When I was a youth pastor, I spent years taking groups of kids out to a camp in Colorado. It was a camp designed to challenge a camper physically, emotionally, and spiritually. One of the challenges to confront every camper and every leader was the sport of rappelling. Rappelling is a sport where you tie yourself to a rope that is already tied to a tree and then you go to the edge of the cliff and lean on the rope backing off the cliff “butt first”. Rappelling can only happen at the edge of the cliff.
When I arrived at the top of the rappelling hill, my hands became sweaty and my head felt light. I wanted nothing to do with the edge of the cliff, nothing to do with backing off a 60 foot straight drop that would certainly lead to my death. It took the belittling voices of my friends and a lot of talk to get me on the rope and to the edge of the cliff. Once there, I became aware of a couple of realities…I could die doing this and the view from the edge of the cliff is so much better…I can really see everything in a spectacular way.
Being on the edge of the cliff eventually became exhilirating and rapelling became more and more fun. This idea of being at the cliff’s edge also applies to what we are doing as a church. One of our leaders once said at a meeting, “the view from the edge of the cliff is the best view you can get. I am not saying it’s the safest place to be, but it certainly is the most exciting.” That’s really true. You can choose the safe and secure route, the comfortable place to live, or you can get out to the edge of the cliff where it takes great courage and great faith to live. In fact, when you are at the edge of the cliff, you even find a new sense of your need for God because your in a place where you need to put your trust in Him.
So, if you are a part of Jericho Road Church, I hope that you have ventured out to the edge of the cliff. That might look a little different for each of us because we are all different people. For some, it might be talking with a neighbor, for others, it might mean telling your story to a group of people you really don’t know that well. Some others might need to get out and serve someone or get involved with a neighbor. Whatever it is for you, once you get out there, at the edge, you’ll realize that the view is way better there.
This blog is a place for me to share with all of you some of my thoughts and reflections about this church, this community, this body called Jericho Road. It’s a place for me to paint a picture of life on the edge, life walking in Jesus’ way. I hope that you’ll check here on a regular basis so that I can share with you some of the things that I am learning as I lead this movement. Please feel free to weigh in, comment, disagree…let’s have a conversation…maybe that will help us all to go closer to the edge. Maybe a dialog will help us all to gain the courage and find the faith to do what God is calling us to do. I hope that it will help us find the best view.
