I Wish God Was Like Tandem Skydiving

The following post was an idea that I had for a talk at Waters Edge Church. I ended up going in a different direction but I still wanted to share this idea. Most of the pictures included in this post have never been seen before...

I wish God was like tandem skydiving. To me skydiving wasn't scary. I was attached to an instructor who has made over 8,000 successful jumps. I might have been blindly trusting the instructor but I figured that he didn't want to die. Since he was attached to me I trusted that he would do anything in his power to make sure that we landed safely on the ground. I wish I felt that same confidence with God. 

I have never seen God. When I make jumps of faith I can't physically feel God attached to my back. To take a leap of faith is way more scarier then jumping out of a plane for a tandem skydive. God doesn't give you a parachute. He doesn't talk you through each step of the process. He doesn't always guarantee that if you jump that you'll land safely on the ground.

I was encouraged by a verse that I read in the Bible this week. "Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 8-9 (NIV).

In my experience it takes more faith to trust in God then it does to trust in a tandem skydiving instructor. It takes more faith but it's worth it. There are lots of times when I don't know which direction to go. There are lots of questions that I have the Bible just wasn't designed to answer. Where are all the dinasours, why is it impossible to pop all the kernals in a bag of micowavable popcorn without burning it, what was He thinking when he invented mosquitos, how many kids should I have, and what job you should take are just a few of the questions the Bible doesn't answer. There are lots of times where I am feeling led to jump, but I just don't know if I should. That's where faith comes from.

Faith is believing that God is who He says He is and then putting that belief into action. It's scary to jump when you can't see the instructor. It's scary to jump when you can't hear the instructor whispering what to do in your ear. It's scary to jump in faith, but it's worth it!
 

Pictured Above: We were in free fall for almost a minute.

Pictured Above: They tell you in the class to arch your back and tuck your legs. I would grade myself at about a C. It's hard to control what your body will do when you are falling from 12,500 feet.

Pictured Above: In the video that I was making I was supposed to be screaming. It's hard to scream with that much wind attacking your face. It ended up making some really funny pictures.

Pictured Above: I finally got my face together to fake the scream. I know someone is going to ask but the answer is "yes I wasn't scared and yes I was faking the scream." It's called acting.

Pictured Above: The instructor tells you that on your first jump your ears might pop. So...yeah...that's what's going on here.

Pictured Above: The instructor tells you that if your ears do pop to plug your nose and blow. It worked.

Pictured Above: This is the second the parachute opened. I'm amazed at how they took pictures of every second of this trip. I have a lot more that didn't get featured in this post.

Pictured Above: That's our view once the parachute opened. Crazy huh?

Pictured Above: You land sitting down. I had no idea. I though we would land running in. It was very comfortable to land.

Question: When is a time that you have had to have faith in God?