I went to a lot of summer camps as a kid, and one of my favorite things to do at camp was low and high ropes courses. Put me in a harness and hook me to the zipline, and I was a happy kid. I also enjoyed all the team building activities that were a part of low ropes courses, and the one I remember the most is the trust fall. Your team lines up in two rows facing each other, close enough to touch, and you get the fun part of climbing up on a stand and falling backwards into their arms. It looks like fun and you’re laughing and edging everyone on until you realize it’s your turn. All of sudden, that podium looks a lot taller than it did from the ground and you’re not so sure your teammates are going to catch you when you fall.
This memory came up on a day off from ministry in Nepal when three of my squadmates and I did something crazy – we jumped off a bridge. No, really. Three hours outside of Kathmandu, close to the border of Tibet, is a deep river canyon with a steel cord bridge hanging over it. It’s a beautiful spot, and it’s a good place for bungee jumping and canyon swing. I wasn’t up for diving face first off the bridge, but I did try the canyon swing. At 525ft (160m) it’s the tallest canyon swing in the world with 7 seconds of free-fall; enough to make even my adventure-seeking heart pump a little faster at the thought of it.
The bridge (dun dun dun…)
The river and canyon view from the bridge
I wasn’t nervous until I saw the bridge and realized what I had signed myself up for. The gorge looked a lot deeper than it had in pictures, and that river was a long way down. When a guide jumped first to show us how it was done, I swear he was falling for more than 7 seconds before the rope went taunt and he swung out over the river. I watched two friends and a couple other people jump before me, and each time the free fall seemed like it lasted forever. Each time I wondered if something had gone wrong, the rope had broken, and the jumper was going to fall straight into the river below. Each time, the rope caught them and they were pulled into a swing. I cheered on my friends and calmed their nerves as they were about to jump, and even though I was nervous I couldn’t wait to jump myself.
Pre-jump smiles (and jitters)
Finally, it was my turn to stand on the platform. I’d been standing on the bridge up to this point, holding onto the railing and trying not to let my white knuckles show. The guides helped me put my harness on and made sure everything was tight, hooked me up to the swing rope, and then asked me to step under the rail and out onto this tiny little platform on the side of the bridge. It wasn’t until I stepped out onto this platform, with no railings and nothing to hold on to but the heavy rope that seemed like it was pulling me down into the gorge, that I started to panic. I’d seen the rope hold others when they jumped, but somehow I didn’t think it was going to hold me; that I was the one person it was going to drop. I was the most terrified I have probably ever been in my life standing on that platform, but the guide didn’t give me much time to think about it. They know that the longer you stand there, the less likely you are to jump, so they check your harness fast and before you know it they’re counting, “1! 2! 3! GO!” They don’t push you, but with the guide standing behind you there’s nowhere to go but forward and down.
There she goes!
The jump was terrifying, it was exhilarating, and I’m (more than) a little embarrassed about the high-pitched shriek that came out of my mouth when I jumped. I thought the free-fall was never going to end, that I was going straight into the water below and it was probably going to hurt a lot, but sure enough the rope held and I swung out over the river instead. The swing part was better by far, and I released my death-grip on the rope to fly with wide arms back and forth over the river. I realized that all my terror on the bridge seemed a little silly now that I was safe, but even so it had all been worth it in the end.
That whole day was a good analogy for where I am with God right now. I’ve known Him all my life, but recently He’s been asking me to dive deeper into that relationship and learn more. He has some plans and gifts that He wants to give me, but I have to be willing to let go of the comfortable place I am now to get there. I’m standing on the bridge and the rope is ready, but I’m gripping the rail with white knuckles, looking at the fall below and refusing to let go. Just like the canyon swing, I’ve seen others called to jump and the rope has held; God caught them just like He said He would, but for some reason I’m scared I’m the one person He’s going to drop. I’m afraid that He won’t come through with His promises, and so I’ve been ok with just standing on the bridge and not testing the rope. God’s not ok with me staying there though; He’s asking me to take a trust fall and He’s promised to catch me. All I have to do is jump.
————————————————————————————————————————-
Thought you all might want to see a video, so here it is! Some nice onlookers offered to video my jump for me, and there’s even some commentary. I have the professional video as well, but the company made it into a DVD and I haven’t figured out how to get the individual video yet. I’ll post the video if I can find out how to do that. 🙂
