Rappelling – Dare Greatly

February 16, 2023February 15, 2023

What Absurd Things Might You be Called Upon To Do for the Gospel?

Have a unique talent or ability? God can use it for His glory.

When I was in high school I got involved in rappelling, and that interest further developed in college. I was fortunate enough to be able to take college coursework that provided me with instruction on safely using the equipment used in descending down cliff faces. It was a lot of fun; I started doing some outside-the-box stuff with it, and I’ve written about some of those adventures elsewhere in this blog. While I was in college friends and I rappelled off cliffs, out dorm windows, set up ziplines, and made promotional videos. Some of you may remember the post I made a few months back about rappelling down a cliff in a kayak.

After college, I was no longer surrounded by the same kind of people that “encouraged the crazy.” I moved back in with Mom and Dad for awhile and worked construction for a bit. During this time I helped out with our church’s youth group.

Every Presidents Day weekend, our high school youth group took part in “Winter Weekend” at a nearby Christian conference center. All the youth groups from our denomination’s district were invited to take part, and it was generally one of the high points of the year for the high schoolers.

Killing a few hours between daylight filming and nighttime filming. Some of the grease paint rubbed off when I blew my nose.

This particular year, the organizers asked Allen, the leader of our youth group, to film a video about some of the rules that would be in effect during that weekend. It was supposed to cover things like curfew/lights out times, not riding in personal vehicles, etc. To make it more fun to watch, Allen decided to add an entertaining twist. He recruited a couple of guys to be the rule-breakers in the video, and he asked me to more or less be the “bogeyman” that always caught them. I dressed in camo and grease paint for the video, and popped out of ridiculous places to catch the guys doing bad things. Then on opening night after the rules video finished playing, the plan was for the two guys to walk out live on stage, looking like they were going to do something shady. My role at that point would be to rappel down from the ceiling, gently touch down behind the two guys without them noticing, tap them on the shoulders, and then chase them out of the room. Honestly it sounded like a lot of fun, so I agreed to do it.

I had some camo gear from the Salvation Army store, and I had some leftover camo paint from something I did in college. We shot the video one cold February day and Allen spliced it together the way he wanted.

On the first night of the weekend, before they let any of the high schoolers into the auditorium, I dressed and geared up, and some people moved a scissor lift into place for me. While people were putting the finishing touches on the stage decorations, I rode the lift up into the rafters above the stage, set up the anchors and rope I’d need, and climbed off the lift onto a metal beam. They brought the lift back down, rolled it backstage, and then opened the doors for the first session of the weekend. I probably sat up in the rafters for 20-30 minutes, waiting for my next part. While I waited I painted my face up in camo, checked and re-checked my equipment, and tried to avoid having the lower half of my body go numb from sitting on a thin cold metal beam.

Once the session started, they welcomed everybody, then went over some of the things you have to cover right at the beginning. Then it was time for the rules video. It had a pretty positive reaction, and I could hear laughter from the crowd during different parts of it. As it drew to a close I slid off the beam and transferred my weight into my harness. Once I was steady I swung upside-down.

The two guys walked out onto the stage, almost right below me. The crowd started going nuts for them (everybody either missed the point of the video or they thought the two guys were cute, I dunno). I waited just a few beats for the crowd to show their enthusiasm and then started sliding down head-first. The rope I used didn’t hang down to the stage; I wore a backpack that held the rope, and I had pre-measured it so that it was just enough to safely get to the ground, but then the tail end of it was easy to pull right through the rest of the gear so I could chase the guys without having to stop.

It was a little strange. As I came into the audience’s view, the cheers of the crowd went quiet while they tried to understand what they were seeing. I came down right in front of the screen the video had been playing on, so they were probably trying to figure out if I was a real person or if they were watching something that was being projected.

I descended low enough to reach the ground, flipped rightside up, and pulled the rest of the rope through my gear so I was disconnected from it. I stepped up right behind the two and tapped them each on the shoulder. They looked at me, gave each other a funny look, and then sprinted off the stage and up the main aisle of the auditorium with me right behind them. The crowd burst into cheers again.

The photographer was a little late on this one, but it’s the best photo I’ve got. You can see my feet criss-crossed on the rope against the background of the screen. The two “bad guys” are just to the left of the “One Way” sign.

Now…did this stunt lead anyone to Christ? I can’t imagine it did. Sliding down a rope upside down just doesn’t have that kind of effect on people. The important thing to remember, though, is that Christianity is a team sport. The speaker that weekend, the various youth leaders, and the counselors leading small group discussions that weekend all did the heavy lifting in that area. All I did was help break the ice and bring a smile to the face of people who were still deciding whether or not they had made a mistake in coming to this retreat.

One of the neat things about Christianity being a team sport is that even though we don’t actually huddle together to go over the strategy, God knows exactly what His players’ strengths are, when to use them, and how to motivate them. Believers that are complete strangers can unknowingly help each other out if God sets it up that way. When He needs someone to move on His behalf, He starts working on some people three years ahead of time, but only 10 seconds ahead of time for others. In the end, His timing is perfect…you just need to say “I’m in.”

So I urge you: be open to using your unique talents. Even if they don’t directly lead to salvation for someone, you can’t possibly know how your part factors into the furthering of God’s kingdom until after you’ve done it.

The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. -1 Corinthians 12:12

December 16, 2021December 15, 2021

“Kayaking” + “Rappelling” = “Kayelling?”

(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 20^th 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 16^th (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.)

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.

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!)

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.

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.

September 26, 2019December 27, 2023

God Wants You Dead

When I was in college I took classes in Outdoor Leadership, which included developing skills in both technical areas and in leading individuals and teams toward outcomes. One day our class was learning about how to properly set rope anchors for rock climbing. Obviously, it’s very important that your equipment catches you if you fall off a rock face, so our instructor was teaching us how to secure the safety rope to a number of anchors we had established at the top of the cliff.

The instructor, Kevin, demonstrated a variety of ways to attach safety equipment to boulders and trees at the top. He made a point to emphasize that we’d need to establish three solid anchors before being able to proceed. “That way, if one of them fails, you’ve still got two. Even if two of them fail, you’ll still have one more.”

Of course, someone asked the question. “What if this one goes, that one fails, and the other one goes, too?”

Kevin looked at him, confused. “You mean if all three of them fail?”

“Yeah.”

“Then God wants you dead.”

When you have a God-given task laid out in front of you, it’s certainly a good thing to spend time planning and preparing, but there comes a point where you’re prepared enough and it’s time to get moving. Kevin didn’t want us to establish four anchors, or five. Three was enough. The chances of all three anchors failing was so low that setting more of them would have been a waste of time. If we spent time focusing on more than three, that time took away from our actual reason for showing up at the cliff that day.

It’s possible to take so many safety precautions that it becomes too cumbersome to do anything. There comes a point at which you are suitably prepared, reasonable precautions have been taken, and you’re ready to leave the comfortable behind. The only thing that remains is for you to take action.

By all means plan effectively. Expect problems and make backup plans if necessary, but don’t let perpetual planning stop you from getting started. If all the necessary pieces are in place, it might be that you are the only thing holding you back. What are you waiting for?

November 19, 2018November 20, 2018

Can You Ever “Safely” Jump Off A Cliff?

When I was a kid I loved climbing stuff. That held true as I got older, but I also found out that if you have the right equipment, it could be a lot more fun coming down.

This is how I got interested in rappelling. I don’t remember how I got started with it, probably on a youth group trip to a climbing gym or something. I started thinking it over, and as I got into my teens, I began purchasing bits of gear here and there. That stuff’s not cheap. I was afraid my parents were going to give me a hard time for wasting my money on some bone-headed hobby, so I kept it hidden for awhile.

It’s only by God’s grace that I didn’t break my neck or otherwise seriously hurt myself. I didn’t know what I was doing. At first I was so eager to try the stuff out that I’d climb a tree in my backyard while Mom and Dad were both at work. I’d tie the rope directly around the tree (which is terrible for your rope’s longevity), and then rappel down, climbing up again and again until I got too tired to keep doing it.

Mom and Dad eventually found out. If I wanted to hit bigger heights, I had to let them in on it. From trees I moved on to an old nearby antenna tower that wasn’t used anymore. I’d go through life eyeballing places that were easy to climb up and had a big, clear drop. I eventually rappelled down things like an elevator shaft in a building under construction, out of the ceiling of a gymnasium, my dorm room window at college, a few times over the stage of an auditorium during a performance, and a few nice, big cliffs. One time I even rappelled down a cliff IN a kayak. (That’s a whole separate post! Stay tuned…)

It was awesome. Sometimes it felt like something out of a SWAT Team movie, other times it felt like some kind of military special forces thing, but mostly it was just…fun! I loved going off big cliffs, giving a big kick off the wall, and hearing the rope making that “zzzzzzz” noise as it rushed through the hardware, lowering me safely to the ground as fast as I allowed it to. Other times it was a challenge to have precise control over the descent speed. (I almost smashed through a window once in college, but I was able to control the descent enough to avoid doing that. I’m not sure how I would’ve explained THAT one!)

It’s been forever since I did any rappelling. I still have all the gear in the basement, though. I made ziplines, pulley systems, all kinds of crazy stuff. Now my kids are starting to get interested in it. Anyway, I’ve got two ways to tie this story in to your journey of living a more impactful life for Christ.

The first has to do with fear. The absolute scariest part of a rappel is right at the beginning, the part where you make the transition from standing on your own two feet to placing your full weight and trust in the strength of the rope and harness. Especially if you’re new to rappelling, it’s very scary to stand with your heels hanging off the edge of a cliff and then lean backward. The more you do it though, the easier it becomes. You start out from small heights, you learn to trust the equipment, and you pay less attention to the audacity of what you’re doing. You become more at ease with what’s happening, and you’re able to move on to something bigger, because your capability and capacity to handle bigger situations grows.

The second goes back to when I first started rappelling. I wanted to keep this hobby a secret; I had to be careful who I let in on it. I wanted to do it so badly though, that I was willing to do it in secret and worry about the consequences later. If you’re looking to be used greatly for Christ’s kingdom, and you’ve been moving toward letting Him use you for that purpose, there will come a point at which you simply stop worrying, and decide that you’ll deal with the consequences as you go. When it comes to living for Christ, dream a dream so big that you have to be careful who you allow yourself to tell about it. Not only can He make it happen, but someday down the line, you can look back over your shoulder and see how much farther past your original goal He’s taken you.

What do I mean when I talk about a goal or being used greatly for God’s glory? You may not even have a clear picture, or a fully formed idea…you just know that there’s something you keep coming back to over and over. Watch this video; it’s less than 3 minutes, and it does a better job explaining that phenomenon than I can.

I Have To – Promotional Trailer from Christy Fay on Vimeo.

This week is Thanksgiving. You may be getting ready to see someone you don’t see often. For your version of a “beginner’s cliff” to rappel from, here’s my challenge to you: that little thing God’s been whispering in your ear…your “I have to”…tell someone about it. Whether you want to blurt it out for all to hear when you’re sitting around the table, or tell just one person when you’re alone with them and you have the opportunity, say it out loud to someone when you’re together this week. Use this video as a discussion starter if you think it will help. That’s what I did when I got the idea for this blog, which is the start of my “I have to.” I figured that if I told someone, and they didn’t hear about any progress on it, they might ask me about it later. Telling someone was my way of moving the idea outside my head, almost a way of holding myself accountable and setting things in motion.

A little fear is good. It helps keep you alert, focused, and it helps you learn what’s important and what’s not. Too much of it will hold you back and keep your feet from leaving the ground. Everyone gets scared sometimes, but it’s how to deal with it that makes the difference. Don’t let fear prevent you from taking the leap that God’s been whispering in your ear.

God’s invited you on an adventure. I don’t know how big your particular cliff is. He can bring you to the edge, but it’s up to you to hang your heels off the edge and lean out into the void. Trust the rope. Trust your gear. The first few steps are the scariest, but believe me, if God’s prodding you in a certain direction, it’s an invitation to be a part of something special. Take the first step this week by moving that idea outside of your head.