Team 43:19 to Wade Wiita: Your Mission if you choose to accept it
Classified: Fearless
Mission: Jump from a 40-foot cliff to the sea
Objective: Conquer fear and do things you never thought you could do
I never thought I would be in the place where people encourage you to jump. Well I did and it was a good choice. We were in Makarska Croatia and we went to forty foot cliffs overlooking the Adriatic Sea. Ben jumped. Then Forrest and Joshua jumped together. They made it look easy. I knew I had to do it. I knew I couldn’t pass this adventure up. I had Alex, my captain (Team Leader), encouraging me. Vanessa encouraging me. Jackie telling me it isn’t that important and Vanessa telling her to leave this one for the guys because it’s a “guy” thing. HAHA. Joshua, Forrest and Ben were also encouraging in a way only crazy adventurous men can be. “You got to do it”, “Be a man”, “Don’t think too much, just do it.”, “You’ll regret not doing it.
So here I was, at the edge of the abyss. A dark sea rolling against the stones that met the water. That’s where the fear comes in. We aren’t meant to fly. What if I get hurt? What if I land wrong? What if… What if… What if… I look over at the guys. Count me down. 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… My feet press off the rough rock. I don’t do the loony toons float but within milliseconds my body realizes I have nothing between me and 40 feet of open air. Adrenaline rushes through your body as it knows you just did something crazy. You begin to drop 9.8 m/s2 (32 ft/s2). Your body doesn’t register what happening in the 1 second drop into the cold water. The cool water begins to envelop you and any sharp pain in your body tells you that you may not have landed perfectly and you are still wondering what just happened. And you get back to air because you haven’t breathed since you jumped. All I can think at this point… I DID IT. I REALLY DID IT. The cheers of my team was nothing compared to the satisfaction that I did something that I was afraid to do or never thought I could do.
Now all this to tell you that God spoke to me even in this crazy adventure. He too cheered me on in his own way. He said, I need to do this with him from now on. The cliff is the “safe” place, taking no chances. To jump is to trust him. To believe him at his word completely. To know his enveloping love is there to surround me and protect me. I need to just jump into him. I just need to have faith. He is there to catch me. What is life without taking that “chances” in him. Expect big things when I take the leap of faith. So that is what I am going to do. I am going to leap and know his love is there to and once I jump from the cliff there is no going back. I’m all in.
Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. Matthew 17:20
Psalm 86:15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
Psalm 136:26 Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.
