To Jump Off a Cliff

Warning: This post might challenge your thoughts, commitment and decisions. Read at your own RISK.

A couple of days ago I posted this to my Facebook status:

“Will I ever have to jump off a cliff? …will God ever ask me to jump off a cliff?” – Missy, The Shack. What if God asked you to jump off a cliff? Would you? Good questions to ask. Difficult ones to answer. Of course, “jumping off a cliff” might translate into different things to different people, depending on their circumstances.

I have begun to read The Shack, apparently a book that has evoked many a debate. Seeing that people had much to say about it’s controversial content, I decided to read it with an open mind and slowly plough through it, taking time to chew the cud on every thought rather than just read it cover to cover. The quote above was the first of many interesting thoughts that I paused to ponder over.

I wonder how often we expect God to ask us to jump off a cliff, to take a risk. Not very often, I must admit. As far as most of us are concerned, we content ourselves with thoughts and songs of assurance of our safety and God’s protection over us – good things, no doubt, and very necessary. Here are a few lyrics I can think of immediately:

“I’m so secure, you’re here with me…

So close I believe, You’re holding me now

In Your hands I belong

You’ll never let me go…”

“Safe am I, safe am I

In the hollow of His hand

Sheltered o’er, sheltered o’er

With His love forever more

No foe can harm me

No fear alarm me

For He keeps both day and night.”

Often times I sing these songs to myself when I need assurance of God’s protection over me. It’s very comforting to know and feel that God has engraved me in the palms of His hands. But then, as I ponder over these thoughts, I also wonder about the practicalities of being in God’s hands and Him never letting go. I mean, doesn’t He have a zillion other things to do with His hands? Like fishing someone out of deep water or miry clay… or reaching out to touch and heal someone with leprosy… or holding his hands out against a storm… or breaking loaves of bread… or getting nailed to a cross??? These are just instances found in the Bible… and man, if I am to be in God’s hands with Him never letting go all the while, I really don’t think I would be as comfortable or “safe and secure” as one would imagine! Think about it! It’s going to get pretty uncomfortable for me… by placing myself in His hands, I am also making myself vulnerable to circumstances and situations that He chooses to use His hands for… and that undoubtedly means many great risks. Is that something I am willing to put myself through? Ha! Who would imagine that “security” in God’s dictionary is more often than not spelled R-I-S-K??? Are you even sure you want to be held so close in His hands right now?

I think it’s high time anyone who is serious about their commitment to Christ evaluate all that it truly involves and choose for himself/herself the road he/she will take. That is my challenge to anyone who might read this post.

I say this having faced my share of “risk” and having jumped off a cliff not too long ago. For me, it translated into leaving my comfort zone and stepping out into new territory without any idea as to how things would go or what the future held for me. For sure, it was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make, and not everyone understood why I had to do what I had to do. I know that to date, some think I made a big mistake and may even be angry with me or hold ill feelings against me for the choices I made. Others who could see to the heart of the issues knew better and have supported me and prayed for me all along. For a long while I did not want to face the rest of humanity, save a handful of near and dear, for fear of what they would think or say and the questions I would be asked. If anything, my situation seemed to only go from bad to worse. In fact, at one point, every step I had climbed up to that point and every strong pillar in my life began to crumble and fall, so much so that I had no where else to reach out and cling on to for dear life but above.

However, looking back, I can now see that God honoured me for the decision I made to do what He asked me to do unquestioningly. I don’t want to boast about my deeds, but God’s faithfulness to me despite my many mistakes and shortcomings. All it required was my obedience no matter what, and He worked all things (including those mistakes and shortcomings) out for my good although I could not see or know that then.

I can also testify that being in God’s hands has been as thrilling as a roller coaster ride, if not more. You never know what to expect, what God will ask you to do next, where He will send you, and whom or what you will have to encounter. If you’re an adventurous person, I’d say it’s the real deal!

Christine Caine from Hillsong Australia has been doing a series on “Stop Acting Like a Christian & Be One!” at LifeChurch. A lot of challenging thoughts, and this week’s challenge has been to be willing to take that risk, to step out of your comfort zone and be willing to go where God sends you and do what He asks you to do – no matter what it takes. She shared about how many times she herself has merely escaped bomb blasts and terrorist attacks with the kind of work she is involved in. Not quite what any of us think is part of our “calling” – something we prefer to leave to others with that kind of calling to do. “As for me, I’ll just sit here behind this desk… sure, I can pray for those who face such risks… isn’t that the best thing I can do?” Well, I hate to say that if God has truly called you, it is NOT without risk. There is always something we are asked to do that we are not quite comfortable doing… it’s a daily choice we make for ourselves, either to walk in obedience to Him or weave our own ways of folly and miss out on the wonderful things He has in store for us.

I remember vaguely reading this story about a guy who went rock climbing and as night came, lost his grip and fell. He hung on to his rope for many hours in the dark, always fearing the worst and praying God would somehow save him. To his surprise, He heard God audibly tell him to let go of the rope. “What??? You can’t be serious!” was his response, and he continued to hang on to the rope that would likely snap and give way to his weight any moment. And so he hung that way in fear and dread, almost freezing himself to death, not to mention starvation, all night long. When dawn finally broke, he looked around to see if he could find a way to safety, and much to his amazement, he found that he was hanging a mere 3 feet off the ground! If only he had listened to God’s voice and let go of the rope, he would most certainly have foregone the nightlong torture he had put himself through. How foolish he had been to discredit God’s voice and choose his own folly instead!

I’ll wrap up with that thought. I don’t know which person reading this post today might be standing atop a cliff, with God asking you to jump off. Like I mentioned in my Facebook status, it might translate to different people into different things, depending on their circumstances and situations. If you’re that person atop the cliff today, what would you do? Are you willing to take that leap of faith in obedience?

I am a VIP!

This is a post that ought to have been written on August 25th, 2009, when these thoughts first came to me, but I didn’t quite get the chance to. The exact same thing happened to me again last Friday, so I figured it was something I simply had to post before I forgot about it or the thoughts became too stale in my mind.

I was riding down from Ooty to the Coimbatore Airport in order to fly to Delhi on work. My regular driver, Wilson, was away on another trip so he sent me another driver with whom I had had a bad experience earlier because of his rash driving. Wilson reassured me that he had cautioned this driver to drive properly, and if that was not enough, my Mom told him to drive “slow” around the curves. He drove “slow” alright – so slow that a few minutes later, and I might have missed my flight! But part of that wasn’t his fault. All the way from hairpin bend #1 to the foothills of Mettupalayam, he had no option but to drive slow. Just ahead of us we had a VIP entourage of 6 vehicles – 5 SUVs and 1 sedan – that apparently belonged to some big-shot MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly) of Tamil Nadu. The DMK flags flew atop the hoods of every one of the cars except the police patrol vehicle, and we were forced to follow with absolutely no option of overtaking them. My driver might have been frustrated, but was at least smart enough to take advantage of our white car and his white uniform. We tailed them as if we were part of the convoy, allowing for us to overtake other vehicles that had slowed down or pulled over to allow the entourage to pass. The other vehicles, of course, assumed that we were part of the convoy (I wish I had dressed more formally to add to the effect :p) and allowed us to pass without so much as a raised eyebrow. I did, at times, even draw the curious looks of those that might have assumed I was the MLA’s daughter or something.

Somehow, riding at the tail of that convoy made me feel very privileged and important, as if it demanded that I hold my head a little higher than usual and carry myself in a more dignified manner. I do not mean to sound arrogant or proud here, but with the look of awe that some people gave me, and the realization that they assumed I was a VIP, I couldn’t help but smile inwardly. Then, as has often been the case lately, I felt that check post drop in front of me yet again.

“I am a VIP!”

“Yeah, right! Posing as one, you mean.”

“Oh, come on… let me enjoy the thrill of it while it lasts!”

“Silly girl! Don’t you realize that you are more of a VIP than you think you are?”

“Huh??? Really?”

“Janie, have you forgotten that you are a daughter of the King of Kings, a Princess?”

So true and yet easily forgotten.

I recollected the first time that realization had dawned on me. I must have been about 15, at my rebellious worst and forced to attend a teens camp held by the church I grew up in but had long since stopped attending, simply because my Dad was one of the speakers and my Mom had volunteered to be one of the leaders for the girls. I was put in a group with girls much younger than me because the older group was full of college girls, and I was the only girl that was in between. As the oldest in my group, I had to take charge and be more responsible, setting a good example.

I remember I overcame my fear of large spiders that year. Yes, I had to work up the courage to kill not one, but two huge spiders (and chase out the third) that were contentedly boarding and lodging in our bathroom. And when I say large, I mean large – they were some 3-4 inches in diameter, no kidding. That’s beside the point though…

Back to the point – I don’t quite remember which of the speakers dealt with the topic of our Identity in Christ. I don’t even remember the rest of the sessions. I only remember the sessions my Dad taught, the topics he taught, his “gospel magic” performances that always awed the audience and got them arguing over dinner as to how the tricks were done, even begging him to teach them his tricks. I have always remembered most of my Dad’s sermons because I idolized him for one, and also because he always taught profound truths so simply and in ways one could easily remember, often using acronyms or words that began with the same letter. I ought not to digress yet again. :p

So… basically what one of the speakers taught us was about how important we are to God, how much He cares for us as individuals, and how unique he has made each one of us. I think that must have been the first time I heard about each of us having thumbprints that are so unique, and that there is not a single person in the world who has the exact same thumbprint as me. I thought that was pretty cool, and it sure did make me feel very special. Although I don’t remember much else, I do remember that on the last day when we were asked to share about anything that had impacted us deeply during the camp, I stood up and shared about how this one topic had touched me and ended my speech in tears! Lol! Ok, but seriously, it did mean a lot to me at the time because I had been going through issues of low self-esteem – something every teen encounters at some point, I suppose.

I suppose? No, I know for sure, thanks to the piles of research done by Metadigm for OneHope. Having sat through several “Strategic Planning” sessions to plan on new products for India based on Metadigm’s research, I know for a fact that the value of an individual is probably the #1 issue that comes up over and over in India. It’s so sad that most of us grow up here in India with little sense of value, more so for a girl child. Interestingly, I even found that there is no accurate way to tell someone, “You are valuable/valued.” in Tamil. (If someone well versed in Tamil knows a way to say that, do kindly let me know.) The common words for “value” in the language usually refer to value more in terms of price (vilai, madhipu). Any wonder why children don’t feel valued at all? Or why a child is more likely to feel like an “object” rather than a “person” who is loved and valued?

The topic is quite deep, and one that I could go on about endlessly, having been there-felt that myself many a time. Not that once we cross our teens such tendencies magically disappear either… certain situations and phases all our lives can get us to the point of feeling worthless. Although I wasn’t going through one of those phases, it was a good reminder to me twice in the last two weeks that I am a VIP in Christ… that as a child of God and His very own creation, I am accepted, loved and valued… that He loved me enough to go to the extent of sacrificing His own son’s life so that I could live my life abundantly and to the fullest… “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.” I can’t help but break out into David’s beautiful Psalm at this point.

Psalm 139:1-16

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, “even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

These words never fail to assure me of my importance to God; these and His sweet words whispered to me in the stillness, “I have loved you with an everlasting love. (Jer.31:3) I have betrothed you to myself…

“I have redeemed you, I have summoned you by name. You are mine. (Isaiah 43:1)

“You are precious and honoured in my sight… I love you…” (Isaiah 43:4)

More importantly, John 1:12 says, “To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” That assurance alone is more than enough for me to know no matter how I feel, where I’ve been or what I’ve done, I can hold my head up high and carry myself like a Princess, a child of the Most High God – and I don’t refer to pride, but the confidence that comes from knowing that I am loved and valued – and that I am indeed a VIP!