Too High to Fall

Sorry I’m a little late with the recap of Monday’s Crazy Love group. How did it go? Well, like most things, not at all like I expected. We ran long. Dinner took longer than I thought to serve and eat. All the children were well behaved! Despite not everyone knowing everyone else at the start, most everyone was pleasantly open in sharing. The online video took too long to buffer so we only got half-way through, but it worked out perfectly since we were already running late. And it froze at a perfect stopping point anyway.

I also learned a couple of things too. If I’m inviting people every which way I can, it’s hard to keep track of who’s coming and who’s not. I just checked my Facebook messages and saw a friend said he was coming and needed my address. Monday. Whoops. So we had about a dozen people over and I’m expecting 3-5 more next week.

What did we learn as a group? Well, I think everyone is hungry. Almost everyone shared the same lack of passion and zeal that filled them back when they were baby Christians. Everyone is looking for something to call them higher. Perfect. As my wife and I have been praying, we hope this starts a fire, and it’s ok to burn down some churches in the process.

Not a bad start and I praise God for how well it went. Just goes to show how God blesses when we take a step of faith.

Speaking of stepping out on faith, this is Super Bowl weekend. I was once told the story of Jimmy Johnson coaching the Cowboys in his first Super Bowl. The team won only one game a couple of seasons prior. Most players have never been on such a large stage. But Jimmy won a National Championship at the University of Miami and knew a little about big stages. He also knew about butterflies and fear.

I don’t know if he did this on a bench in the locker room, or if he laid down a line of string, but he talked about how high-wire acts don’t start practicing at the highest of heights. They start low, where when they fall it will be safe. When they master their routine, they raise the wire. The whole time recognizing that it’s the same wire they’ve been on, the only thing different was the height. He stood on the bench (or on top of the string) and told his players that none of them would be afraid of walking across. That was the regular season- low, safe. But know they’re higher than they’ve ever been. But it’s the same bench. The game was on its highest stage, but it was the same game.

We approach life and our walk with Christ the same way. Fearless if the consequence is low. But raise the stakes and we forget just how big our God is as we cower in fear. Francis Chan illustrated the same principle as Jimmy Johnson, but probably got a few more laughs.