I have this friend. Some of you may know him. His name is Peter. And one day, (in
Matthew 14:22-32) the Lord spoke through Jesus, and told Peter to step out of a boat and walk on water. Through a
leap of faith, he walked on the water, but not without stumbling first. However, despite his stumble, he still defied the laws of nature.
If someone were to ask me to describe my summer working at a Boy Scout Camp, I would have to say:
IT WAS A LEAP OF FAITH. I worked as
a whitewater raft guide, on the New River Gorge in Fayetteville, WV.
On the days I wasn’t rafting, I was working at Camp Powhatan in Pulaski,
VA. My employer…the Boy Scouts of America. Now I myself was never a
scout, but I have many friends who were, and my best friend happens to
be an Eagle Scout.
I set off not knowing exactly what I would be getting myself into, but that’s what intrigued me! It was a
leap of faith.
For the first time, I was up against something that I had no prior
knowledge of. I spent two weeks at raft guide training, which proved to
be the most difficult two weeks of my life, complete with losing 15
pounds. My fellow trainees and I completed 28 trips in 14 days, along
with swift water rescue training and various other certifications. But I
believe the hardest test, was the test against my faith.
During my prior semester in school, my faith grew immensely and I’d like to say
that I had done a fairly good job at being an okay example to others who
may be struggling with their faith. However, when you’re forced to live
in a 5x6 tent for two weeks, things begin to look pretty dim. Now I
knew I was strong enough to complete the training, but when the physical
and mental exhaustion set in, I began to lose faith. Faith in myself,
and faith in God. I knew that He was there watching over me, but I
sometimes wondered if He was actually helping me out any. I fought with
these thoughts for a couple days and then as the second week drew to an
end, I was dealt a huge revelation.
One of my close friends,
Grace McAbee, a fellow Halifax native was there training with me. Now
you may be thinking to yourself, “Why on earth would a girl want to put
herself in such a tough situation?” She came because of her own
leap of faith.
In order to become a raft guide, you have to pass two tests. So as
Grace began her second test of training, spirits were high. But as she
dropped into the first warm-up rapid of the day, something went wrong.
She lost her brace and slipped out of the raft and into a re-circulating
hole. After being held under for nearly a minute, she finally emerged
gasping for breath. Her face said it all. The lack of color in her
skin, and the short gasps were enough to make even the most experienced
guide tremble.
I talked to her later that day, and she had this to say: “
Lamentations 3: 54-58.”
Ok?
I don’t really know where that came from, but I’ll take it. When I
got back to my tent, I grabbed my Bible and looked up the passage.
"The
waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to be cut off. I
called your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit. You heard my
plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.” You came near when
I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.” O Lord, you took up my
case; you redeemed my life."
What else is there
to say? From the depths of the pit, God called out to Grace and said do
not fear; have faith! Faith is defined as believing in something that
cannot necessarily be seen. Even though I sometimes felt like God
wasn’t directly helping me, I soon realized that through Grace’s
accident, God was telling me not to worry. He was there!
Getting
the chance to work at Boy Scout camp, gave me the amazing opportunity to
meet a lot of great people. I was privileged to get to teach many
scouts, a lot of whom I can still remember their names. During week
two, I met a kid named Knick. He was the class clown of the troop and
by the end of the week, I felt like I had finally gotten across to him.
All
week he had been getting picked on by the older guys, so needless to
say he didn’t trust them very much. He was deathly afraid of heights
as well. Now in my program, New River Adventure, we have a two days
devoted to Low Cope and High Cope. Low Cope teaches team-building, while
High Cope pushes you to reach and overcome personal goals. So when our
High Cope Day arrived Knick was very apprehensive. He ended up
completing the course fine and had a great rest of the week.
After the
closing campfire, we all decided to meet up to say our goodbyes. We
went around the circle and stated our high of the week and what we had
learned, everyone except for Knick. So we all eventually said our
goodbyes and went our separate ways. As I was walking away, Knick
walked up to me with tears in his eyes and said: “Phil, thank you.”
“For what?” I asked him, confused.
“For teaching me how to trust.”
I can honestly say that nothing feels better than hearing someone tell you that you made an impact in their life.
Knick
placed his faith in me, and in turn placed his faith in God. He saw
something in me that he found easy to relate to, and I owe this God.
God gave me the opportunity to teach someone younger than me how to have
faith in something greater than me. Knick grew a little closer to God
that day, whether he knew it or not.
Now, while Knick’s story will
forever remain with me, I have to admit that the pinnacle of my summer
came during the final week of camp. You see I have this new friend.
You don’t know him, but his name is James. James has cerebral pausey
and has never been able to swim, climb stairs without help, or even
climb a ladder.
I met James on a Sunday, and by Wednesday, he had
made an impact on my life that I will forever carry. I was working the
High Cope course on Wednesday and James and his father had come to give
it a try. While his dad was a little nervous about the course, James
jumped right in line. His only goal was to make to the top of what’s
called the Giant’s Ladder. The Giant’s Ladder is the type of ladder
where the rungs get farther and farther apart the high you go. Now
after about 15 minutes, he was 40 feet in the air, having completed his
goal.
With a smile on his face, he continued on with the course,
much to everyone’s surprise. Pushing through a few slips here and
there, James managed to make it all the way to what’s called “
The Leap of Faith”
(it’s two platforms about 3 ½ feet apart that you have to jump
across). This is the sixth element of the course. He looked down at
me, with his eyes wide and full of excitement, and a huge grin on his
face, and asked, “You got me?”
“Yes,” I replied.
He then responded with, “You sure you got me?”
I
think James embodies the way Christians view God. We want to do so
many adventurous things, and we set these lofty goals for ourselves, and
yet we always have trouble trusting. We come to the edge of some
mountain in life, and we ask, “You got me?” “Are you sure you got me?”
The
answer is, YES! He’s got us! Most Christians are so afraid of what
someone is going to think of them that they can’t just trust…they can’t
jump! Sure, we go to church every Sunday and occasionally we say a
prayer or two for someone in need. But how far from that do we actually
go? How much more are we really willing to put out there?
My
guess is that we’d all love to do more than we do, but it’s just not
convenient with our schedules. Or maybe our excuse is, “Well so-and-so
isn’t doing it, so why should I?” When God puts us in challenging
situations, we cower away with our tails tucked between our legs. But
why? Because we’re far too afraid, and comfortable with our lives, to
trust that God knows what He’s doing.
After about three minutes of going back and forth with James, I finally looked up at him and asked, “James, do you trust me?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you trust that God is gonna keep you safe?”
“Yes.”
“Alright then, what’s there to be afraid of?”
And
he jumped. It only took him about two seconds to make it to the other
side, but for everyone watching, time seemed to stand still (as cliché
as it sounds). It was a once in a lifetime moment that I will never
forget. I tear up now just thinking about it. Even though James didn’t
complete the entire course, it doesn’t matter. He accomplished his
goal and then some. James taught me something that day that I didn’t
learn from reading about Peter in the Bible.
He took a
leap of faith
that day, and it’s one that I think we all can learn from. It’s not
about whether you guide rafts through class V rapids, teach kids about
team-building, or sell hamburgers at McDonalds. It’s all about taking
an adventure. Setting a goal and reaching it. Like Peter walking on
water, or Knick trusting his fellow scouts, or James climbing a ladder,
it’s about confronting a challenging situation and putting trust in the
Lord.
So the next time you find yourself on the edge of a high
cliff, or at the head of an unmarked trail, will you choose to turn and
go the other way, or take a leap of faith?
