For my 45th birthday my family surprised me with an extremely unusual gift. They presented me with a certificate for a tandem sky dive. After the initial shock and wondering if they were trying to get rid of me, I have to admit I was thoroughly excited. I’m a wee bit of an adrenaline junky and have always loved doing anything that takes me up in the air.
The day of the jump, I went into training after verifying that my jump mate was happy with his life and didn’t have a death wish. We suited up and loaded up in the airplane with 19 other jumpers. I was dead last (no pun intended). I asked if we could do a back flip out of the plane, of which he was happy to oblige. We got to the edge, jumped, and started free falling at 180 mph. How hard do you think that first step out of the plane was? Not hard at all. I didn’t have a single moments hesitation to jump into thin air out of a perfectly good airplane at 14,000 feet with nothing between me and the ground but a nice guy and a parachute. I loved it!
I have found throughout my life that those types of things are extremely easy. The hard things are the ones when you have to leave your comfort zone, step out in faith, and do something you probably don’t really want to do – like share you faith with a complete stranger or even worse a friend or family member. Why is it so hard to tell people about our Jesus? No idea, but it is. Logically we should be shouting it from the rooftops but then people would think we were nuts. Right?
People thought Jesus was a nut, so if we are to be more like Him – so be it. Become a nut. Stand out in a crowd. Tell complete strangers what it’s like to have the Savior of the world take care of you. Tell your family members that you want to be with them forever in heaven. Tell your friends or co-workers that you’re seriously worried about their future.
The Long Hollow Kidz have this fabulous rap song – Tell ‘Em About Jesus. It says: “Gotta Tell ‘Em Bout, Tell ‘Em Bout Jesus.” Notice the GOTTA! We should feel this Gotta in our very bones. It was a command, but we shouldn’t have to be told. Telling people should be as natural as breathing.
Jump out of your spiritual plane and tell someone about your Jesus today!
“For I am not the least bit embarrassed about the gospel. I won’t shy away from it, because it is God’s power to save every person who believes: first the Jew, and then the non-Jew.” (Romans 1:16)
(side note: I had written this blog when my good friend, Vivian Penuel, wrote one based on skydiving. How cool is it that God can use the same situation to teach us different things?)