ShareThisLeaps of faith come in all different sizes, but big or small, they work the same -- you just let go and step off the edge.
That was one of many thoughts that crossed my mind as I clung to a platform 150 feet in the air, waiting my turn to go hurtling through the canopy of a redwood forest on a skinny little cable called a zip line.
Never mind what the other thoughts were. The only one I recall (except for a rather vivid mental image of my mother spinning in her grave) was that if I died, at least it would make an interesting obituary.
Perhaps you are wondering why a God-fearing woman of advancing years and declining intelligence would strap on a harness and climb on a platform halfway up to heaven.
I blame my so-called friends. Suzie, especially. It was mostly her bright idea. They've been talking me into stuff for years.
It started back when our lives were so busy with families and jobs that we had little time for friendship. So we began to meet once a week, the six of us, to spend an hour drinking coffee and being friends: Sharing our lives, hopes, fears, joys and praying for each other's best; intertwining our roots, like redwoods in a forest, to grow stronger, stand taller together.
Do that for 20 years and you, too, will get to know and be known pretty well. You'll also get to see a lot of answered prayers, learn how to split a check six ways to the penny and calculate a 400 percent tip.
I highly recommend having a group of friends such as that. Just be careful what you let them talk you into. Three years ago, after I moved from California to Nevada, they agreed to excuse me from our weekly meetings, but refused to let go of me as a friend.
They are stubborn that way.
When they signed up with other women from their church to attend a weekend retreat at Mount Hermon in the redwoods near Santa Cruz, Calif., they told me that I had to go, too.
Nobody mentioned any zip lines. Sure, I said, I'd go.
If you have never been to a church retreat, I'm not sure how to explain it. Take 100 women -- who seldom get much chance to converse without interruption -- and put them together for a weekend, and I guarantee you they will do a lot of talking.
They'll also do a lot of eating and singing and laughing and praying and Bible reading and such. But mostly, they will talk.
It's a little like spending a weekend with 100 electric blenders all set on "frappe." Only, they're nicer than blenders. And more fun.
Then, as if we needed more excitement, they turned it up a notch with zip lines.
Some years ago, my friend Joyous sent me a card that I keep on my desk: "Every day do one thing that scares you."
I know a little bit about scary. I reared three children and lost their father to cancer. Every day, no matter how much it scares me, I try to be alive.
Far be it from me to fall behind when my fearless sisters (who are even older than I am) were raring to hitch up their harnesses. I knew if I didn't go with them, I'd have to hear about it for the next 20 years.
And that is how I ended up 150 feet off the ground, hitched like a mule to a zip line.
It was very much like other scary moments I have known. Sally was in front of me. Suzie and Linda had my back. And Jesus was all around.
All I had to do was let go, step off, feel the wind in my hair, sit back and enjoy the ride.
Leaps of faith come in all different sizes. But big or small, it helps to remember that you don't have to do them alone.
(Sharon Randall can be contacted at P.O. Box 777394, Henderson NV 89077 or at www.sharonrandall.com.)
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