A Trip around the Sun
Coauthors Mark Batterson and Richard (Dick) Foth wrote A Trip around the Sun: Turning Your Everyday Life into the Adventure of a Lifetime (BakerBooks) in 2015. When God placed us on earth, He created us for more than a safe ride. Therefore, we need to live with holy anticipation of what’s around the corner. Because often we find the greatest adventures right across the street, down the hall, or in the seat next to us. Above all, no matter who you are or what you do, your life serves as your sermon. For God etches His high calling into our bones and writes it on our hearts. Furthermore, a few defining moments where God meets us and we meet God determine our outlook on life.
Most significantly, grace allows you to experience the present as a present — a gift from God. Hence, you cannot follow Jesus and feel bored at the same time. And since the gift of experience is priceless, we need to accumulate experiences, not possessions. In addition, our heavenly Father orchestrates opportunities for us. The Creator of the universe choreographs each year of your life. As a result, we desire to revel in Jesus’ shattering personality and reflect it. Because Jesus didn’t come to earth with an agenda. Instead, He was the agenda. Thus, the author’s define following Jesus as an action verb. And we > me. So, with is more than a relational word. It’s a God word.
Consequently, the authors view following Jesus as the starting point to the life God created you to live in a trip around the sun. Success follows when you seek God. God-sized dreams keep you on your knees in raw dependence on God. Also, the whole point of Jesus involves loving people as they need to be loved. The sense of being loved, no matter what, sets you free. Above all, Jesus loved people because of who He was, not because of who they were. So, following Jesus means to focus on His agenda for you, not your agenda for Him. Expect God to get you involved in His plan for the answer to your prayers. Our reality must reflect the good things we choose to focus on.
In conclusion, the authors exhort, do more than just take up your cross daily. In addition, take up your Bible and set time aside to read it. Because wisdom becomes concentrated and focused when we invite God into our experience. Furthermore, with wisdom comes a profound appreciation for the faithfulness of God in a trip around the sun. Thus, your footprints reveal your soulprint. Stewardship of moments really matters, rather than the length of days. As a result, we need to avoid thinking so much about the present and so little about eternity. Because to do so turns eternity into nothing and nothing into eternity. Hence, see your epitaph as a prologue to your eternal years, not as the period at the end of your life sentence.
Finally, as children of God, Mark sees us as:
“God’s playfellows. That’s what we are. Nothing more. Nothing less. We are God’s playfellows in this grand game called life. And the good news, the best news, is this: the adventure never ends!”