Cowardly Lion/The Adventuress

I have to admit. I am a coward. I hate crowds, I get homesick really easily, I'm afraid of heights and I am kind of afraid of change.

In The Wizard of Oz, the character that I can identify most with is the Cowardly Lion, with his list of things that he would do if he only had the nerve. Places he would go, things he could do, and the way his life would be different. I don't feel like that, per say, but I do indentify with being afraid and wanting to hide in a hole or become a hermit in the woods.

I know, shocking.

I was talking to my mom the other day. Pretty standard. But we were talking about the fact that I am a sailor now. To clarify, I know that there are better sailors. However, I also feel that I have learned a lot. I had only been on the ocean in a ship with sails once before boarding Chieftain. I was hired on, I think, as a historian and an educator who wanted to learn how to sail. I could be wrong, but still. I've learned a ton and I am loving it.

But, moving on. Mom and I noticed something odd.

For such a Cowardly Lion, I sure seem to have a lot of adventures.

Let's recap.

I went to college at Whitworth University in Spokane. After completing my undergraduate work, I moved to Deadwood, South Dakota. While there, I worked at a house museum, a coffee shop and an answering service. But I moved there to work in the house museum.

My next adventure was just as unexpected and I was what I call Divine Drop-Kicked into one of the coolest jobs ever, Steward/Education Coordinator/Deckhand on a tallship.

This fall, I will be going to the University of Idaho to study anthropology. A new chapter (but one that will have sailing and rock climbing. I've worked too hard to find my inner badass and I love sailing way too much to give it up entirely) is beginning.

I noticed a strange pattern. God seems to be sending me on all sorts of fun adventures that are way out of my comfort zone. In fact, I have been far out of comfort zone for so long that I can't even remember where my comfort zone is.

I am reminded, in the fact that God keeps sending me out on adventures, of several things.

First, that if God is sending me out to places and to do things that He knows are WAY beyond my comfort zone, He's not going to leave me to do it alone. No way. He will go with me. When I get my tattoo, one verse I may use will be Exodus 4:12: "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Was it not I? Now go, I will teach you what to say."

Back to the verse. This was what God said to Moses when He wanted Moses to go get the Hebrews out of Egypt. Moses is trying to convince God that he is not the guy to go on this adventure and God basically says, shut up. I'm sending you, do you really think I'll not be with you?

The other thing I think of is that qquote of Mother Teresa saying "God never gives me more than I can handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much."

True that sister. But on the other hand, it's pretty awesome that there is Someone whoh knows what I'm capable of and isn't afraid to push me to becoming who I'm supposed to be.

Who loves me, despite my cowardace, and is shaping me into a adventuress.