I don’t usually buy the “Dummy” books…you know the ones that explain things for Dummy’s. It’s not because they aren’t well written, easy to understand and extremely helpful. They are usually all of those things. It just bugs me to buy something that calls me a dummy.
So I’m standing in the line at the grocery store and see a small book called “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Faith”. If I don’t like being called a dummy I really don’t like being called an idiot. But still…I am feeling like I need a little help in the faith department. And it’s a little book…a quick read I can carry in my purse and enjoy when I have a few minutes waiting here or there. So I bought it. I’m so glad I did.
Being in business is scary sometimes, and now is one of those times. Some days I feel like I’m in free-fall and I wonder if there’s a net down there. So I pray regularly for the wisdom to make good choices, for faith in what I’m doing and that resources will appear when we need them. This week I’m a little worried. So I’m reading my book while eating lunch. Here is what Rev. Charles W. Moore writes to me:
His friend Bob is visiting Mexico, and is about to try a zip line in the Yucatan Peninsula…
Overlooking the hosts’ casual approach to safety regulations, Bob put on the harness, climbed the tall tree, clipped onto the zip cable, and looked down – 50 feet – to the jungle floor. He was more than a little nervous before his turn came up.
That’s when he discovered something unexpected.
The most experienced “zipp-per” in the group didn’t walk to the edge of the platform and look nervously down before he stepped off into the air. No, he ran off the platform and leaped out into the air, trusting completely that the zip harness and cable would hold hin and speed him safely to the other side…
Bob decided to trust competely too. Following his predecessor’s example, he took a running start on the platform and leaped out into the unknown. Of course he screamed like a little girl. But it was a scream of exhilaration and joy, not fear.
I think that’s the way God would love to have us respond to his call to faith. Not a timid or hesitant “yes” that agrees to follow but never stops weighing the alternatitves and second-guessing the choices. But an enthusiastic “Yes!” that never looks back and looks only forward, trusting completely in God’s power to pull us along into the future He has in store for us.
So, Charles, I’m with you. I’m taking a running leap of faith. And you know what? I’m not afraid. I’m excited.