Last night I sat in our cabin boathouse strumming a guitar in my hands. It was getting close to midnight and there was a storm brewing across the lake. The lightning was crackling and flashing in the sky. My heart beat faster the closer the storm got and I could feel the electricity creating tension in the air. It was pitch black so I couldn’t see the wall of clouds coming, but I felt their force rolling in. Before the rain hit, I could hear it echoing in the distance like millions of pins being dropped on glass.
Finally like an invisible monster descending from heaven, the downpour swirled around the boathouse and consumed me.
I leaned back in my chair and pulled my rain coat tight. The wind was so strong that it blew the rain inside the brick shelter trying to soak me. I ducked and felt it touch me. But no matter how strong the wind got, the main drops of cold rain outside couldn’t reach me. I squinted my eyes and saw a few blurry lights across the lake. They looked like eyes looking at me through the storm. It felt like I was facing a monster much bigger than I am. For a second I actually thought I could see a ghost in the rain, like a phantom staring at me. It wasn’t friendly and inviting, instead it was dark and dangerous. I wondered if it was evil, could it be Satan I was facing in the night? In that moment, as all the chaos swirled around me, I suddenly felt empowered and ready to fight it. I realized this is how I am supposed to feel in this life. Unafraid. Even when the monsters in life get close, I am supposed to stand my ground and stare them down in the night. These monsters will no longer control and cause me fear. Instead, they will fear me!
The most awesome thing about having God in your life, is that you no longer have to be afraid of the storms that try to hold you back. Really, what is there to be afraid of when you pursue who you’re truly meant to be?
Sure you might not make as much money as someone who sells their soul to a career they don’t love. And you may not get the recognition of present-day pirates who take people’s credit and calls it their own. But when you abandon the peer pressure to act in the role society issues you at birth, you get the opportunity to be yourself and create your own path through life.
If you want to see a thunderstorm that looks like a monster and write about it in the middle of the night, you can. If you want to dance when you’re taking a walk with God, you can. There are so many unique ways to be even more free than America’s constitution grants you! And following God, finding your path, and developing a purpose in life are the first steps toward that next level of ultimate happiness. This is ultimately why I believe in God. It allows me so many more opportunities to explore the possibilities around me.
As the storm thundered overhead, I stared at the night, and the lights across the lake that looked like a monster’s eyes looking back at me.
The storm began to pass, and I began to evolve from who I was and saw the world in a different way. There was no more up and down, or right direction. I could feel myself floating around upside down in the solar system on a giant rock called earth, that has massive pools of water stuck to its sides. I watched as the high waves from the storm rolled in and crash at my extended feet. How does all this happen when half of the world is upside down and we’re all spinning around at mph 1,040 MPH.
At that moment I glimpsed into the secrets into how cool this gravity thing is, which makes all of this crazy physical environment phenomenon seem so effortless, smooth, and shockingly normal!. Here’s the next revelation I stumbled upon… Everything seems so boring and normal, especially when you act like everything else around you. But for those adventure seekers out there who are looking for something more, when you break off from the stampeding mass population and blaze your own trail, everything becomes an amazing adventure where there are no certainties or answers, and the only thing that matters is sustaining yourself to make the journey to find your purpose.
On one of my previous posts someone recognized my drive to fight for my own path, for my own identity and success, and left me one of the nicest compliments that I’ve ever received. The message read, “You are on a great path Will… your own.”
Anyone can experience this adventure on the American Landscape. You start by looking at the storm, and then choosing to no longer be afraid of it. Then you abandon the peer pressure and use your revealed talents and unique personality to wake up the magic in this ordinary world.
Then you break free of all the chains holding you back and run out in the big world to battle monsters and meet beautiful people, and find the life you were created to live. If you choose to believe in God, infinity is possible in your life.
