Tag Archives: Heartlight

Stepping Out

[While we’re traveling in Argentina, I thought I’d post some of the things that I’ve written for the HopeForLife.org blog; they’ve also been posted to Heartlight. Comments are moderated until I get back; sorry about that folks. Some people don’t know how to play nice.]

It’s called rappelling. It’s the means by which you walk down a near-vertical surface with the aid of a rope around your body. I was fifteen when I did it. I don’t think I’ll do it again.

Let me state up front that I have some fear of heights. Not like the lady I knew in Argentina that couldn’t stand up when she was on the ninth floor of an apartment building. But if I’m in a situation where I can picture myself falling, I definitely experience heightened anxiety.

My rappelling episode started off with me having to walk off the top of a cliff. Backwards. Slowly but surely I made my way down the rock face, with an ever-growing appreciation of the power of prayer. About halfway down, I saw one of the staff members from the camp that I was participating in; he was perched on a nearby ledge. “You need to go to your left,” he told me.

“That’s easy for you to say,” I thought to myself. I was near a protrusion; going to my left meant stepping out in space for a moment or two. Going to my right kept my feet on the solid face of the mountain. You guessed it: I went to my right. Later, when I was about fifteen feet from the bottom, I ran out of rope. By not following the staff member’s instructions, I had gotten the rope snagged on a rock and could no longer reach my destination.

The ending to the story is less than dramatic; within five minutes or so, the rope was freed and I was able to get down. But I often think back to that moment of decision, when I had to choose between the uncertainty of stepping out in space and the safety of what I could see and feel. It helps me to sympathize with people who face that same decision in their spiritual lives. How much easier it would be if we could take God to the laboratory, place Him under a microscope and prove His existence once and for all. How comforting it would be to have an undeniable certificate of authenticity from God showing that the Bible is true in every way. How convenient it would be if faith were not required, if we could operate only on what we can see and feel. But it’s not that way; to find God we have to step out in faith.

Let me, like that camp staffer years ago, encourage you to step out in space. Go beyond what our senses perceive and step out in faith. I and many others can tell you that God is there, that He is real and He is waiting for you. Take a chance, reach out and find Him; don’t wait until you reach the end of your rope!

www.hopeforlife.org

Copyright Herald of Truth ministries

Life’s Undo Button

[While we’re traveling in Argentina, I thought I’d post some of the things that I’ve written for the HopeForLife.org blog; they’ve also been posted to Heartlight. Comments are moderated until I get back; sorry about that folks. Some people don’t know how to play nice.]

There was a time in my life when I thought Liquid Paper was the high point of technological advances. What could be better than a product that could cover up your mistakes? It was the student’s best friend (well, at least those of us who couldn’t afford to pay someone to type our papers for us). You would type a line and make a mistake. Dab on some whiteout and … VOILA! The mistake was gone. After a few seconds of blowing on the paper, you could type over the error (hopefully with the right letter this time). Of course, the messy splotch on the page told everyone you’d made a mistake.
Then I was introduced to the computer (back in the day when disks were floppy and “hard drive” referred to driving through the Arizona desert with a 55-mph speed limit). And I discovered the UNDO command. Type … mess up … hit UNDO … your mistake was gone. And no one could tell that you had made it. Later came programs with multiple UNDOs and even unlimited UNDOs. It became easier and easier to fix things that were done wrong. Now I hate it when I discover something can’t be undone. It’s frustrating to do something on the computer, change my mind about it, and then find that I can’t go back. What’s done is done. I sit and think harsh thoughts about computer programmers, rather than face the fact that I’m the one that made the mistake.
Don’t you wish life had an UNDO button? Something that would let you turn back the clock and make it as if you’d never made a mistake? I’ve found that it does, in a way. The Bible tells me that God is willing to take my mistakes and move them away from me “as far as the east is from the west.” Through Jesus, I can be continually forgiven for the mistakes I make. When I am in a relationship with God, when I have fully identified myself with God’s son Jesus, I can have full confidence that he will UNDO all of my mistakes. I may still have to face consequences for my actions, but all guilt will be taken away. And that’s a good feeling.
Think about letting God give you a fresh start. If you’re not a Christian, I hope you’ll take the time to learn more about joining God’s family. It’s a decision you’ll never want to UNDO.

www.hopeforlife.org

Copyright Herald of Truth ministries