I have the answer, the answer that we have all been waiting for, the answer to the question that every child or young adult is asked at some point in their life – If your friend jumped off a cliff would you??
A few days ago I was in Puerto Galera on debrief with my team and I was invited to jump off a cliff into the crashing waves of the sea. Immediately, without thinking, I said yes. After a 45 minute walk to said cliff, conversation with the other bold racers that decided to take on this endeavor moved from casual fun to the cliff, how high it was, and the question of whether or not they were actually going to jump. You see, some of my teammates had said yes but wanted to see this cliff before actually making the decision to jump. In my mind I had already jumped. I said yes. I had walked 45 minutes to get there, I was going to jump. I just kept saying, “No, no you can’t think about it. You just gotta go for it. Don’t look down. Just jump.” I have to admit however that when I arrived at the cliff I felt the nerves start to build. I told myself “Nope. Don’t start to think about it. If you think about it you will get too nervous.” So I would force the thoughts out of my mind. The next thing I knew I was climbing this incredibly sharp and jagged rock cliff. When I got up there I realized I had a choice: I could stop, and think about this decision, stand at the edge, look down, check it out, and then decide. But I knew the more I stood there the more the nerves would creep in and the more reasons I would have to talk myself out of it. I was at the top. It would probably hurt more to climb down than to just jump, there was no need to sit and contemplate it. Worrying at this point was useless and besides my friend Cameron just did it…..
I stepped to the edge and with all the momentum that one could get on the small ledge I powered off the cliff. No hesitation. No contemplation. No one…two…three, I just jumped. If you blinked you would have missed it. And when I came up guess what……it was worth it and I wanted to do it again.
On the 45min walk back the wheels started turning. Is this how we respond to God? So often when God asks us to do something, we get to thinking….. This sounds crazy. Is this really even possible? I haven’t even seen the cliff yet. How can I say yes? Can I really commit before seeing how far down the bottom is? What if there is a rock on the bottom of it all? What if it hurts? Will I survive the fall? And before you know it, the dream is gone. The fear has taken over us and paralyzed us. We can’t move. We can’t jump. We are just stuck there, at the top, with nowhere else to go.
So what is the answer? If your friend jumped off a cliff would you?? If that friend is Jesus……….the answer is always a resounding………..Yes! No hesitation. No contemplation. Just jump. You can trust Him. He has already done it. In fact, He didn’t just jump, he dove, head first! He would never ask you to do anything He hadn’t already tested out. He doesn’t ask us to do anything that we can’t handle. It may not be easy. It may even be scary. But if we just trust Him and jump, He promises that it’s worth it and we might just want to do it again.
Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you maybecome sons of light.”
John 12: 35-36
