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Thoughts up in a tree

July 20, 2002
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Thoughts up in a tree

BY ED COVERT – 

Sitting on a platform, in a tree, 50 feet above the ground, harnessed in and preparing to test run a new zip line pulley, I find myself pausing and thinking about the action that I am about to take. I’ve hurtled myself off this platform hundreds of times before and I know that it is safe–but there is something strangely different about this moment.

I think of the people who depend on me the most: my wife and children, the staff and campers who have been entrusted to my care. I consider the changing society and culture that impacts those I care for, the new technology and equipment that I need to trust and embrace. My mind races through a thousand different thoughts even as the smallest of fibers on the seat of my pants hold me fast to the platform. I’m teetering on the edge and I realize that this is a personal growth moment.

I sit there contemplating my next move…do I climb back down to the certain safety of the ground, or do I launch myself down the cable?

What was Peter thinking, I wondered, while he sat on the edge of the boat with the realities and uncertainties of life swirling all around him. His response to the call of Christ was to hurtle himself over the edge of the boat and experience the fullness of Christ’s love. What a personal growth moment!

In Ephesians 3:14-19 the Apostle Paul speaks about inner strength and personal growth. I need to be rooted and grounded in God’s love to truly experience how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.

So, I launch myself off the zip platform…a moment of free fall and then the thrill of the ride knowing that the system works and I’m once again safe. My fears overcome and my faith in the experience renewed.

What edge are you clinging to that keeps you from experiencing the joy of Christian service and the personal growth that awaits those who experience the love of Christ?

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