A Laughing Matter


Thanks to Carolyn Connolly for the picture

Adventure Ridge Ropes Course on Vail Mountain can be challenging to the body, mind and nerves, so I found it amusing that I was laughing at myself, especially at that height.

I had maneuvered the swinging logs, the crisscross wooden planks and the sliding steps. I had carefully rappelled from the first level safely to the ground. Scaling the steps to the second platform while trying to keep my fears in check I looked ahead to see how I should problem solve my way across the next set of challenges.

I made it through the swinging bridge and the tightrope with the safety harness intact, but the final element looked daunting. There were short ropes between PVC towers perpendicular to the wire crossing. Hmmm... 

What should I do with this one? Advice from the attendant was requested and I was instructed to hug the PVC pipe as I crossed the thin wire.

 It was comforting to grab the pipe, but it was too far to reach the next one without the assistance of the short rope. That's when I had to laugh at myself. Instead of grabbing the rope with a full fist to hold on tight, I used one finger. Now how did I think that one little index finger would be able to hold my body weight if I lost my balance? It wouldn't have, but the safety harness would have.

How often do I depend on things in life to save me? I halfheartedly grasp at tiny little things that couldn't possibly rescue me, while I ignore the most powerful source of strength that is always present--my Heavenly Father and His saving grace.

Psalm 46:1-3 God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
    and the mountains quake with their surging.

www.hearthope.org

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