Bungee Jumping and Spiritual Truth

There is something really wrong with paying $80 to scare the livin fizz out of yourself. Worse than that I paid $160 so my son could do it to himself too!!! That's not only whacked, that's abuse! But we did it and strangely enough I actually learned a few things. Let me tell you about it.

Seven of us had just finished 10 days in the Congo working on a Bible School project. On the way home we wanted to do something fun. So we stopped over in Uganda and had a wonderful white water rafting escape on the Nile River! Really cool! How many people do you know have rafted level 5 rapids on the Nile??? Well, you'd think that would satisfy the the craving for adventure, but noooooo! They also have a bungee jump tower right over the river. That baby is 145 feet high! That's the equivalent of a 15 story building!!!! But there it was and there we were and by some strange magnetic force 4 of us rocket scientists decided to jump off of it!

I have to admit that I was ECSTATIC when on the afternoon we were supposed to jump, my son said that he couldn't because of a nasty sunburn. Of course I said, "Oh that's too bad, Erik! It's OK. Hopefully you'll feel better tomorrow." While inside I was praising Jesus for the blessings we had received in this painful package! But morning came, the burn spray did the trick and there was NO WAY if the others were going that I was going to wimp out. Although everything in me wanted to.

So up the tower we climbed. Erik wanted the honor of going first. Well or course! He's only 18! What the heck do 18 year-olds know? I would go second and my buddy Jim would go last. I didn't want to go last because I didn't want to watch TWO guys die before I did. I wanted to get it over with without stealing Erik's honor. They belted his ankles together, hooked up the bungee cable to him and reassured him that no one had ever died there and it was perfectly safe. Just jump off as far as you can in a swan dive position and the ride will be really smooth. I was impressed. He didn't hesitate at all. He looked over with an excited look. They counted down 3-2-1 BUNGEE and he launched himself off the platform....and I never saw him again....no not really. He gracefully sailed down and then bounced back up and actually looked like he was having fun. That's when I had this really deceptive thought, this isn't so bad. I don't think I'll be afraid at all! What a LIE that was!!

It was my turn and my stomach was in knots. Jim was waiting over on the ramp all calm and cool. Erik was already unhooked and looking up with excitement. I had the sudden urge to fain insanity and foam at the mouth in hopes they had some rule about crazy people jumping off the thing. I fought off that temptation and after being hooked up, waddled to the plank. They tell you to hang your toes over the edge. I think I got my little one to stretch out and over maybe by the nail. They tell you to focus on the lodge across the water and pretend you are jumping on top of it. For some silly reason that made sense to me. I didn't want to look down and I figured that if I just looked out and focused all my attention on that one spot I might not even feel the fall. It made sense....until.....3-2-1 Bungee....and I jumped...swan dive position, eyes straight ahead....my stomach crawled up into my throat enough to choke off any screams but the most amazing thing happened. I can't remember. It's true. I remember staring at the top of the lodge, eyes fixed. I remember jumping and feeling the first of the fall, but I don't remember anything else until the chord gently bounced me back up almost to the top again and by that time it was pure fun!

When I got to the rescue boat at the bottom the guys praised me for a really nice dive. "But", they said, "You forgot one thing! You were only about 12 inches from the water! You needed to reach out and touch the water!" "Oh, I was that close?" I said. I told you. I don't remember that at all! I didn't even SEE the water. I was so focused on my reference point! Then the overwhelming sense of joy rushed in. All I could think of was, "THAT WAS AWESOME! E, Let's do that again!!!!" Seriously, I can't wait to do it again!!

OK, enough of the story, because there are some spiritual lessons that I've learned through this and they are really important. Hebrews 2:15 says that we are held in slavery by fear. I can vouch for that. Fear totally had it's grip on me at the top of the tower and enough on the way down that I lost the joy of the moment. Fear does that to us. It steals what otherwise could be amazing times in our lives or incredible learning experiences and it paralyzes us. Hebrews talks about the slavery of the fear of death. I wonder how different life would be if we didn't fear death? But it's really any fear that robs us of life. Fear is a slave master.

When I focused on my reference point I honestly do not remember waht I was so afraid of but I do remember in clear detail the lodge. The Bible says that we must "fix our eyes on Jesus". He is our reference point. When we're afraid and don't know what to do, He is our "lodge" our hiding place, the reference point that we can lock onto. When we do that, we will remember HIM in the midst of the situation and the fearful trial grows strangely dim.

Once I got to the bottom and realized that my fear was unfounded, I wanted to do it over and over again and THIS time I wanted to enjoy the ride and not be so scared. That's just like it is with Jesus. We can't go through death and come back again to do it over a second time and this time without fear but He did go through it and says to us, "Don't worry! I have walked through the Valley of the Shadow of Death! Don't fear!" I think it's kind of cool that the Bible says, "Fear not" 365 times. That's one "fear not" for every day of the year.

So I'm ready to jump again! This time take me higher! I'm ready! Better than that, I learned that all fear is the same and can be handled the same. Fear of confrontation, fear of the future, fear of problems, fear of death....fear is fear. But if we keep our eyes focused on the fixed point, our Lord Jesus and trust Him as we jump, we'll find that He will fill our minds and when it's over we'll rejoice!

Happy jumping!

Greg