the tale of the reluctant adventurer.

there once lived a man who wanted to go on an adventure. He was Em.
he often dreamt of scaling the highest mountain or canvassing down a treacherous ravine.
one day, while cycling in town, he bumped into a rugged man.
this rugged man was a man who has weathered the harshest of conditions
his sun baked skin and mud caked trek shoes told a tale of adventure.

Em was estatic. He had found someone who could possibly bring him on an adventure.
Em thus quickly went to pack his bags and after ensuring that he had locked all the doors and closed all the windows of his house, he ran after the rugged man.

Em was pleased with himself. he thought "did i miss anything? i've got my laptop to stay connected, i brought my camera to take a picture of the beautiful things i will get to see, i brought my tissue paper for hygiene and even my favourite bolster so that i won't have to face sleepless nights!"

Em followed the rugged man over the meadows, it was fine.

Em followed the rugged man up the hill, though it was tiring, he was okay.

Em crossed shallow streams, though his feet got wet, he was fine.

dirt paths turned into rocky trails.
hills turned into steep slopes.
streams turned into rivers.

Em trudged on. But he was lagging behind the rugged man. The distance between the two of them grew and grew.

Then Em reached the base of a cliff where the rugged man started climbing. Em looked to the left and to the right, searching for an easy path up and around the cliff.

"Hey wait up! Isn't there an easier way?!" Em shouted.

"If you want to continue on with this adventure, you got to leave your laptop behind, throw them tissue papers away and learn to sleep without a bolster!" the rugged man replied with a hearty grin. "what's up ahead will guarentee that you'll never want to go home and live your old life again"

Em looked up despondently. turning to his bolster, laptop and tissues, he sighed. then he was reminded of the sparkle in the rugged man's eye, the anticipation of adventures ahead and he dropped his baggages and continued to climb with the man.

"I'd joyfully let go of what i have now to reach out for something of a much greater value. a path where only i can thread and experience by living it out. i don't want to hear about the adventures others have had. i don't want to try things out mediocrely. i don't want to be the reluctant adventurer no more"

just a small nugget of wisdom i gleaned from the life of joseph.

joseph acknowledged God's presence where-ever he went, regardless of how grim the circumstances looked. He was sold to egypt as a slave, but he saw it as a pilgrimage set forth by God.

Genesis 45:8
"So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.

Acknowledging someone is recognizing the validity of authority of that someone. By acknowledging God, your choices essentially become really simplified because you'll see God's guidance every step of the way.

Proverbs 3:6
in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

trust God for choices, walk closely and acknowledge the biggest boss around.