5-4-3-2-1-JUMP

My legs were trembling as trudged the 200m catwalk to the arch of the Bloukrans Bridge. The open grillwork of the catwalk revealed the 700-plus feet of air beneath me dropping to the gorge's floor. It was shortly after 0800h on that Monday morning. The clouds had passed over and the sky opened up lighting up the brilliant mountains to the North and creating a glistening effect on the Indian Ocean to the South. A few minutes before, I had been strapped into a full body harness, wished good luck, and sent on my way...on my way to the pinnacle of fear.

Before venturing onto the bridge that Fall morning, a sign overhead reminded me, "Fear is temporary, regret is forever." So, facing my fear, I went forward. I have never been one to let fear conquer areas of my life. From reaching kids in war zones, to jumping out of planes, to eating tarantulas, to diving with Great White sharks, nothing has been an obstacle...but my greatest fear directly faced me now. The world's highest bridge bungy jump. Situated along the Garden Route at the Tsitsikamma National Forest off the Garden Route, the Bloukrans Bridge is an attraction for any extreme athlete.

Upon reaching the jump site on the arch, I was welcomed by an energetic group of South African bungy specialists...ready to send me on my way to the fall of my life. After strapping the padding and strap to my ankles, I was escorted to the edge where the bungy was attached to my 81kg frame.

And then the moment came...the moment every extreme athlete waits for. Asking for any last minute advice, I was told, "Don't hesitate!" Then the moment you wait for...when the adrenaline is pumping at such an extreme level that the body overrides every mechanism of fear...with the techno music pumping, my feet over the edge, the enthusiastic staff screamed out, 5-4-3-2-1-JUMP!!!!

With that, I left the solid concrete of the the 216m high bridge, and took the biggest jump of my life...assuming streamline position, I plummeted the couple hundred meters towards the earth leaving all common sense behind. As the bungy caught, it sprang my body 130 meters back into the air...after a 90 second bounce experience, I was retrieved by the winch and returned to solid earth.

Though the experience enabled me to overcome another of life's fears, I learned a much bigger lesson that day. Nearly everyone reading this blog would agree that the bungee cord itself is reliable, but how many would actually venture onto the bridge and take the plunge? Twelve years of safety, thousands of jumpers, and loads of adrenaline have proved this fact, but though I can say ALL day that I trust the bungee, until I’m willing to actually jump off the bridge basing my entire confidence in it, how much do I ACTUALLY trust it?

Likewise, so it is in our walk with God. Most people in the world believe in God (as do demons...and they tremble---James 2:19) and though we claim to trust God, how much does it really mean until we are willing to venture into the unknown trusting HIS promises alone? To swim upstream when the world tells us otherwise. Jesus tell us that "whoever wants to save his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." (Matthew 16:25) Then Jesus unleashes the extreme call of, "If any man desires to follow Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow." (Luke 9:23)

No in-between options. Either you jump or you don't. Either you follow, or you stay behind! "Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." (James 4:4) A forsaking of life's common conveniences for the pursuit of the extraordinary! Faith as a mustard seed. It's not the amount of faith, but in whom it was placed. It didn't matter if I had heaps of faith in the bungy or a little. The question is, "Did I jump?" T.S. Eliot put it like this, "Only those who risk going too far can find out how far one can possibly go."

Does that characterize my faith in Jesus? Am I jumping off the bridges of life for Him? Or am I the spectator who says, "He is worthy to be trusted, but I'm not willing to risk it"? Perhaps the greatest risk is to stay on the bridge.

I would suggest, "Jump!" My advice, "don't hesitate!"

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