Adventure

A Storyteller Overland-commissioned study provides a fascinating glimpse into the nation’s adventurous spirit. “Looking at the data, it’s clear Americans are craving a break from their everyday routine,” says Summer Trammell, chief engagement officer at Storyteller Overland.

The survey revealed that over a quarter of Americans (27%) feel they’ve fallen into a rut, with one in four respondents admitting their life is a bit boring. In fact, the average respondent fantasizes about going on an adventure four times every day, but only 10% felt they could be adventurous in their current life on any given day.

When asked how they’d define “an adventure,” most described it as anything outside of their daily routine and an experience (46%) that makes them appreciate life more (30%). The top three things that stir adventurous urges are a dose of warm weather (34%), seeing the same mundane surroundings every day (33%), and seeing friends and family go on trips (33%).

As for the perfect adventure, most respondents said it should last six days, with the average person willing to travel upwards of 2,700 miles for a break. Hawaii, California, Florida, Alaska, and Colorado were the top destinations on their bucket lists.

The survey also uncovered heartwarming advice from respondents on how to live more adventurously. One respondent said, “It doesn’t have to be thrilling or dangerous! It can be anything that provides you happiness.”

“Just do it. You’re not getting any younger, so if you can afford it by making a few sacrifices, just make the plan and do it. My best adventures were solo trips, so don’t wait on anyone,” another traveler urges.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Boredom; Calling; Purpose; Will of God - By investing your energy in purposeful adventures—big or small—you can overcome boredom, discover new facets of yourself, and move closer to the life and purpose to which God called you. Volunteer for a new ministry at church or serve on a short-term mission, even if it is outside of your comfort zone.

In August 1914, a British scientist and explorer set out from England with a crew of 28 men, intent on accomplishing a spectacular goal: crossing the whole continent of Antarctica coast to coast on foot. The explorer’s name was Sir Ernest Shackleton, and his ship was called the Endurance. Shackleton and his crew never made it to the continent; instead, the Endurance got stuck in pack ice, and eventually sank. The crew was forced to abandon ship.

What followed is one of the most harrowing survival stories of the twentieth century. They spent months floating on ice flows in the Southern Ocean, then their months on a barren, uninhabited island about 800 miles away from civilization, then Shackleton’s desperate journey across those 800 miles of treacherous sea in a lifeboat to South Georgia Island, and then finally a 36-hour-long trek across the mountains and glaciers of South Georgia to arrive at a whaling port. In all, from the moment the Endurance had gotten stuck in pack ice to Shackleton’s arrival at the whaling port, it had been 492 days. Miraculously, not one of the 28 men lost their life.

Shackleton wrote his book in 1919 not only to record their scientific discoveries and retell their wild adventures of survival, but also to express his profound gratitude and admiration for those involved in his rescue.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Testimony; Witness - What we see in Shackleton’s story is the same thing we see throughout the Bible, and the same thing we feel in our own hearts: rescue stories demand to be shared. When we receive a radical rescue, our hearts demand a response. How can we respond to the rescue we have received from God?

In William Shatner’s new book, Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder, the Star Trek actor reflects on his voyage into space on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space shuttle on Oct. 13, 2021. Then 90 years old, Shatner became the oldest living person to travel into space, but as the actor and author details below, he was surprised by his own reaction to the experience. He wrote:

My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration; instead, it felt like a funeral. It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered. The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness.

Everything I had thought was wrong. Everything I had expected to see was wrong. I had a different experience, because I discovered that the beauty isn't out there, it's down here, with all of us. Leaving that behind made my connection to our tiny planet even more profound.

Every parent has to keep an eye on their children, but some children are more determined than others to get into mischief. Still, Brazilian mom Daniele Marques had to be in disbelief after having been informed of her son’s latest exploit.

Danielle said, “I woke up at 5:30 a.m., went to his room, and saw that he was sleeping normally. Then I fiddled with my mobile phone a little and got up again, at 7:30 a.m., and that’s when I realized he was no longer in his bedroom and I started to panic.”

After Googling “how to get onto a plane unnoticed,” that’s exactly what nine-year-old Emanuel Marques de Oliveira did. He snuck out of the house, into a nearby airport, got past security, and onto a Latam Airlines flight bound for the São Paulo region of Brazil. Employees say the plane had traveled about 1,700 miles before they noticed him on the plane.

After authorities investigated the security breach, they sent him back to his rightful home. They noted that Emanuel didn’t try to escape because of any negativity at home, but because he had family around São Paulo with whom he wanted to spend time.

Sounds like young Emanuel has a future in testing security systems. Or perhaps Apple might want to pluck him for their next iPhone commercial. The ad copy “FaceTime with your family, so your kid doesn’t try to sneak onto a plane.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Children are inquisitive and can take risks that are dangerous. Wise parents should be diligent to harness that curiosity into safe channels without stifling their spirit.

The legend of the Loch Ness Monster is one that has both intrigued and disappointed thousands over the past century. One man, however, has remained a resilient sentinel at the lake since 1991, refusing to give in to disappointment. Steve Feltham arrived at Loch Ness over 32 years ago, having quit his job and sold his house in order to purchase a habitable van and "pursue his passion." A short documentary was filmed about the man who holds the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous search at Loch Ness, in which he addresses his seemingly absurd commitment. "The reason I sit here and I try to solve this mystery is because that is what makes my heart sing," he says in the film. "My life gives me freedom, adventure, unpredictability...it's a dream come true."

Editor’s Note: (2025) You can read more about his story here on the Guinness World Record web site.

Potential Preaching Angles: Sometimes we need to be reminded that following Jesus has never involved the easy, comfortable life society seems to think. Unlike Feltham's quest, following Jesus involves submitting to his Lordship and joining a community of people who are bringing Jesus to all the nations, But like Feltham, we are on a quest that has all the "freedom, adventure, [and] unpredictability" we could ever dream of.

An issue of Outside magazine had a short article about Reid Stowe, a 58 year-old sailor who at the time was en route to setting the record for the longest sea voyage without resupply in history. Reid told the magazine: "I've learned a lot about myself … I've learned that we as humans must explore. We must see and discover new things or we degenerate. My hope is that this voyage will inspire people to overcome their fears and follow their dreams to explore."

Blogger and pastor Justin Buzzard comments on Reid's adventurous spirit:

What Stowe the sailor says is directly linked to being created in the image and likeness of God, who put us in a to-be-explored-and-cultivated-universe. God declared this vast and varied creation, "very good." He gave us a world with trails and truth, neighbors and noodles, Bibles and beauty, oceans and orchestras, spreadsheets and spears, art and animals, language and lumber, the gospel and grapes, Yosemite and Yelp, Mars and marriage, goose down and God's glory. And the Creator gave us eyeballs, fingertips, nostrils, holes in our ears, bumps on our tongues, synapses in our brain, and curiosity in our hearts as tools to explore with. We must "see and discover new things or we degenerate." The motto for the outdoor company The North Face ought to be the Christian's motto: "Never Stop Exploring."

Have you ever experienced that awkward moment when you seal up a package and drop it in the mail … and you don't know your cat's inside. Sound far-fetched? Then ask Julie Bagott. She was placing DVDs in a package and didn't realize her cat Cupcake had fallen asleep inside the box. She shipped the box, and Cupcake went on an unexpected 260-mile trip. But there's a happy ending: the resilient cat survived the journey and has been reunited with her owner. "It was a miracle because she was alive," Bagott said.

Possible Preaching Angle:

The calling of God is kind of like that, isn't it? One minute we're enjoying a bit of sunshine, trying to catch a catnap, and the next minute we're whisked off on some unexpected journey that we didn't sign up for. Think of Moses minding his own business in the Midian desert, and then all of a sudden he's back in Egypt.

Six-time Oscar nominated film Captain Phillips received widespread acclaim, but surprisingly the film's powerful final scene was improvised on set and (other than lead man Tom Hanks) without professional actors. In this high stakes thriller, Hanks plays Captain Richard Phillips, a real-life Merchant Marine taken hostage during a 2009 Somali pirate hijacking of his cargo ship. After a dramatic rescue operation by Navy SEALs, in the film Hanks (Phillips) is brought safely aboard the real USS Truxtun missile destroyer, where he's taken down to the ship's infirmary and checked out by the ship's real hospital medic—Navy Hospital Corpsman Danielle Albert.

Hanks described how they decided to run the unscripted final scene in the ship's infirmary:

It wasn't in the schedule. It hadn't been scouted. It wasn't lit. But we went down [to the ship's actual infirmary]—and we had the actual crew of the ship that we were shooting on—and said, "What would you do to someone that came in here?" And they said, "Well, we'd lay them down here, and we'd do this and this and this." So [we] said, "'Well, shall we give a try?"

We had, literally, the crew of the infirmary. They didn't know they were going to be in a movie that day. They thought they might be dress extras walking around in the background, and here they are—boom—with cameras that are going to be on them.

The first take I remember completely falling apart because these people had never been in a movie before, and they could not get past the horrible self-consciousness of everything that was going on around them. But we just stopped, and Paul said, "Don't worry about it … If it doesn't work, we won't use it. So let's just try it again and see what happens." At that point, those people were really quite amazing. The freedom in order to give it a shot was so liberating. And everybody was up for it. So it really made itself.

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Faith; Risk; Adventure; Easter; Resurrection of Christ—Like many of us, the producers of this film had a script for how things should go. But like Abraham, Moses, Ruth, the disciples (think of Christ's resurrection), sometimes we're forced to go "off script" in life so we can follow Christ. (2) Discipline; Practice; Spiritual Disciplines—Although the scene was "unplanned," both Tom Hanks and the medic, Danielle Albert, were doing what they had been trained to do. Their practice and discipline made this final scene feel utterly natural and real.

Jerry Mock was the first solo female pilot to circumnavigate the globe. In the early 1960s the 38-year-old homemaker off-handedly told her husband that she was bored. Her husband Russell replied, "Maybe you should get in your plane and just fly around the world." So she did. At the time the couple shared ownership of a single engine 180 Cessna named the Spirit of Columbus.

According to The New York Times, "She took off on March 19, 1964, from Columbus, Ohio, and returned there on April 17—29 days, 11 hours and 59 minutes later—after a 23,000-mile journey over the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea and the Pacific, with stops in the Azores, Casablanca, Cairo, Karachi, Calcutta, Bangkok and Honolulu, among other places." All prompted by a sense of restlessness and an offhand comment.

Possible Preaching Angle:

At times, we might want to follow Jerrie's example. If we're feeling bored, maybe it's time to fly out of our comfort zone and try a new adventure. Our "risky" acts of service may seem small compared to a worldwide flight, but they can still be important to God and his kingdom.

The great offer of the gospel is adventure. We're God's representatives.

Remember Holiday Inn's ad a few years back? "The best surprise is no surprise at all." It was their promise that if you visit some new place, they'll make it seem like some place you've been before. It always raised in my mind the question, "Is life to be lived as an adventure, or do we want to live in a more familiar, domesticated landscape?"