Risking it all (part 3)

A friend of mine and I went skydiving a few weeks ago. I thought it was apropos for my life right now. I feel like I have jumped and I am waiting for God to pull the cord.

I fully expected to get an adrenaline rush from the experience. Most people that I talked to thought I was crazy for jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. And it makes sense. But I wanted to do it, so I did. But my experience was not at all what I thought it would be.

When we arrived, you could feel the excitement/tension in the others we were going to jump with. There were six of us total in our group. We had to fill out a bunch of paperwork releasing liability for the company providing the skydiving experience, then we had to make a videotaped statement stating that we agreed to everything we signed. If that doesn’t make you a little worried, I don’t know what will, but it didn’t bother me.

Then we had to go into a room and watch a video of the creator of the tandem suits we were going to use explain the features and risks of such a dive. He said that even the best equipment can fail and skydiving was inherently dangerous, but to have fun. Yeah right. Again, I was fine.

We then went to get trained on how to exit the plane using a cut away fuselage. “Back arched, arms out like you’re making a muscle, neck back, legs out, knees bent. Simple enough, but they stressed it several time, so you know it’s important. It’s not the most natural position in the world, but I guess it’s important when you are flying through the air at 120 mph. I’m like speed, so that didn’t bother me either.

Before final suit up, we went over the safety features of the chute. Main chute, secondary chute, release chord and automated back up release should you and your instructor fail to pull the chord in time. It seemed very sturdy and safe.

My instructor was a veteran. He was Air Force with over 1600 jumps. He was calm, methodical and thorough. He made sure I was comfortable and walked me through every step of the jump from exit to landing. I had nothing to worry about. Literally.

Now some of you are saying, “yeah right. How can you not be afraid of jumping out of an airplane at 12,500 ft. How can your heart not race standing on the edge of an open door of a plane flying 100 miles an hour? Well, the truth is I was not scared at all. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun. I had a blast, but it was not scary. It wasn’t scary because I had nothing to fear. The plane was flight worthy, the gear was up to par, the instructor was better than competent and the jump was well planned. I was just along for the ride.

We scooted to the edge of the plane, paused at the open door as we peered at the horizon and then out we rolled. (to be continued...)

Risking it all (part 2)

The phrase, “what would Jesus do” resonates in my head right now. As much as I think the now slogan has been way over commercialized, I have to go back to what is true. It’s not about what I think should happen or how I think the response should be. The bottom line in God’s economy is always the same. It’s always about relationship and rarely about time. Scripture is rich with stories who’s consummation happens years, decades and even generations later.

But I want it now. I want it neat. I want to have things wrapped up in an episode or an hour and a half, which ever comes first. And not the cliff hanger ending either. “24” is fun to watch on screen, but in life we want closure a lot sooner that 24 weeks.

“God, am I asking too much?”

“Jim…am I?

I hate it when He does that. I recently saw the movie, “In the Land of Women.” In it Meg Ryan’s character always has to get the last word in. God’s like Meg Ryan. (Did I just compare the almighty God to a blonde, Hollywood actress? I hope I don't go to hell for that.)

The funny thing is I have always said that I want to be, first and foremost, a God follower. Anyone that knows me knows that this is my dying creed. So when God said, “step” I did. He has asked me to step in the past and I have. But each time it has been steps into something. Into a job or into a ministry or even a relationship. It was always somewhere, someone or something. This step was different. This was the step of a Lewis and Clark or Captain James T. Kirk. It wasn’t to a destination, but rather a journey. God was inviting me into eternal time and into divine adventure. He lovingly removed the safety glass and asked me to risk it all.

Now it’s the moment of truth. Will I stand or will I run? Following into the known is standing behind the protective barrier to danger. Following into the unknown is more dangerous.

Risking it all (part 1)

I have faced a lion from 5 feet, growled at a bear that was spitting distance away and looked a shark in the eye. Some would call it courage, others stupidity, but I call it bravery in the face of danger. In the moment, you never know what you are going to do till you get there. You can plan for it, prepare for it, even visualize yourself in the moment, but until you face the situation head on, there is no telling how you will react. I felt proud to stand strong in each of those cases.

That being said, it’s a lot easier to face the king of beasts, the wild black bear and the menacing blue shark from behind protective glass. It‘s kind of surreal knowing that, given other circumstances, I would probably be a light meal for these creatures. “Bravery” flows freely in safety. Risk is always measured by the danger faced.

I recently quit my job to pursue a vision. The vision was something God gave me; something like the promise to Abraham of descendents “greater than the stars in the heavens” or Kevin Costner’s “if you build it, they will come.” The problem is, like Abraham, I don’t know what the promise means yet. He had no children and no potential for having any. And even when God gave him a son, the promise would not be fulfilled for generations.

That’s the problem with much of our theology today. We want God’s promises now. We don’t have an understanding of the workings of the eternal clock. We know what Texas time is and the significance of a New York minute, but God doesn’t work that way. His clock is not set by the precision of a quartz movement or the dependability of Greenwich time either.

I thought I would have answers right after I quit. His words to me were, “take the step first, and then I will show you.” Now, I don’t know about you, but when someone asks me to do something, and then say they will do their part, I expect an immediate response. Silly me for expecting God to respond in like manner. I mean, come on, aren’t we created in the image of God. Shouldn’t He operate like we do? (long pause) No, I think it’s the other way around. We are supposed to be more like Him.