An Adventure Worth Living

Five years ago, I was a 31-year-old dad of three, who had a sneaking suspicion that there was more to life than I was experiencing. Beneath the busyness of daily demands and the roller-coaster of life’s circumstances, it felt like something was missing.

I opened up a journal and wrote these four questions on the page:

How have the events in my life led me to where I am today?
What am I supposed to do with my life?
How do I glorify God?
How does God use me to further His kingdom?

Although I did feel God’s presence in that moment, there was no burning bush. Just an absolute conviction that He was real and trying to tell me something. I had no idea where these questions would take me, but I was willing to take the next step. I began rising early to spend time in God’s Word. After years of failed attempts, I began journaling vigorously and soaking in wisdom from every possible source. This wasn’t about discipline, it was about desire. I was truly hungry for more.

In time, God showed me how to feel the difference between His Spirit and my own understanding—a painful process that often left me kicking and screaming. I’d love to tell you that the energy and joy surrounding adventures sustains you through them, but that’s not true. If you’re brave enough to step in, there will be days, weeks and even months of dryness—times when you (and the world around you) will think you’ve gone crazy. There will be sleepless nights, anxiety, and a genuine wrestling with the age-old mystery of having faith in things unseen.

Those are the moments of preparation. Keep going.

Even now after five years of walking intimately with God, there are still difficult days. Some days I cry out to God asking Him where He is and why has He brought me on this journey. Other days, I feel His presence so powerfully that it’s like being covered in a warm blanket. But despite my feelings, God has remained. In both the desert and on the mountain, His presence and grace have sustained me.

Friendship With a Fool

About two and a half years into the journey, God knew I needed help. I was struggling to promote my book and figuring out how to navigate the tension between my full-time career at Farm Bureau, my part-time hobby as a speaker and writer, and being the husband and father I was called to be. I needed someone wiser, someone more centered, and someone who’d be willing to love me enough to push me towards the hard truth. But strangely enough, God brought me a fool—The Extravagant Fool.

To try and label Kevin Adams would be an injustice. I call him a fool because that’s the title of his book. In short, he’s the most faithful and wisest man I’ve ever met.

When we first connected, I knew he was a published author with a sizable Twitter following. For an aspiring writer, that was enough to look up to. But after our first meeting, I quickly saw that none of that mattered to him. All he wanted was truth and authenticity. No time for popularity contests or name-dropping, just realness in the rawest sense of the word.

In fact, he had moved from the it center of Nashville, Tennessee to little ‘ol Wilmington, North Carolina because “God told him to.” That seemed noble at first, but what I’d later realize is that God had moved heaven and earth to get him here. The miraculous circumstances that led to his 660-mile venture east is his story to tell. Lord willing, someday he will.

A Sizable Investment

Over the past two years, Kevin has invested thousands of hours into my life, both in person and on the phone. During that time, God has used him to help me break free from some of my deepest struggles, taught me how to navigate relationships, and challenged me to courageously step into following God without compromise. Kevin’s sort of like Dr. Frankenstein in that way, meticulously speaking life into dead places and removing the unnecessary parts. But unlike Dr. Frankenstein, his motives are pure. The only agenda is to see you live to the fullness for which you were created.

About a year into our relationship, we both felt a strong urge to take what we were experiencing and make it available to others. I think Kevin had felt it for a while, but I was finally catching up. Through our relationship, we saw that what God was doing had great value beyond our own lives. As we stepped into that concept, YouPrint was born.

YouPrint is an organization built entirely around the idea of helping people discover and press into their God-given identity—their YouPrint. We address the big questions like, “Why am I still here after I’ve been saved?” But more than helping answer questions, we provide the direction and community to actually live it out.

When we started, we didn’t know how it was going to happen, but we believed that God did—and we trusted Him for it. Since then, we’ve seen God expand our organization in both the corporate arena and in the digital space. We are now actively working with some of the best and brightest organizations and individuals and we’ve created incredible resources to make faith accessible while on-the-go.

And we’re just getting started.

LIFE to the Full

Five years ago, none of this existed. There was no such thing as YouPrint. I had never preached, never spoken to a corporate audience, and never personally witnessed the power of life transformation. In a span of five years, God has brought the unseen into existence. And in the process, He has given me more than I could have ever imagined when the journey began. He’s really that good.

At the end of the day, that is what faith is truly about—a willingness to believe Him at His Word regardless of what you see.

But I share all of this to say that this story isn’t about me. My life may be an example, but my story isn’t what matters. Everyone whose eyes grace this screen has been created with a distinct purpose and mission. With that in mind, I’ll ask one simple question:

What excuses and fears are holding you back from stepping into the fullness you’ve been created for?

No matter where you are, it would be our honor to help. If you need to talk, we’ll listen. (Schedule a call)

In John 10:10, Jesus says that He came that we may have life and have it “abundantly” or “to the full”. The point of life beyond salvation isn’t a half-hearted existence where we grovel for heaven and suffer until we arrive. It’s a full life. One that ushers in the mysteries of heaven through our lives. We are the conduits by which God reaches and shapes culture. That’s the adventure of Christianity.

And I can tell you that it’s an adventure worth living.

So, are you willing?

We’re ready when you are.

MH