On a Count of Three, Let Go!
At a youth conference in Colorado, out in the middle of nowhere, I saw people falling out of the sky. Parachuting. I wanted to do that. So I signed up. I had no idea what I was getting into.
When it's time, the instructor put us through a a little practice. No problem. We took off. I watched the altimeter they had put on me: 1,000 feet, 2,000 feet, 3,000 feet, 12,000 feet. Two miles up in the air.
Then they opened the door.
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In Thin Air
You know, it hadn't dawned on me what was gonna happen. Six dudes were in that plane, screaming, and I started to come to my senses. I'm married, I got a family. You know? But there was no backing out of this.
We were supposed to kneel and crawl to the door. There was a bar to grab, and when the instructor counted to three, you were to let go. I happened to be the last guy. I crawled over and looked down. We're two miles above the earth, okay? The others are floating specks below.
He yells, "On three, you gotta let go!" I start thinking. I've been an athlete since I could walk. I was a former professional football player. There's no way the instructor can make me let go of this bar. I have to voluntarily let go. "ONE... TWO…"
When he yelled "'THREE!" I took a deep breath, released the bar, and launched into thin air.
Clinging to Something
Now, what's ironic is that I did not have a parachute on me. I had the instructor on me. I was hooked to him, and he had the parachute on. I had to trust that the guy I was tied was equipped to save my life.
It's a great illustration of what Christians need to do, every day. Let go, and trust Jesus. The Holy Spirit, in a manner of speaking, is going to yell "'THREE!" and you need to trust that Jesus has your back.
You don't have your own parachute to get you through life. Jesus is your parachute. Not only that. He's the pilot and the plane and the wind under the plane and the Creator of the sky and the earth and everything in between.
But we still hang on to the bar, and pretend we're trusting God.
Time to Let Go
All of us cling to something, and think we're in control. But He knows exactly who you are. He knows your family, He knows your past, He knows all about your present, and He knows your future.
So what bar are you hanging on to? What are you trusting in other than God? What are you clinging to for your happiness, for sense of security, for your future, for your comfort, for your sense of purpose, for your identity? Jesus wants to be that thing.
Let go, and grab Him.
