During my time in the Air Force I spent some time trying out to be a survival instructor. Known as SERE Specialists (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, & Escape), these professionals focus on preparing high-risk-of-capture personnel in the event they become isolated and cut off from friendly forces in neutral or enemy-held territory.
This was in 2004, so the Air Force was pretty busy at the time with both Afghanistan and Iraq. Lots of people needed SERE training, and there weren’t enough SERE Specialists to go around. To help boost numbers, representatives from the SERE career field spent time recruiting people while they were still in Basic Training. This got a lot of people interested, but before we could really get started with SERE Specialist training, we had to pass a screening course, known as SERE Indoc (indoctrination).
There are some odd situations that occurred along the way as a result of how things unfolded. In Basic Training, they really regulated what (and how much) you ate. You’ve got a bunch of civilians from across the country and its territories that in most cases had a little extra pudge when they first showed up to Basic, and you give them healthy food, but you give them less of it than they’d like. Everybody loses weight, and some people lose a lot of it. (When I graduated Basic Training, I think my Mom was a little traumatized when she saw how skinny Uncle Sam made me.) Then, when you’re the skinniest you’ve been in awhile, they fit you for your dress uniforms.
After Basic, I went to SERE Indoc, which was very demanding physically. It usually involved five days a week of rigorous PT…lots of running, pushups, pull-ups, and rucking with heavy packs. I don’t remember how much, exactly, but between being able to eat normally again and putting on a lot of extra muscle over a couple of months, I probably gained over 30 pounds from my low point at Basic. The buttons on my dress shirt were definitely stressed, and there was no longer a crease in my dress pants above the knee because they were more like spandex or leggings at that point.
Mom & Dad came to see my graduation from Basic. They barely recognized me!Some $5 footlongs & a few thousand pushups later
I can honestly say that I’m no longer as muscular or as heavy as I was back then, so that adds still more volatility to the weight yo-yo. It’s been awhile since I tried on my old dress uniform; maybe I should dig it out of mothballs to see how it fits.
I went into each of those phases with one set of characteristics, and due to the conditions I went through, it led to a new set of characteristics. It’s the same for the Christian. Not only are you imperfect when you’re born, you’re still imperfect when you’re born again. From the moment of salvation until the moment you slip from this life, God’s working on your heart and on your mind, shaping you into a tool He can wield to accomplish things in or through you that you’re not yet prepared to do.
He’s refining unwanted things out of your character or preparing you for a coming challenge. Some seasons of life will leave you gaunt and weak. Others will make you stronger. It’s all leading somewhere, though. Rarely does the path you’d chart out for your life align completely with the path God’s chosen for your life. Looking back, it becomes easier to see how a phase of life or a certain string of events prepared you for something that came afterwards. Right now you’re on your way to what you’ll be later. Seek God’s will for your life and see Him do something wonderful. Keep seeking God’s will for your life and watch how He entrusts you with more responsibility and higher callings.
Not sure what God’s will for your life is? Start by increasing the amount of time you spend in prayer. Confess the things you’ve done wrong, then tell Him all the things you’re thankful for. Do this on a recurring basis and see where it takes you.
I feel like I’ve had a lot of “20-years later” stories either lately or coming up. (Kayelling, 9/11, attending the 2002 Winter Olympics). Well, Senior year of college was a busy time for me, I guess. Today’s post talks about an event that happened 20 years ago this week.
There’s a creek near where I went to college that had a pair of roughly 6-foot waterfalls that were spaced about 50-100 yards apart. During most of the year, this is a very scenic spot with a water depth of only a few inches, but during the spring rains and snow melt, the creek swells, the current becomes much swifter, and for kayakers, the water gets too big to resist.
Gearing up for a double waterfall!
A 6-foot waterfall doesn’t sound like much. I’m a little over 6 feet tall, so it’s no big deal when I look eye-to-eye with another person the same height as me. It’s a different story when you’re sitting on the floor, looking up at someone that tall. That’s sort of what it’s like when sitting in a kayak and looking at a 6-foot-tall waterfall. I’d been over a four- or five-foot waterfall before and it went very well, but it wasn’t in water this big and it wasn’t in a “must-succeed” situation where a second set of falls lay waiting beyond.
There were three of us going that day. We all slid our boats into the water and allowed ourselves to get a good amount of space between us. Our most experienced paddler went first and demonstrated the line we should follow. As the least experienced kayaker, I went second, and the third guy brought up the rear. I followed the guide’s line, and I hit the first set of falls perfectly. I paddled right over the edge and had a great landing, and it was exhilarating!
On approach to the first waterfallQuit while you’re ahead
I’m not exactly sure what happened next, but I think I hit some kind of undercurrent I wasn’t expecting, and I flipped over. I can tell you from experience that it’s a very unsettling feeling to be headed toward a waterfall while floating upside down in a capsized kayak.
Even though the creek was swollen to several times its usual size, the water was still only about 18 inches to two feet deep. As I was upside down, my helmet bounced along the bottom of the creek bed. I moved the paddle into position to right myself, but I had to modify the technique because the water was so shallow. I think I was trying to decide whether I should try the technique I’d practiced countless times in the pool, or let go of my paddle and use my hands to try pushing off the bottom to get flipped back up, hoping to catch the paddle again afterward. I didn’t want to risk going over the second set of falls without a paddle, and this wasn’t really the best time to try flipping back over using a method I’d never tried before, so I went the traditional route, but the water was too shallow to make it work the way I’d practiced. I don’t remember how many times if I tried it, but between not knowing how far away the upcoming falls were and confronting a compelling need to breathe, I decided to bail out.
Without question, it was really nice to be able to take a deep breath again, but I still had to contend with some challenges. After dragging my head along the bottom and fighting against the creek bed to try to position my paddle, I figured I wouldn’t have any problem just standing up wherever I was. I faced upstream and got on my knees. My wetsuit stopped above my knees, and I later realized that being pushed along while kneeling on a stone creek bed tears up your shins pretty badly. I got up on one knee, but my sandals couldn’t get any traction. I think I tried on the other knee too, but neither try worked. With my back to the looming falls, I did the only other thing I could think of: I swam as if my life depended on it in a foot and a half of water.
Thankfully, I did NOT take a trip over that second set of falls. I made it to the bank safely and jogged downstream to catch up with the first guy, who recovered my boat and paddle for me.
Ever have something just go in a TOTALLY different direction from what you expected? Don’t let it get you down. Living a life for Christ is going to have moments where you simply feel overwhelmed or inadequate. Then on top of that, experiencing failures only makes it feel worse. I’m certainly thankful there weren’t too many people there to witness this embarrassing situation. My two fellow paddlers were extremely gracious, and they reminded me that outings with the biggest mishaps make for the best stories.
If things had gone according to plan, it would have been an amazing 90 seconds to experience, but it wouldn’t be a very exciting story to pass along. Don’t be afraid to attempt big things in the name of building Christ’s kingdom, but when things don’t work out the way you expect (because God doesn’t follow YOUR plan), learn from the experience and use it to either make the next time different or to benefit someone that reminds you of your unfortunate or inexperienced younger self. You’re not the first one to make mistakes, but maybe you can pass along the wisdom you’ve learned through hard-won experience so others don’t have to make the same mistakes you’ve made.
Lord Jesus, when I look back at all the crazy situations I’ve willingly placed myself in, and how unscathed I came out of them when I should have met with much more serious consequences, it’s clear to me that there’s something after those experiences You wanted me around for, and it reminds me not to waste this life. Help me learn from the past, be bold in following after You, and share the things I’ve learned with others. Also, I don’t know how many guardian angels you’ve assigned to me, but please…thank them and bless them in a special way for me!
(I apologize in advance to my email subscribers; there are a lot of pictures in this post. If it takes up too much room in your inbox, you can also check it out at https://daregreatlynow.com/2021/12/16/kayaking-rappelling-kayelling/)
Today is the 20th anniversary of a very unique event that happened in my life. For those of you that are longtime readers of DareGreatlyNow, you know that I’ve had some strange experiences. When I call one of them “very unique,” you know it’s got the potential to be a doozy.
During my senior year of college, I was the Vice President of the whitewater kayaking and rafting club, which we called “Paddle Sports.” The club itself was having a great year, and the President (a buddy of mine, Bryan) and I agreed that we wanted to do something to further drive up the club’s membership for the following year.
Every Spring our college had a talent show, and Bryan and I determined to make a video that showed some of the fun things that could be done in the club. We used some footage of fun stuff we did in the pool and some trips in local rivers, and we wanted to combine it with shots of Bryan and I (and maybe a few others) doing weird stunts using some of the club’s gear. As an example, one of the things we wanted to do was to get footage of the two of us bombing down the college’s small ski slope in one of the club’s smaller whitewater rafts.
Well I forget why, but we never got around to that one. We did, however, come up with another idea. Both Bryan and I had some background in rappelling, and between the two of us we had a fair amount of equipment. We came up with the grand idea of recording me rappelling down a cliff in a kayak.
This was a pretty intriguing idea to us, and we actually put quite a bit of thought into it. In November we scouted a location with a very tall cliff and set up the rope, but then when heading down in a normal rappel just to check things out, I discovered that the cliff was too tall, and the rope didn’t reach all the way to the bottom. That’s a dealbreaker. It was a tough break, too, because there’s not a whole lot of afternoon daylight at that time of year and Bryan and I were very busy as the semester went on.
November scouting trip; kayak in the background. Need a ladder or a longer rope.
Fortunately we were able to get our schedules to line up again at the end of the semester, on December 16th (it’s funny how far some students will go to avoid studying for finals). We found another spot on the same wall that was a little shorter, but if we didn’t pull it off this time, it probably wasn’t going to happen. There was likely to be too much snow on the ground to make it work in January.
It’s funny how much “ridiculousness” you’ll put up with for the sake of doing something challenging. We had to hike a kayak, two ropes, harnesses, and gear up a huge hill and through the woods to get to the top of the cliff. We needed to use a very steep wall in order to reduce the chance of getting the boat hung up on something on the way down. Thankfully most of this wall was very steep, with the exception of a sloped portion at the top.
Second attempt. Bryan’s turn carrying the boat.
We got topside and found a spot where we could set up solid anchors. After confirming that the ropes reached all the way to the bottom, we each did a test descent to get a feel for things, then decided to go for it.
Bryan and I both knew a good bit about knots and anchors at the time, but rigging a kayak for descent was something new for us both. Circumstances necessitated that we set up two systems, one for me and one for the boat. I couldn’t just ride down in a kayak without being harnessed in; I might fall out, for one, and kayaks aren’t designed to be suspended from the bow and stern while holding someone in the middle. Also, kayaks are heavy; if I were harnessed in and the boat wasn’t, I’d have to have Superman’s lower abdominal strength to hold the kayak level during the descent. Besides, this way if something absolutely nuts happened, I could get out of the boat and still maintain independent control of both my body and the kayak. (I just wouldn’t have any shoes on during that event because I couldn’t fit in the kayak while wearing them.)
Testing the balance and rigging
Bryan setting anchors
Well, I slid over the edge of the cliff in the kayak, but I ran into trouble almost right away. As I slid sideways down the cliff, the bow got caught in a shrub growing on the side of the cliff. It wouldn’t have been a problem, except for a funky dip in the terrain where the tip of the stern got wedged. Due to this freak terrain feature, I was stuck in a boat, I dunno, probably at least 60 feet up, without even being able to reach the wall with my arm.
Starting the descent
Seriously?! I’m stuck!
It seemed like no amount of shaking or rolling would break the boat loose. I was stuck for almost 25 minutes doing one long sit-up while trying to figure out what to do. The double-rope system ended up coming in handy; Bryan held the trailing end of my line taut from below while I got out of the boat and stood against the cliff (with no shoes) while shaking the kayak loose. He literally held my life in his hands as I let go of control of my rope to focus on breaking the boat free. (Thanks Bryan…much love!)
This isn’t a small cliff
Shaking, rattling, and rolling
After that things went much smoother, though it still took almost 10 minutes to descend the rest of the way. It’s slow going in a kayak that was meant to conquer whitewater rather than cliff walls. All told, it took about 35 minutes to get from top to bottom when it could have been done in less than 60 seconds without a kayak.
Broken loose at last! Thanks Bryan!
That’s more like it
Finally made it to the bottom
Well anyway, we showed the video to the student body during the Spring semester. A few new faces started showing up at our pool sessions, but I think most of the rest of the students were permanently put off by the demented maniac in a boat.
Fast forward 20 years, and I’m still waiting for that Mountain Dew or Red Bull sponsorship to materialize. Know what though? That experience is part of the recipe that makes me who I am today. Who rappels in a kayak? Unless you know some hardcore paddlers, you’ve probably never met anyone that’s done it. For me though, it’s helped shape the way I think. While many people scoff at crazy ideas, I’m one of those that say “well hang on, just because it’s crazy doesn’t mean it’s impossible.”
Unusual? Yes. Unconventional? Absolutely. Here’s the beauty of it, though. When God made you, He broke the mold. You can search the world over, but there is simply nobody like you. The places you’ve been, the people you’ve known, the experiences you’ve had…for better or for worse…all combine to make you who you are. Quit trying to fit into the image of what you believe other people think you should be, and just…be you. God saw you coming millennia ago, and He knows exactly where you’re going.
You may not have combined multiple adventure sports, but maybe you’ve done things that make you feel like it’s hard to fit in or like you don’t have a group of people you can relate to. Just know this: if you’re yourself…no matter how weird or zany that may be…God won’t have to “figure out” what to do with you or how to use you to grow His kingdom. There’s been a role waiting for you all along.
So if you’re a Christian, go ahead. Be you. It’s who you were meant to be all along, and God’s got plans for how He’s going to use you.
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been amazed at how quickly the Old Testament Israelites forgot about the role of God in their history. Even the actual people that He led out of slavery in Egypt started complaining about how much better it would have been if they’d stayed slaves, where at least they had variety in their diet rather than the manna that God provided for their daily needs.
A few generations later, the Israelites were back at their whining. “We want a king! We want to be like the other nations around us!” So God gave them kings. Not every king was good, though, and some of them flat out led Israel away from God. Eventually a good king would come along and try to undo the damage that was done, but it would never quite get back to where it had been before. Asherah poles and high places seemed constantly to be put up and torn down.
God got fed up with it. He gave them plenty of warning, but the Israelites ignored it. Then foreign nations overran the country, plundered the nation, and carried them away as captives to a different land. Even then, decades later, some were able to return and begin to rebuild, but the cycle of abandoning God, then crying out to Him for help continued.
I’d read this when I was younger and think “Seriously? How could they forget everything that God did for them?” The only thing I can think of is that the stories of God’s goodness and provision weren’t being passed down from one generation to the next. As a result, the account of just how good God is…got lost.
So it bothers me quite a bit as I’m watching this happen in our own nation. The United States of America does not have a blemish-free past, but I challenge anyone to find a country that does. When I see mobs of angry people forcibly tearing down or defacing statues or monuments, it makes me wonder if the rioters even know enough history to appreciate the whole context of what those monuments represent. People that try to set the record straight, rather than allow misguided notions of historical tidbits rule the day, are said to use “divisive language.” Hmmmm. Well, facts can be that way, I guess.
Removing monuments will not change our past, but it will help remove our memory of it. When we don’t remember the past, we end up making the same mistakes that people who came before us have already made. “No, no, they removed that monument because they were offended by it!” Um, excuse me, I’m offended by their lawlessness and arrogance to think they’re entitled to make the decision to destroy/deface public property on their own, but why is their offense considered more warranted than mine? Are we not equal? Do I also need to participate in criminal activity in order to be heard?
History is important. When you ignore it, bad things will happen (again). Think about those Israelites. “Haven’t they learned anything?” We’re at the same point now! We’ve become them!
If you’re in an authority role (or even if you’re not), I implore you to please use your influence to encourage people to live according to the law. I understand that there are things you don’t like (there are things that I don’t like, either), and we can work on those things, but we have other methods of addressing citizens’ concerns. If people feel that it’s acceptable to break any old law because they dislike it, and we apply that standard to everyone, well that’s going to get pretty ugly, now isn’t it?
Your country has history, and it’s important to remember it. Sure, I’m on board with revamping some things, but history is not included in that column. We can alter or redesign some statues, but there should be a plan in place to come up with another means of commemorating what happened at that particular monument. You know why? Because history is ugly. Life is messy. In the heat of the moment, not everyone makes the right choice. That’s something that will happen in every country, just about every day, from now until there are no people left to make mistakes. Here’s the thing about mistakes though: you’re supposed to learn from them.
So let’s not be the Israelites. We’ve all made mistakes, and there are things we all could have done better. Let’s not make the error of thinking that we can flush a few unpleasant things and it will change what happened in the past. If we do that, we’ll find ourselves making the same old mistakes again for the first time.
A college buddy and I took the opportunity in
February of 2002 to drive from New York to Utah in order to attend the Winter
Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Bobsledding is one of
the hallmarks of the Winter Olympics, and it’s fun to see. Since the track is
so expensive to install and maintain, however, organizers sought other ways to
make use of the venue. That’s partly how the sport of luge came to be an Olympic
event. Luge athletes lay belly-up on a one-person sled and go sliding feet
first down the track. (Then somebody thought it would be a good idea to put two
people on one of these tiny sleds.)
Bobsled
Luge
Luge doubles
The 2002 Olympics saw the introduction of a new sport that used the same track: Skeleton. This is an event where an athlete runs down the track as fast as they can, then dives onto a tiny sled. Once on the sled, the competitor is laying on their belly, flying head first down the track with their chin just a few inches off the ice. Of the three different sports that use this venue, Skeleton competitors seem least concerned with clinging to sanity.
Photo courtesy of NBC
We didn’t attend any of
the Skeleton runs while in Salt Lake City, but during out time there we were
well aware of what happened in the Skeleton competition. Everywhere we went,
there were magazines and newspapers (when those were still popular) with
American Jim Shea on the cover. He showed up in the highlights of just about every
Olympic video we saw for the rest of those games. If I’m not mistaken, Jim was
America’s first third-generation Olympian; both his grandfather and father
competed in Winter Olympic events in their day. Jim actually won gold in
Skeleton that year.
If you saw Jim without
knowing anything about him, you’d probably have no idea that he was an
Olympian. He looked like he could be your next-door neighbor or some guy that
you see in church. He didn’t look terribly athletic. There were a few qualities
he had, though, that helped him win this event. When it came to competing in
Skeleton, Jim Shea possessed intensity, passion, and drive.
In no way do I want to
sound like I’m diminishing the athleticism of Skeleton competitors. The biggest
athletic output that occurs during a Skeleton run takes place at the beginning,
when the competitor sprints down the track and jumps onto the sled. For the
rest of the run beyond that, it’s focus and body control; leaning this way or
that way, sometimes grazing the ice with a toe to make a small correction, all
while trying to control breathing on a sled that’s flying down a track at up to
80 mph.
Jim Shea approached his Olympic run with ferocity. He wasn’t a “hope for the best” kind of guy. I later saw a picture of him that demonstrated how he approached the run that earned him a gold medal, and that image stuck with me:
This is a man that knew
where he wanted to go, knew what he needed to do in order to get there, and
focused all of his mental and physical resources so that he had the best chance
of succeeding during his single opportunity to make it happen. While people
have all different kinds of personalities and some will never be as driven as
others to succeed in their goals, it’s the quality and type of preparation and
planning they put into it that will help drive their success.
In the future you may only get one shot to make it
happen. Are you preparing for success in achieving your goals, or are you just
hoping for the best?
When Americans think of
Australia, one of the things they think about is the wildlife. Some of the
things that might come to mind are kangaroos, crocodiles, koala bears, etc. The
tour company I traveled with recognized that, so one of the things they built
into the itinerary of our Australian trip was a stop at a zoo that had a lot of
these animals.
I’ve been to some zoos here in the states. Things are usually set up so that you can’t get too close, but you usually have an unobstructed view of whatever animal is present. Not this place. It was kind of a cross between a petting zoo and a crocodile kennel. You could hand-feed the kangaroos (maybe they were wallabies), handle snakes, and get close to the emu.
I think the main
attraction was probably the crocodiles. The owner was a colorful character.
Think of him as an older version of Crocodile Dundee that put on a bit of
weight and wasn’t quite so light on his feet anymore. He was fun to be around
and took us on a tour of the sights.
I’d guess that this guy
had anywhere from six to 12 crocodiles in various chain-link pens throughout
the zoo. He brought us around to the various pens, sometimes teaching us about
crocs from outside the pen, other times going inside and feeding the crocs a
chicken or two.
I was a little
surprised by this guy’s willingness to go right into the various pens, and even
more surprised at how close he was willing to get to the various animals. He
would be within a few feet of the gaping jaws of these enormous monsters, and
he’d toss meat into their mouths. He was actually missing a few fingers because
he had gotten too close in the past and eager crocs had snapped down quicker
than expected.
He seemed so laid back
about being in such close proximity to reptiles that could kill him. The only
thing he kept nearby was a rake. He used it to scratch the back of some of the
crocs to help them relax, but he kept it with him for another purpose. When a
croc is getting a little too aggressive and you need to move him back, you can
flip the rake around and push on a sensitive spot on their head, and it will
back up. We got to see this first-hand when one of the crocs started coming out
of its pen. Farmer Dundee here flipped the rake around and pushed the croc back
far enough to close the door.
One of the things that
struck me the most about this guy was how confident he was in knowing when it
was safe and when it was not safe to approach one of the beasts. Again, he was
so casual about being in extreme close proximity to crocs that I didn’t know
what to think. He actually sat on one of them when he was tired and wanted to
take a break.
This guy’s behavior is
an example of how we can become so comfortable around danger that we let our
guard down and get careless. By the time I met him, this guy had been around
crocs for years, but for all I know, he could have been attacked and killed by
one of them the next week. You can go for years flirting with danger or
something you shouldn’t be around and everything turns out fine; until it doesn’t.
You won’t always see it coming, either. That’s why it’s best to simply avoid
such situations if at all possible. A few examples might help. If you’re a
recovering alcoholic, don’t go meet friends at a bar. Avoid situations where
you’re alone with that attractive co-worker. Each of us is more susceptible to
certain mistakes than others, but we’re better than we might think when it
comes to predicting where things can go south. Let’s assume you’ve got a good
head on your shoulders; just because you’re not looking at a guy sitting on a
crocodile doesn’t mean you can’t recognize a situation that’s a bad idea.
I don’t blame my
crocodile farmer friend for doing what he does, but he has to constantly be on high
alert for trouble. Even though he’s had a lot of successful crocodile feedings,
he’s still missing some fingers. The lesson here: if you’re perfectly aware of the danger but you
intentionally stay near it anyway, don’t expect to come out of it unscathed.
Are there any
unnecessary risks in your life you need to stop accepting?
We’ve got a fireplace
at home, and we like having fires once it gets cold. Buying or collecting wood
for the fireplace can be a hassle though, and this year we happened upon a
different solution. Earlier this summer a nearby neighborhood cut down a lot of
trees and sliced the trunks into slabs, leaving them to rot throughout the
neighborhood. I actually enjoy splitting wood by hand (especially after
aggravating days at work), so I went and picked up a bunch of them and brought
them home for splitting and burning.
The problem is that I
don’t have an efficient method of splitting the wood. Most people know what an
ax is, but not everyone knows what a maul is. A maul is kind of like a
sledgehammer with a wedge on one side. When I first started splitting wood
earlier this summer though, I didn’t have a full-sized maul. The one I have is
meant for splitting pieces of wood that have already been split, but are still
a bit too big for the fireplace. It’s kind of a hand-held “mini-maul.”
This tool is great for
splitting branches or small trunks that are, say, the diameter of a coffee-can.
Once you get into dealing with slabs of trunk though, it becomes much more
difficult.
I had a slab I was
determined to split up, but it was so big I couldn’t even put my arms around
it. Nonetheless, I put it on top of another piece and started looking at the
natural grain of the wood, then started taking shots at it. At first the
mini-maul just bounced off the wood. A few more shots, and each time the mini
maul bounced. Each time the tool struck the wood, though, it left a pock mark.
I started striking the slab in a way that the pock marks lined up to create a
fault line across it. I didn’t really feel like I was making much progress, so
I turned the slab and started doing the same thing in a different direction.
Then I did it in yet another direction.
I struck the wood over
and over and over again. Sometimes the tool bounced and other times it started
penetrating into the wood. I was out there for a long time. My hands got sore
and hot, like blisters were starting to form. I was tired, and eventually my
shirt was so soaked with sweat that it had almost no dry spots, and I thought
about packing it in. I must’ve left nearly a hundred pock marks before anything
began happening.
Finally, the sound of
the impact changed, and a crack emerged. When it did, it breathed new life into
my effort.
Once the crack was
established, it was easy to exploit into a split, and things moved quickly from
there. After splitting it in two, it only took a few shots to make additional
splits in one of the two sides. Those smaller chunks became infinitely easier
to break into the size I wanted, often in a single blow.
In the end, this little
tool was able to deliver enough targeted force to smash a strong, sturdy slab
of oak into about 35 splinters that were shadows of what they once were. All of them were done in by the
persistent strikes of a tool that was “too small” to do the job.
It’s an alarming spiritual
analogy for those things we do that we know we shouldn’t be doing. It might not
be anything major, but it happens again and again. Call it the straw that broke
the camel’s back, or call it death by a thousand paper cuts. It’s something
that doesn’t seem too bad, in and of
itself. It’s not a crushing blow, but it’s something that delivers targeted
strike after targeted strike against your Christian walk and, if it’s not
stopped, has the ability to cause major damage to your spiritual health and
relationships.
Maybe it’s gossip. It
could be reading a certain kind of novel. Maybe it’s a glance that lingers
longer than it should. Perhaps it’s tension in your marriage that goes
unresolved and festers. Doing these things a single time is not something
that’s devastating to your spiritual walk, but each of them is something that
leaves a pock mark. You may have even told yourself “it’s not a big deal, it
doesn’t hurt anybody.” Well, maybe doing it once isn’t a big deal, but have you
only done it once? Consider whether your pock marks are aligning in a way that
will lead to cracks and problems in the future, maybe soon.
Is there something
you’re doing that you know you shouldn’t be doing? If you’re wrapped up in
something that hinders your ministry or God-given purpose, even just a little
bit, it can affect your ability to make your maximum impact for Christ’s
kingdom. Like athletes that train hard to compete at a high level, cut yourself
off from things you know aren’t helping you. Don’t run for third place, or for second place; run to
win.
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. –Hebrews 12:1-2
I demolished each of these pieces of wood using that mini maul. If you feel you’ve stripped the unneeded junk out of your life, how can you help the “other pieces of wood” around you to do the same, so that they can better resist the onslaught of strikes that hit them every day?
Once I finished
college, I didn’t do anything related to my academic major. I needed a job, but
didn’t have anything professional in mind, so I moved back in with Mom and Dad
and worked construction.
Since I had worked
construction the past few summers, nothing felt different initially. Doing the
job as a college grad didn’t feel any different than doing the job the previous
summer. It didn’t really seem strange until the end of the summer, when I
ordinarily would have prepared to head back to school. To help mark the
occasion of our entry into the “real world,” a college buddy and I decided to
go skydiving.
We made some
reservations, then showed up at the airport one Saturday morning early in
September. We signed the waivers, took the short class, then waited our turn.
We signed up for tandem
jumps. That’s where you’re connected to an experienced jumper that’s trained to
do two-person jumps. You don’t have to focus on any of the flight plan, what
your altitude is, etc. All you have to do is go along for the ride and enjoy
yourself. My tandem instructor was Frank. He took us over to the tiny plane
we’d use and walked us through the steps we’d later take when exiting the
aircraft. After that we squeezed into the plane, took off, and started the
climb to 10,000 feet.
(I paid extra to have my jump recorded, so there was a jumper with a camera and video camera on her helmet that went along. Unfortunately I don’t have a digital copy; it’s still on VHS format, so I can’t show it here. I can share some of the pictures though.)
There were six jumpers
and a pilot crammed into a little Cessna. As we reached 3,000 feet, the door
opened and one of the guys jumped out. I’m not sure if I was aware of this at
the time or not, but it turns out this man was Don Kellner, who was (and still
is) the world record holder for the number of sport parachute jumps. At the
time, he had about 30,000 jumps or something ridiculous like that. In order to set
and build on his record, he’d be on just about every plane that went up, and
most of the time he’d hop out around 3,000 feet. He’d skip the freefall and
deploy his parachute right away. They called this type of jump a “hop ‘n pop.”
I didn’t see it coming, so all I knew was that the door blew open without
warning and a guy fell out.
The rest of the climb
to altitude was uneventful. It was my buddy and I, our two tandem instructors,
and a videographer. They kept the mood light by making plenty of jokes, so that
we’d stay loose and not seize up when the door opened and we stuck our heads
outside the plane and looked down.
The time finally
arrived. We shuffled around inside the plane to get connected to the
instructors. We went over a few last-minute things, gave a final thumbs-up, and
then they opened the door.
Inside the plane it got
windy and much cooler than it had been on the ground. We inched up to the
doorway, and the videographer actually climbed outside the plane and hung from
the wing strut while she waited for us to exit. Frank shouted in my ear, I did
what he had showed me on the ground earlier, and out the door we went.
This is the only part that feels like you’re falling
There’s really not a
good way to convey what it’s like to freefall. It’s unlike anything else. There
was only a brief fraction of a second where there was any falling sensation,
and that was as you fell out of the plane. The ground didn’t seem like it was
rushing up at me at all. It was just windy, loud, and amazing. You can judge
for yourself just how miserable I was.
We fell for about 30
seconds, reaching a max speed of around 120 mph. It didn’t feel that fast,
because there were no references other than people falling at the same speed
(it’s not like you fell past a bird or a hot air balloon at 120 mph, for
example). It was smooth. The video shows that Frank and I did some goofy stuff
and made weird faces (imagine what kind of silly stuff you’d do if someone
pointed a leaf blower at your face). Then Frank deployed the main chute, and after
the rapid deceleration the loud rush of air gave way to a gentle breeze and
relative silence as we slowed down to about 20 mph. He then gave me an aerial
tour of the surrounding area as we continued our descent. Five minutes later we
were safely on the ground, and I was ready to do it all again.
I fell over a mile and a half straight down and lived to tell the tale
I was hooked.
Eventually I went back and did it again, and I’ll share more skydiving stories
in the future, but for now here’s what’s important. When you jump out of a
plane, there’s no doing it halfway. There’s no way to stay in the plane and at
the same time experience what it’s like to leave it midair. You either leave
the plane or you don’t, and the two outcomes are vastly different.
Despite what many
people seem to think, access to Heaven is based on an either/or criterion: you
either have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, or you don’t. Here too,
the two outcomes are vastly different. If you don’t have that relationship,
you’re not going to get into Heaven.
“That’s incredibly
intolerant!” It’s okay to think that, because it is. I serve an intolerant God.
For some reason that seems to shock people. God doesn’t tolerate our antics and
rationalizations. I can’t really blame
Him. Why should He? Imagine you had a child that wanted nothing to do with you,
yet demanded all the benefits of being associated with you. On top of that,
they replace you with someone else and still want the rights and privileges of
being your child. How tolerant would you be?
These days there seems
to be very little in terms of pure black and white. Just because the world
looks at things with a “everything is relative” mindset however, doesn’t make
it true or mean we get to water down God’s truth. There ARE absolutes. One of them is that the only
way to Heaven is through Jesus Christ.
People will decry this
view as having a lack of inclusivity. I’d counter that Christ was one of the
most inclusive historical figures ever.
He went out of His way to reach the dregs of society; He violated cultural
norms by empowering and addressing women directly; and He advocated for fair treatment
of foreigners.
The difference is that
Christ wanted all people to hear the truth so they could make their own
decision. He wanted everybody to have access to this information regardless of
their background or standing. What they did with it was entirely up to them,
but He wanted everyone in the world to know that the only way to God (and
Heaven) was through Him.
You either have that
saving relationship or you don’t. There’s no doing it halfway, and there’s no
middle ground. The good…no…the great
news is that you’re welcome to start that saving relationship right now. Even
if you think you’re beyond saving or that you’ve done things that are too
terrible to be forgiven, He won’t turn you away.
Maybe you’ve never
prayed before, but if you’re open to this, pray this prayer along with me:
Dear Jesus…thank you so
much for loving me even when I don’t deserve you at all. Lord, come into my
life, change me, break me, make me new, make me whole…forgive me. Purify my
heart. Jesus I believe you died on the cross and rose again three days later.
You are my savior and one day I will live with You forever. But meanwhile, help
me to stand for you. To shine for you, to make a difference and let your truth
be known. Use me Lord, Holy Spirit fill me to overflowing. I love you so much!
In Jesus’ name, amen.
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In 2002 a college buddy
and I took a trip to the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. We got to be
spectators at a biathlon, short track speed skating, bobsledding, some downhill
slalom, and cross-country skiing events. On top of the events themselves, one
night we were able to attend a medal ceremony downtown. A lot of the other
nights we’d go visit downtown, because that’s where a ton of stuff was going
on. We were able to watch the jumbotron set up in the city to keep up to speed
on whatever key events were going on that night. Overall, it was very cool
stuff.
In some of the venues we were able to get super close to the athletes or tracks. At the biathlon we actually had to be careful, because we were close enough to get hit in the face with ski poles. Same thing with bobsledding…we could get close enough to reach out and touch the sled as it raced past.
I didn’t really think about
it at the time, but athletes from across the globe that participated in the
same sport had similar builds or strengths. Hockey players and bobsledders
tended to be large and muscular, while short track competitors tended to be a
little shorter with more slender builds. Cross-country skiing competitors
seemed to be consistently above average height, and figure skaters cultivated
grace and agility rather than a muscular physique.
I’m over 6 feet tall,
but under 200 pounds. A little bit on the lanky side, I’m physically better
suited to play first base or quarterback more than I am to be a catcher or an
offensive lineman. I’ve got more potential in the sports of basketball,
volleyball, or tennis than I do in the sports of wrestling, powerlifting, or
marathon-running.
If I were bent on
becoming a professional athlete, I could lament the fact that I’m not built for
success in certain areas, or I could try my best to be successful in the areas
where I could excel.
It’s the same thing
with serving Christ. There are some functions in Christianity where the role
has a higher (or more desirable) profile than others. If you’re built and
equipped for one function though, don’t lament the fact that you’re not set up
for success in another. There’s a reason you have certain tendencies,
attitudes, instincts, spiritual gifts, and interests. You were designed and intended to fill a certain
role; by focusing on fulfilling a different role, you’re actually detracting
from the one you want to escape and
the one you want to attain.
Don’t run away from the
role you were born to fill. Embrace it, then watch God work through you.
I’m gonna skip ahead a
little bit on our Olympic adventure.
My buddy and I woke up at a rest stop on our first day in Utah after snoozing in sleeping bags in the car. Our breath had condensed and frozen on the windows overnight. We were only about an hour away from Salt Lake City. After all the driving of the past two days, we were excited to be so close, so we got ready for the day and headed out.
Our breath condensed and froze on the car’s windows overnight
Just arriving in the
area was thrilling. Olympic signs and venues were all over the place. Ski
jumps, the Olympic rings, extra decorations, it was great. As we drove on the
highway through the city, a lot of the buildings were decorated with massive
posters of winter sports. We drove into the city, parked, and walked around
downtown, happy to be done driving long distances for a bit. The weather was
gorgeous; sunny and warm. We saw the Mormon Temple, some of the other local
sights, got some donuts, and toured the State Capitol, where there was a
traveling exhibit of the Declaration of Independence.
We were super excited
to finally be at our destination, but we still had to figure out where we were
going to sleep that night. A little after noon we drove out of the city and
toward some public land. As it turns out, the public land in that area is much
higher in elevation. Added elevation brings lower temperatures and more snow.
As we drew near the place we intended to camp, we stopped at a ranger station to get some more info. Following their directions, we drove until reaching the end of the line; past a certain point they stopped plowing the road. Snowmobiles were all over the place. The only other way in was on foot.
It’s on foot from here
My buddy parked the car
in the parking lot and the two of us broke out our cross-country skis. Between
the weather and the time of day, visibility was starting to drop and it was going
to start getting dark soon. We needed to find a campsite quickly, and we didn’t
have time to be too choosy about what spot to use. The two of us skied in, found
a spot, then skied back out to the car to grab our gear. We were both decent
skiers at the time, but neither of us had ever skied with heavy packs before.
They throw off your balance and make it much trickier!
We returned to our site and stomped down the snow to make a spot for the tent. We set up the tent, broke out the stove, and started heating up dinner while unpacking and arranging the rest of our gear for the night. Between not having much to do after dark and still being accustomed to East Coast time, we cracked open and tossed some footwarmers into the sleeping bags and were in for the night a little after 7:30 pm.
Just as a refresher, up
until this point in my life the only other time I remember sleeping outside was
in a tent in a neighbor’s backyard in the summer as a kid. Now I’m sleeping in
a tent in the Wasatch Mountains in February as the snow/sleet falls around us. After
sleeping in a car for the past two nights, it was a nice change to be able to stretch
out all the way. I slept pretty well until the coyotes started howling later at
night. For anyone accustomed to hearing them, you know that there’s nothing to
worry about, but if you’re not used to them, you start wondering just how long
it will take for a determined coyote to rip through a flimsy tent.
I’d be lying if I told
you that I wasn’t afraid of doing what we were doing. It’s one thing to talk
like you’re going to do something that stretches you, but it’s something else
entirely to do it. Driving from New York to Utah is an adventure in itself, but
at least during that whole time, you’ve got a car…with heat, a roof, and a
trunk full of stuff. Now we had a tent, sleeping bags, and whatever we could
carry in our packs, and we set up camp in a spot that, for all we knew, was at
the bottom of a mountain that was ready to trigger an avalanche. And it was snowing.
Why on earth would I do
this?
I was willing to do it
because this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I refused to be left behind. I was
in college with few or no other responsibilities, the Winter Olympics were
happening in my country, I had the opportunity to go see them, and I had a
friend that was willing to do the same crazy thing. In the 17 years since that
trip, no similar opportunity has come around again for me.
For just a moment, think
about your life and the choices you regret. Often the things that come to mind first
are the things you did not do. For everyone,
even Christ-followers, there are things you wish you would’ve done differently.
Think about the choices that lie before you now, or that you’ll have to address
soon. One day you might pause to reflect on them, too. At different times in
our lives, everyone’s got a “thing,” an idea that nags at them even when they
try to shake it. Many times this is God’s nudge, saying “hey, I want you to do
this.” You probably don’t know what will happen if you do it. Maybe you do. Some
day you might be in Heaven, talking face to face with the creator of the
universe. “Remember when I prompted you to do that thing?” If you have regrets about not
doing something now, imagine what it
will be like then.
Don’t feel bad about
being scared; everybody’s scared of something. Letting fear stop you from doing
or being a part of big things is where you start missing out. Don’t let a fear
of being fearful paralyze you and prevent you from taking the next step that God’s
called you to take.
Refuse to be left behind.
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