We’ll pay you to do it again!

About 17 years ago during my Bible College years a bunch of us went to a place called Heritage Square. It's a Victorian Village with lots of food, shopping, an amusement park, alpine slide, etc. At the time when we went they had a Bungee Jump as well. I distinctly remember that most of my friends were either unwilling to pay the fee to do the jump or were too scared. I being the brave, eccentric, loaded 20 year old with lots of money and bravery decided to take the plunge (literally). Okay so you probably want the truth right? I was scared to death but determined to prove that I wasn't scared and as for money, well I was a college student who waited tables to put me through school. $20 was a fortune for me, but I was determined to prove how tough and cool I was.

I climbed the stairs; the person at the top strapped me in and asked me a simple question. Are you ready? I wonder if God considered my answer of yes a lie, or deception or just stupidity. The second question was also simple, do you want to jump or do you want me to push you? My response was, "If you don't push me, I'll still be standing here an hour from now because there is no way I'm jumping off this ledge." The very nice attendant (or at least she appeared nice) said, "okay, I'll count to 3 and then push." I being the trusting sort, said okay go for it. She counted, one, two, and pushed on two. Apparently they do that to keep you from bracing yourself and thus injuring yourself. Well it worked. As I went plummeting to certain death I was the picture of beauty and grace and…………. Okay if anyone is reading this that was there, you are laughing your head off right now because you know that I apparently kicked and screamed the whole way down. Gone was the cool 20 year old trying to impress others, gone was my faith in the attendant, at this point I was too scared to even think about asking God to forgive me for the lie I had told just a minute before.

At the bottom I was approached by a complete stranger who offered to pay my way to do it again, so they could get it on camera (yes we had video cameras back then). I guess you had to be there (and not be me) to appreciate how hilarious the whole experience was, but I learned about faith that day. I believed in the harness, I believed in the security of the structure, I believed in the big fluffy thing I eventually landed in, and I believed in the attendant's word. If I was strong enough in my faith to do something like that why can't I believe in the Creator of the universe? He made me, He loves me, He sent His Son to die for me, and yes He sometimes pushes me off the edge when my reasoning is getting in the way of my faith, but if He says He's going to count to 3, He won't push at 2. I'm not sure if I will ever take the plunge again (speaking of bungee jumping), even if someone offers to pay the price, but every day is a plunge of faith, and yes God paid the price and it was a whole lot more than $20.

 p.s. Thank you Jan Embree for bringing this unpleasant memory back to me by commenting on a FB photo =) LOL