God's Tightrope
In 1857 Charles Blondin, a famous tightrope walker, stretched a cable across the gorge of Niagara Falls, attracting a large crowd. He asked the onlookers, "How many of you believe I can walk across this tightrope?" They all shouted their belief that he could. "How many of you believe I can do it, carrying the weight of a man?" Again, that drew cheers of assent. Sure enough, Blondin picked up a heavy sack of sand and carried it across the falls. Then Blondin asked, "Who believes I can actually carry a man across the gorge?". Once again, they cheered "Yes, we believe!" Then he shouted, "So, which of you wants to get on my shoulders and let me carry you across?" Suddenly, the crowd grew silent. Crickets. All those "believers" who had loudly proclaimed their faith, suddenly were unwilling to act on it.
Eventually Blondin did carry a man across Niagara Falls. The man was Blondin's manager, who had known the tightrope artist personally for many years. "You must not trust your own feelings but mine," Blondin told his manager. "You will feel like turning when we don't need to turn. And if you trust your feelings, we will both fall. You must become part of me." (Source: Won by One, Ron Rand)
What a great picture of our partnership with God. We're a lot like the folks in that crowd. It's one thing to say we believe; but "climbing on God's back", that's entirely different! Scripture is filled with inspiring stories of "tightrope" adventures with God. God calls us not just to believe He can do great things, but to "climb on His back" and join Him in the adventure, as he carries us through treacherous situations. Often, I start out with God on the tightrope, but then climb down; a little later, get back up, then climb down again. Can anyone relate?
As time goes on, we learn to trust God more and more. Just as Blondin instructed his manager, we become part of him. We move as He moves. It's a process of growth...but partnering with God is amazing! Climbing on God's back and trusting Him as He crosses the rapids of life is perhaps the hardest thing on earth to do...especially when there's a raging waterfall hundreds of feet below us! But when we do, there's no adventure quite as thrilling!