More Than Words

A few days ago we had some friends over for D&D (dinner and discussion), where my dad did a little devotional on trust. First off, my dad is awesome. Really. God has given him an amazing amount of wisdom and he embodies James 1:19 ("Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry."). He does family devotions often and always shares what God is doing in his life when asking about my Walk, but this devotional was really special to me. It was on trust, and asked the question "who do you trust?" 

It's easy to say we trust God but when the rubber meets the road those words are tested. After reading several scriptures (Psalm 121 and 37 were especially amazing) daddy read the following story; it meant so much to me that I had to share it with you.

In 1857 a tightrope walker named Blondin stretched a two-inch steel cable across the gorge of the Niagara Falls, attracting a large crowd. He said to the onlookers, "How many of you believe that I can carry the weight of a man on my shoulders across this gorge?" The crowd shouted and cheered their belief that he could do it. Sure enough, Blondin picked up a sack of sand weighing about 180 pounds and carried it across the falls.

 Blondin walking a tightrope while pushing 
a wheelbarrel over Niagara Falls

Then Blondin said, "How many of you believe that I can actually carry a person across the gorge?" Many people in the crowd indicated that they thought he could do it. Then Blondin called out, "Which one of you will climb on my shoulders and let me carry you across the falls?"

Suddenly there was silence. Everyone wanted to see Blondin carry a person across the gorge and many believed he could. But nobody wanted to put his life in blondin's hands.

Some time later Blondin did carry a man across Niagara Falls. The man was Blondin's manager, who had known the tightrope walker personally for many years. "You must not trust your own feelings, but mine," Blondin told his manager as they prepared for the crossing. "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."

This is what faith in Jesus is: knowing Him personally and entrusting our eternal life into His hands.

(From Won by One by Ron Rand)

There are a number of things that stick out to me in this story in relation to our Walk with the Lord and trusting Him and His ability rather than our own, but I'll let God show you the application in your life. The main thing that spoke to me through daddy's devotional was this: 

I must put my words of trust into action; my Creator will never let me fall.

Blondin and his manager in 1859, walking over the falls