Walking across the thin suspension bridge I look out over the beauty of Nepal. To my left and to my right I see waterfalls, lush trees, rolling hills, mountain goats and a large river rushing right through the middle of it all. I have to stop and remind myself to take it all in. As I pause in the middle of the bridge, everything happens so quickly. The next thing I know I am strapped in a harness with nowhere else to go but down. The peace of this view quickly turns to panic as I realize the beautiful scenery is something that I will soon enter by quite literally jumping into it.
Having very sweaty palms, a stomach full of butterflies, and my mind racing with second thoughts, I step out to the platform and look down 535 feet over a rushing river where I’m paralyzed in fear for about 20 seconds.
“One, Two, Three!!….”
I jump off with nothing but a harness to catch me. As I experience the seven seconds of free fall from the 535 foot drop at about 93 mph, I can’t help but wonder: How?
How did the girl who gets sweaty palms just thinking about heights, the girl who can’t even look over a balcony without being scared, the girl who has a massive fear of heights and falling, how did that girl jump off of a bridge down the tallest canyon swing in the world?!
This experience was terrifying, exciting, exhilarating and wonderfully challenging. I came on the World Race wanting to be pushed and challenged in every way: spiritually, mentally, and physically. I know this year will make me uncomfortable because it is in that, in my weakness, that He is most glorified, that His strength and power shines through me. At the top of the platform I couldn’t reach for anything to make the jump easier. I just had to trust that I would be caught. In my walk with Christ I am learning that I have to just jump and trust that He will catch me.
That weekend was one of such growing and learning because I trusted that the harness was not the only thing catching my fall. The Lord’s protection makes me brave, He gives me the courage to live my life freely because perfect love casts out fear and I know that I am perfectly loved by Him. Whether I am jumping off a bridge or walking along the streets, I know that I am safe. Fear was in me as I was standing at the platform and for a split second as I jumped, but then I felt freedom. Freedom in jumping and freedom in knowing that I didn’t have to be afraid of the edge because I know the One who will catch me every time.
