Today I want to both flex my holiday adventure to you all and make a quick newsletter point. School life is very much a cycle, and as Term 1 and 2 have their own feel and focus, Term 3 is no exception! The middle of the school year feels like the peak of a long journey up a mountain. The second half of the year can feel like the descent back to ‘base camp’. The descent is not always easy, it can be challenging, but there is gravity that draws us on to the end of the school year adventure.
Not to boast, much, but during the recent holidays I had an amazing experience of reaching the summit of Mauna Kea, a peak in the middle of Hawaii island. Mauna Kea is twice the height of Mount Kosciusko (the highest mountain in mainland Australia) from sea level. It’s also called the tallest mountain in the world when measured from the sea floor. The journey up and back was challenging in different ways. The descent of Mauna Kea, on a motorbike, gave me more anxiety than going up! The relative ease of gravity pushing me down but being very aware it could all go wrong if I missed a turn or cooked my brakes, made me think of the adventure of life.
Life is a journey, an adventure. For the older readers, it can feel like life has a middle point, after which it feels a little ‘downhill’. During my own journey, I have come to discover that adventure is God’s purpose of creation. God designed us for adventure, and the canvas of our adventure is all that He has created. The opening scene of the Bible is God making everything for us to explore, with Him, that we might enjoy endless discovery. The climbing of a mountain, surviving through the school year, or life itself are all part of the same adventure when we see God as the designer behind it all.
Peter Chase
College Chaplain
