gwanyeboyye

On Saturday past I watched my 14 year old son pivot on his heels over the edge of a twelve storey building. The only thoughts going round my head were ones of fear, sickness and pride. The first two because I had done the same thing before and the memories made me want to puke, the third because he had overcome a long standing fear of heights to take part in a sponsored abseil. Sorry, I neglected to mention he was attached to a robust harness, two safety lines which in turn were anchored to the very best that British Steel could muster and oh yes and he had a hard hat (never quite sure why). There was the anticipation of the ‘jump’ on the journey to the venue, followed by the banter with his mates when we arrived, thinly veiling the bile rising unceremoniously in everyones stomach. I watched him struggle to implement all that he had been taught in the expansive ten minutes of tuition and guidance given just before the descent. I watched the pain as he slid, kicked, pondered and bounced his way down a very smooth 1960’s concrete edifice. He did it, he landed and all was well with the world again

This is a story one could tell in the fellowship of christians, usually incorporating the words…’and you know it’s just like that with God’. There would follow various parallels, some clear some tenuous, about faith, or fears, or about being in Gods hands or perhaps touching on ascension / descension and so on. But what I most remember about the event was the look on my son’s face as his feet touched the ground. It was not just one of nervous relief or even repressed shock – that will come when he is my age – but a look that said: “I did it, its over, I nearly wrecked myself, feel proud if you want to but don’t ever ask me to do it again”.

There is a case to plead, I believe, that at some stage in the faith walk, christians should have witnessed God’s awesome plan / presence / power to such a degree that it’s downright scary. So much so that at the end all you can say to God is: ‘feel proud if you want to but don’t ever ask me to do it again’. Too often we are more comfortable with signing the sponsor form and taking photographs as opposed to getting involved with the ‘plan’. By the way there is no surer way of getting a teenager to hang off a building than by saying: ‘ It will scare you witless and take your breath away… don’t even think about trying this at home’. Maybe there is a lesson to learn about the constant dumbing down of the christian message and lifestyle. Is there mileage in an anti-advertising for christianity? Jesus talked about taking Him and his message seriously, not trivialising but becoming involved, with all the ’scary’ moments that entails. Lets face it by the time my son tells the story in school on Monday morning, fear will have turned into heroism and he will not be able to wait until the next sponsored bungy jump off some dodgy bridge.

PS. I did offer to abseil down with the wee lad but I just had to give up my place for others…I had to give him his moment of glory…there were too many watching…it was a bit windy…they needed someone on the ground to untie the ropes…I had a piece of grit in my eye…

posted by greentea