Safe!

          In baseball, when a runner reaches base without being tagged, the umpire signals and yells, “Safe!”  This seems to be strangely symbolic of my adult life.

I wonder when I began to value safety more than risk-taking?

          I used to love the Tilt-a-Whirl and riding my bike downhill with no hands, the wind tearing at my hair.   I was a wild child who once “ran away” from home through the town drainage ditches and culverts, while my family searched frantically, making it all the way to the other side of town before a good Samaritan returned me home.

My younger brother and I, accompanied by our usual cohorts, spent entire days “exploring” creek beds, and no one knew where we were.  We were fearless… unafraid of snakes, drowning, or danger.

We were daredevils who played chicken at night by lying down on the center line of the highway in front of our house, a risky venture considering it was a main thoroughfare with a dangerous curve blocking view just beyond our house.   

We swam in rain-swollen drainage ditches, climbed trees, slid down tin roofs, and shared grand adventures.  The town and surrounding area were our frontier, and we were daring explorers who knew no fear. 

I envisioned myself exploring Egyptian pyramids, solving mysteries like Trixie Belden, or becoming a spy like the Girl from U.N.C.L.E. 

When I look back on the child I was, I wonder how I became the adult I am.  Was it growing up? Becoming a parent?  Experiencing the inevitable failures and disappointments life brings?

Or is it growing old, trading the thrill of the dare and the lure of the unknown for safety and security?

          Vance Havner said: “Many people are in a rut and a rut is nothing but a grave - with both ends kicked out.”

I need to kick out the ends of my rut and see where the adventure leads.