The Definition of Adventure (Two Year Anniversary #1)

  
Adventure

noun

an exciting or unusual experience

  

a risky undertaking

a remarkable and exciting experience

By definition adventure means an exciting experience. Something that includes risk, but is remarkable and unusual and, potentially, worth it. 

Adventure, to me, is an experience that is exhilarating, crazy, maybe a bit intimidating, and in the end, a maker of great memories. 

Adventure is new places and new people and new things. 

Adventure is climbing mountains and airplane flights and road trips and camping under the stars and sailing and making new friends. 

Adventure is CampNaNoWriMo for my first time next month and writing and reading new books. 

Adventure is chasing God and living our dreams with Him and for Him. 

Adventure is doing things that stretch you and make you a little uncomfortable - because that's when we grow. When things are uncomfortable.

I think adventure is often stereotyped to only include the outdoor activities like climbing mountains and hiking through the rain forest and jet skiing. (Random list? Maybe...) But I think maybe adventure is all that, but it also comes in smaller packages sometimes.

Adventure means different things to different people because everyone is different and unique. Everyone has different lives and different circumstances. Adventure can simply be stepping out of your comfort zone, out of the normal routine of life, and doing something that excites you.

LIFE is an adventure, guys. Let's live it to the fullest. 

And all those adventures that come along the way? Those are fantastic too.

A few of mine:

Jumping off cliffs into the ocean.
Rock climbing.
Repelling off a bridge. (My older bro, Jesse, was the instigator. I was maybe 8 or 9 and I was scared. BUT Jesse repelled down with me, so I ended up being okay. ;))
Swimming in crystal clear water over tropical fish.
Road tripping (Mt. Rushmore, guys. It's so intricate and beautifully done. Enough said.)
Jumping off a waterfall. (I DID THIS.)
Going to the Winter Jam concert.

What is the craziest, most exciting thing YOU have ever done? I wanna know...

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Winter Jam Tour Spectacular

WINTER JAM. In two words: incredibly fun. I mean, seriously...if you EVER get a chance to go, then go. And be sure to get in on Jam Nation.

Winter Jam 2015 was amazing. So cool. A lot cooler than Winter Jam 2014. Partially because....we got Jam Nation passes. So we got in an hour and a half early and got really great aisle seats on the floor. (And, as you'll see later on in this post, it was a great idea to take the aisle seats.)

Our city, Spokane, was the last stop on the Winter Jam tour of this year, and it's getting close to Christmas, so two of the artists played special Christmas songs for us.

Anyways. Story is:

Sunday, November 15th at 3:15pm we headed to the Arena from my big bro's house (it's about five minutes away). Jam Nation entrance begins at 3:30 and ends at 4:30, so we were just getting there a little early. ;) We arrived, payed for parking, and, confused, sought the special entrance we knew was there for Jam Nation members. We joined a mom and her son (who was 6"3 he said, so he was officially and exactly one foot taller than me) who were also part of Jam Nation and didn't know where to go. But we got directions, and were soon in line. Then through the doors.

We grabbed aisle seats on the floor level, and then Mom and I headed back to the main entrance/outer area to buy a few CDs. (At the end o' the night we ended up with four new CDs - two from Newsong, and then the self-titled albums from Stars Go Dim, who are really good and whose lead singer's voice actually reminds me of the lead singer's voice of Royal Tailor, and We Are Messengers, who are also good.) Once back in our seats, we waited patiently and got to enjoy a short Question and Answer session with none other than Jamie Grace (she's cool, by the way), Lincoln Brewster, and Darrin Mulligan, the Irish lead singer of We Are Messengers. And during the Q&A, guess who sat in nearly the back of the section that we were in? Zach Oswald from OBB! I was just really...shocked...I guess you could say, to see him. Just because I've seen in YouTube videos and stuff, but then he was there. In person. Sitting somewhere behind us. And I kinda like OBB. SO, yeah, that happened.

(OBB is a band with three brothers: Zach (lead singer), Jacob (guitar), and Nich (drums).)

Then the pre-show bands started playing. They included: Stars Go Dim, We Are Messengers, and OBB. And, during OBB's fun performance, the drummer, Nich, ran through the aisles to get to a little circular stage they had in the middle of the floor area. He was high-fiving people as he ran by, and I got high-fived! :) He kinda high-fived hard, but whatever. It was cool. ;)

Here's a picture of OBB:



From left to right it's Jacob, Zach, and then Nich. Now ya know who high-fived me. ;)

(You can check out their YouTube channel here.)

The rest of the show included lots of yelling/singing, hand-clapping, arm-raising, and music. ;) Love and the Outcome started off the official show for us. I can't remember the correct order of everybody, but I know that the last three artists to perform went in this order: for KING & COUNTRY (they were great. I almost got high-fived by Joel.), Jamie Grace, and then Skillet. Skillet did some cool stuff with fire and raised platforms. (The dummer was raised on a platform, and the platform was also spinning, and she was drumming at the same time.) And John Cooper, the lead singer, did a bit of talking, and he even attempted Flynn Rider's smolder...though, he didn't really succeed. ;) He seemed like a really, very cool person.

Sadie Robertson was there too! It was neat to see her in person! :) She talked a little bit about having confidence in God and putting your happiness in Him, instead of your boyfriend or maybe your popularity at school, etc. Something funny she had said started with talking about the angels who circle God's throne and say 'Holy, holy, holy!' She said, "When you put your boyfriend in the middle (on the throne), you start to realize he's not 'holy, holy, holy' and you ain't happy, happy, happy!" I laughed at that. ;) Quoting Phil! :)

And I saw Moriah Peters up on stage once when they had people come up (other artists) to do a little 'dance party' for less than a minute. She's Joel Smallbone's (for KING & COUNTRY's lead singer) wife. She's also an artist herself.

Overall, being in Jam Nation at Winter Jam was great. And Winter Jam was amazing. Totally going back...next year. With passes. There's no going back from passes. ;)

All the bands that were there:

Stars Go Dim
We Are Messengers
OBB
Love and the Outcome
Family Force 5
Newsong
Jamie Grace
for KING & COUNTRY
Skillet
Lincoln Brewster

Here's a link to Winter Jam's website. They've already announced cities and dates for the east coast, so if you're over there, just go. It's an amazing and unforgettable experience! Oh, and Sidewalk Prophets is joining them - and their new CD is really good. Seriously good!

(There are loud noises, though. Skillet stopped once in the middle of a song. No lights, no music. Then a huge bang resounded throughout the arena and they started the song up again! Craziness. But good craziness.)

That is all.

Until next time... (which will most likely be *sneak-peek alert* a special release-day post for Grace Triumphant: A Tale of the Slave Trade and hopefully an interview with the authoress, Alicia A. Willis, on November 23rd.)

~Micaiah~

P.S. Barnes and Noble is sending me just too many coupons. I can't keep up! ;) But they're great. The membership is SO worth the $25 a year they make you pay. I could spend that much on shipping alone! And then they send you coupons... And, besides, B&N is lots of fun to go to just to sit in the cafe and read. While drinking coffee. And perhaps eating a very, very, very crumbly blueberry muffin that is super airy and doesn't really hold it's shape after you've taken the first chunk out of it with your fork.

Adventurers, this is me. ;)