Falling Falling

A few months back I was looking at this website with my friend Tessa. It’s called ASBO Jesus and has loads of cartoons on it, mostly trying to make some amusing but deeply satirical point about how the church relates today. There was one that I initially reacted against, it was entitled “Stepping Out In Faith” or something like that and was a little cartoon stick man falling off the edge of a cliff. That’s not cool, I thought… having faith in God doesn’t mean you fall off a cliff. When you step out in faith He’s always there to catch you. I pointed this out to Tessa, and she suggested that falling off a cliff is exactly what it feels like sometimes. In hindsight, of course we can see how God works out situations in our life but the reality we deal with “in the moment” is not always what we can tangibly attribute to our perception of safety and security.

So now, about 9 months later, I’m sat here thinking about my life and what I want it to mean, and I remember this cartoon. And I understand it. Over the past few years I’ve had some pretty out of control experiences… some up, others down, some were by my design, others not exactly my first choice of valley to walk through. For a while it felt pretty non-stop, like I never really had time to come up for air. All the way through I’ve been learning about trusting in God… what that means in many different ways. Taking risks, in faith, has been a big thing that I’ve seen, faced and grown through. I even preached about it once!! Yet in this moment I sit and feel the most like I’m stepping out over the edge of a cliff. Because I have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen…