February 2, 2009 – “Don’t Look Down!” February 2, 2009

Note: I’m holding on for dear life… I’m terrified even… Good morning. Last year my husband and I went zip lining in Honduras (see above photo). As a matter of a fact, it was called “Xtreme Zip lining.”  The experience was amazing but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t terrified when it finally came time to jump. The way zip lining works is you travel up a steep mountain via jeep or van and once at the top you are hooked onto a “line” and forced to jump off of the side of the same mountain you traveled up via automobile. Your only choices are to a) jump or b) stay in the same place. There is no going backwards; the only way to safety is to jump. In order to jump you must put your faith in the line (which you can’t see for the most part). Hearing and seeing all of this made me ask, “How safe is this?” Our intructor’s answer would always be, “ziplining is extremely safe…except in cases of operator error. You’ll be fine… just don’t look down!” In other words, as long as we did what was instructed of us and held on to the faith in the “line” we’d make it to the other side. Our experience included 8 jumps and by the end of our endeavor I wanted to do it over and over again! After I recognized that jumping was the best way to the other side, I didn’t hesitate again!  Sound familiar? Life is a lot like zip lining. You know your purpose. You know your blessing is on the other side of the “line” but you are too afraid to jump. You can’t see the rope directly in front of you and have to rely on the testimony of the instructor to get you through. You’ve heard stories about how great it is to be able to “jump” without fear but you can’t see how faithful your line really is. You are often stuck at the jumping spot looking at others walk in their destiny. What do you do? Speaking from experience jumping can prove fruitful in many ways. God did not give you a spirit of fear (1 Timothy 1:7)… so what are you waiting on? JUMP! Note: See? It wasn’t so bad after all!

Scripture To Remember: “Xtreme Faith” Matthew 8: 5-6 As Jesus entered the village of Capernaum, a Roman captain came up in a panic and said, “Master, my servant is sick. He can’t walk. He’s in terrible pain.”  7 Jesus said, “I’ll come and heal him.”  8-9 “Oh, no,” said the captain. “I don’t want to put you to all that trouble. Just give the order and my servant will be fine. I’m a man who takes orders and gives orders. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes; to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”  10-12 Taken aback, Jesus said, “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple trust in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know all about God and how he works. This man is the vanguard of many outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions-streaming in from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God’s kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then those who grew up ‘in the faith’ but had no faith will find themselves out in the cold, outsiders to grace and wondering what happened.”  13 Then Jesus turned to the captain and said, “Go. What you believed could happen has happened.” At that moment his servant became well.

When you need a song… Faithful by Hezekiah Walker            (click cd cover for audio) Faithful, faithful, faithful is our God Faithful, faithful, faithful is our God Faithful, faithful, faithful is our God Faithful, faithful, faithful is our God I’m reaping the harvest God promised me Take back what the devil stole from me And I rejoice today, for I shall recover it all Yes, I rejoice today, for I shall rocover it all Holy, holy, holy is our God Holy, holy, holy is our God Holy, holy, holy is our God Holy, holy, holy is our God I’m reaping the harvest God promised me Take back what the devil stole from me And I rejoice today, for I shall recover it all Yes, I rejoice today, for I shall rocover it all Jesus, Jesus, Jesus is our God Jesus, Jesus, Jesus is our God Jesus, Jesus, Jesus is our God Jesus, Jesus, Jesus is our God I’m reaping the harvest God promised me Take back what the devil stole from me And I rejoice today For I shall recover it all

Zip lining truly changed my life. It put faith in an entirely new perspective. While I was sure I’d die and the cable would somehow fail me if I jumped I listened to what my instructor was telling me. The funny part is, half the time I couldn’t understand what he was saying. (lol) Some of you may be frustrated with “church” and “preachers” because there is a language barrier. It takes a lot of intense listening and patience to hear from God. He likes to use those things (and people) that you wouldn’t ordinarily listen to speak to you. Who would have thought I’d learn a lifelong lesson from zip lining after all? Today as you go throughout your day stop and listen to the unconventional and small things… you just may learn something that will change your life. I’m praying for you…   In Him,   Lady Doss

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