What it means to fall on Jesus

I love flying. Since I was six years old,I've been fascinated with things that soar through the atmostphere. I've flown in massive military cargo planes, small economy jets, tiny high performance gliders. I love the feeling of acceleration as a plane takes off down the runway and is literally sucked into the sky. Despite the fact that I know WHY a plane full of a hundred people and thousands of pounds of cargo is able to overcome the forces of gravity and soar through the atmosphere, it never ceases to amaze me. Sometimes it seems like being a Christian is like stepping onto a plane. You know where it's going, you know it's worked for other people before, and you know the pilot has gone through years of training to do this job. No matter all these facts though, there's still an element of faith. Faith that the wings will stay attached to the plane, that the engines won't give out, that the very aerodynamic forces that keep the plane aloft won't mysteriously cease to exist.

But there's an even deeper form of faith. I didn't understand what it was until last summer, when I and several of my best friends not only got on a plane, but left it midflight. I still didn't understand it 'til days later, when I thought more about what had happened. I'm not saying that me jumping out of an airplane made me a better Christian. I'm saying that it helped me understand just a little more of what Christ wants from us.

When I jumped out of that airplane I had only known my instructor for about an hour. I didn't know how many times he had jumped, if he was mentally stable, I didn't even know his last name. But I trusted him with my life. Why? I don't know. I was so excited about getting to jump that I didn't think about that 'til afterwards. But thinking about it, I realized that having a relationship with Christ is kind of like going on a tandem jump. When we trust Christ completely, we don't have to know how to do everything he ask us to do. We don't have to understand why the parachute keeps us from plummeting to our deaths. We don't have to know how to operate the cords that steer it down. We don't even have to know where the landing zone is. All we have to do is hold on to Him, and jump. He will do the rest. That's what we do when we become a Christian.

Why do I write this? I keep thinking about what we as Christians do so often. I don't know how many times I've heard someone say "well I need a Bible degree before I can go into ministry", or "after I get out of school, I can start serving God". We think that we need a piece of paper, some flimsy certificate, to qualify us to be a servant for Christ. I'm not saying education is bad. I say it's not enough. If we put our trust in our own earthly knowledge, even earthly knowledge about heavenly things, we'll only be getting on the plane. But if we put our trust in Christ's awesome power to save, and in the Holy spirit's guidance, and the Father's love, we will experience the thrill of jumping OUT of the plane. The thrill of losing control, abandoning safety, and falling through the air with the wind on your face. And only when you're at a complete loss to do anything for yourself can you experience the feeling of having Christ catch you.

I think that God calls us to do great things. And so often, we reply "God, I don't know enough yet!" But He doesn't care. Don't waste your energy on the future, it will never come. All God wants us to do is to trust Him here, and now.