Stepping Out

A few months ago my oldest daughter had the opportunity to fly on a trapeze. There's a trapeze school up near my folks, and they had given her a gift certificate for her birthday. When we arrived that day for her to use it, I was shocked when I saw just how high up the starting platform was. I remember thinking that she was going to be pretty scared once she got up there, even more so when the leaders told us that we were not allowed to go up with her. I mean, she's only 8 years old. And yet, she climbed up the stairway, sat down on the ledge, got hooked in, and with hardly a hesitation at all, off she flew. How awesome to see her sailing back and forth, screaming with a mixture of fear and glee. By the third time, she was trying to do a flip, and all the fear was gone. When I asked her afterwards if she was scared, she said "of course". "But you jumped right off!", I replied. "I was scared, but they told me to 'go!', so I went...and it was great!", was her reply to me. That simple..."go!"..."so I went...and it was great!". Guess who got a gift certificate of his own for Christmas after remarking it looked like fun? I have a feeling that my hesitation will be a bit more prolonged than my daughter's.

This past Sunday the congregation I serve decided to choose faithfulness over fear. After a year of intentional and prayerful visioning by the Church Council, the congregation was asked to approve a budget that would carry that new vision forward. It is a budget that does not make a whole lot of business sense, meaning the projected expenses are lot more than our actual income was for this past year (and for what our projected income is for next year according to our pledges). In a business world, it is a $45,000 deficit budget. In our church world, it is a $45,000 faith budget that we have committed to "Pray It In". There was no mass hysteria at the meeting that clouded people's minds. There was certainly the realization that this is a big number, and that saying yes to this budget was indeed scary. But there was an even greater realization that we are called to be faithful to what God calls us to, and that He is bigger than a number. So we cling to the promise that He will provide for our needs. Deficit vs. Faith...semantics? I think not.

God has called us to "Go!". We're scared, but we've pushed off of the ledge, grabbing onto that trapeze tightly. May our great God replace our fear with exhilaration, as we discover the joy that comes from being faithful and soaring upon His Spirit. Who knows, maybe next year, we'll be ready to even try a flip.