducting enterprise, raising their children, and burying their dead. They didn’t have cars or phones or one single modern convenience, yet they were happy as larks.

The Masai, Kenya’s most famous tribe, are a proud, strikingly beautiful people who enjoy harmony with the land, believing God gave them all the cows in the world and the wild animals belong to him and cannot be harmed. They live in huts made of mud and cow dung and exist on a diet of milk, maize, and blood extracted from their cattle (which they rarely use for meat).

This particular village covers roughly a square city block, with huts laid out in a circle. Daily life takes place in the middle of the circle. All their wares are spread out on a big rug—beads, jewelry, souvenirs— and everything is for sale, with price tags attached. I bought a tiny little beaded pot held together by wire, which now sits on my desk, and a bracelet made of the hair from a giraffe’s tail. I also purchased two wooden batons made from the African olive tree: one lined with colorful beads, used by the chief in ruling the tribe; the other, a sort of all-purpose polished stick for beating off an enemy or kneading bread, whichever was the most pressing at the time.

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I asked the guy who let us in if I could get pictures, and he assured me I could for a price. The women lined up, adorned in their customary beads and jewelry and bright red cloaks tied together at the shoulder. Some were holding their babies or grandbabies. Flies swarmed all over them, to which they paid no mind, and none of them objected to the photos I took. It was, for me, a Kodak moment.

With every passing minute, my dear friend and traveling companion Mary Graham was suggesting we leave. Let’s just get back in the car and get outta here, Luci. I can’t bear to see these children with flies in their eyes and mouths. And, can’t you smell that dung? Doesn’t it make you sick to your stomach? We’ve got to hurry or I may throw up.

After walking around the compound and into various huts, chatting with our guide, the chief, and several of the women, I reluctantly put away my camera, paid the man who let us in, shook hands with everyone, and said good-bye.

As we bumped

Reviews for I Married Adventure

[wanderingwatki · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I bought this one at a Women of Faith Conference in OKC. Swindoll, now in her 70s, has never been married to another human. Instead, she chose to marry adventure. She has traveled to all seven continents. In addition to being a gifted writer, she's a fantastic photographer and sketch artist as well, so incredible photos and illustrations accompany the chronicles of her adventures. Lucy Swindoll is the sister of evangelist Charles Swindoll and she shares many of their family stories in her writings. I'm not a big "re-reader" and I'm currently on my third read of this one.

[autumnesf · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thought this was a very good, interesting book about Luci Swindoll's life. Keeping it for my daughter to read in a couple of years.