It was a hot Oklahoma Spring morning and it was time to try something new, yet again. I was a junior in high school and my year had been filled with new. One year prior, I had moved with my family from Kansas City to Tulsa. I’d started a new school, a new church and a new youth group. And everything was BIG! My new school had over 1,000 students in each grade, our church had 7,000 members and my youth group had 300 students in the high school ministry. But this morning was different. This morning I was with a small group of high school students involved in a group called DECA. We learned about merchandising and business practices in order to become productive business men and women. Our goal for the morning was to participate together in team building activities, one of which was a ropes course.
Now, I’m a city girl, through and through. My idea of “roughing it” is staying at a Holiday Inn, instead of the Hilton. So, when I saw this ropes course looming ahead of me, I accepted it as one of the greatest challenges of my life.
As I climbed across the course that day, with shaky legs and unsteady breath, I gained new confidence with every section that I accomplished. The first few steps were hard, but the more steps I took, the steadier I became.
Until the end.
The guide failed to tell us that the only way down was to step off a ledge at the highest point of the course. I was tied to a rope, of course, but what difference did that make?! With several students waiting in line behind me, there wasn’t much time to think about how these might be my last few moments on earth.…. It was just time to jump. I can still feel the ledge beneath my feet and I can still see the ground REALLY far below me. Then I stepped…
And I heard nothing, but the whiz of wind past my ears and the loudest, shrieking scream coming out of my mouth. But then the rope caught and I began to swing, back and forth, until I slowed to stop. What an invigorating ride!
Sometimes in life, we are faced with a choice to be daring. And other times we are left with no choice, but to be daring. God is the greatest risk-taker of all. He chose to love a fallen creation. He chose to offer grace to us with no guarantee of anything in return. He chose to suffer and live among us to reveal Himself to us. And He also chose to live in us! That same risk-taking love of God lives in you and me and can give us the strength to step into the unknown and finish the course.
Stephanie Greenwald, Director of Worship
