Adventures are Unscripted
Two years ago, I was visiting my son in Taiwan when a series of events started to unfold. Being the person that I am, I tried to plan the trip out so that I could get the most out of it. Almost everything that I planned fell apart. We had to walk from the airport to the hotel, only to find out that the hotel reservation got lost, so we ventured out into the night again to find our final resting spot. This was just the beginning of a series of unplanned events that I would experience in Taiwan.
The first time I visited Taiwan, I stayed mostly on the Northern side of the island. My son encouraged us to see the less populated, more open South side of the island. We rented scooters to explore the famous Toroko Gorge National Park and were just about to head that way when I found myself airborne. I was still moving, but the scooter had stopped.
My mishap caused the entire trip to be re-designed. My itinerary was smashed and I felt like I had possibly crashed our whole vacation. As we sat in a noodle shop, I felt like a little boy who had done something wrong and ruined it for everyone. Much later, back in the States, I would eventually write the following statement:
I was beginning to understand what I knew as a kid. Adventures are Unscripted.
This would certainly prove to be true. My error in judgment allowed us to leave the confines of my itinerary and explore the island much more deeply than my careful planning would allow. We truly spent the rest of the trip on an adventure. In the book, The Tea Shop, I liken it to searching for crawdads when I was a boy. Ironically, we found ourselves wading in a stream at the bottom of the gorge and my mind when back to my childhood excursions where we simply ventured out and created new adventures each day!
This adventure eventually led us to a Tea Shop where the man with no name taught me lessons I will never forget. In my most recent book, I describe how this man who didn’t speak my language and most likely had a different faith, taught me more about God than anyone previously. He served us tea told us stories (through an interpreter) and showed us genuine other-centered love. This accidental encounter was one of the most significant moments of my life.
I hope to share my new book with the world very soon. It has made it through editing and is now in the hands of the publisher, Quoir. I will give you more information when it makes it inevitable appearing, but may I just challenge you with one thing?
Most of us like to plan, hoping we will squeeze out of life the most juices, not realizing that the best adventures are always the unplanned ones. The most memorable part of our vacation is always the thing that seemed to happen by accident. Plan enough to get yourself to the destination, then let yourself be free to explore and discover and fail your way to a successful adventure.
I can’t wait to share my adventure with you very soon!
Karl Forehand is a former pastor, podcaster, and award-winning author. His books include Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father’s Heart and the soon-to-be released Tea Shop. He is the creator of The Desert Sanctuary and Too Many Podcasters podcasts. He is married to his wife Laura of 32 years and has one dog named Winston. His three children are grown and are beginning to multiply!
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