To all the Wild and Free

To All The Wild and Free

I was riding passenger,  making my second pb&j of the day, flying southward down I-75. My eyes wandered up to the darkness that covered the earth, and the little red dots of brake lights all along the inerstate ahead of us. My mind drifted back to just a few hours before, as the sun was setting to my right, and I thought to myself the ways the Florida landscape reminded me of Africa. 

Sweet, sweet Africa. The soles of my feet first hit you at nineteen years of age. But I had dreamed of going since I was just a little girl. At twenty, I hadn't gotten enough, and I returned to you again.  Then once more, less then a month after my twenty-first birthday, I spent the spring living out in the bush of Swaziland. 

I'm not exactly sure when it happened,  but now, it stares me right back into my brown eyes every time I see my reflection. 

Freedom.

Wildness.

In the purest of forms. 

As my papa awakened my heart, my soul became fully alive, and new life sparkled, bursting fourth like the rising sun. But these things took place after action. Days of falling facedown in the presence of Jesus. Surrendering all at his feet. Deep sacrifice, and surrendered expectations. I had big dreams, I had deep desires, and I gave every last one to my King. 

He taught me how to remain in his love. He showed me the ways I was striving for things that were already mine., things already given to me. He brought to life the woman I was always meant to be. A woman of freedom.  A woman of wildness.  A kingdom gypsy. 

Now traveling, and adventures are among my favorite ways to spend time with abba. I consider road trips to be a close friend. 

It's in these times I feel his love for me.

It's in these times I feel his delight over me. 

It's in these times I feel fully alive. 

Sure, maybe my body is exhausted, I smell, my hair is a mess, and my lips are chapped. But my soul is so alive and thriving.

There's something beatiful he created in us, this rare bread of humankind. We've tasted the thrill, rush, and excitement of this life of freedom. Lost in wild abandonment. 

I feel him in the power of the waves, as I'm overtaken in the Indian Ocean. 

I see him in the toothless grin of a man living in the slums. 

I hear him in the songbirds of the rainforest. 

But at the end of it all,  conquering a mountain, and crossing into south Africa is not all there is. 

Swimming with sharks and sting rays won't fully satisfy me. 

Jumping off cliffs won't fulfill my innermost being. 

Because, Jesus himself is my crazy, wild, and free.

Losing myself in his look of love for me is my song. His voice speaking tenderly over me is my melody.  I'm running faster, flying higher then ever before, never looking back. The only place I desire to go, and the only place I dream of going is deeper into his heart.

Let us not ever forget, great ones, that intimacy with our beloved creator, King, and friend is the greatest adventure anyone could ever dream up, ask for, or imagine.