Cliff diving...

When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea.

                                                                                                John 21:7

   

Cliff diving has never been on the top of my to-do list. Diving has never been on the top of my to-do list. Cliff jumping, that's a stretch even. 

So, when we were offered to ford a river, drive up a mountain, and hike in the forest, I'm all- "sure!" But when standing on the precipice of a big round rock looking down into the ridiculously deep waters of Bassin-Bleu, I panicked. Not so much visually, shaking and crying and such, but you know the feeling. I froze. I made up questions about the pretty blue water and the visitors around me. I let other people take their turn and jump in ahead of me. I stood pretending to gaze at the glorious, cloudless sky. Anything, to put off jumping off that rock and into the water..

Jen came up beside me and said, "Let's do it! Let's jump in." We counted to 3 and we jumped. It wasn't hard. I didn't drown. The water was the first cool thing I had touched in 6 days and it felt amazing. Spine tingling.  

We all have our own rocks. The places we stand...watching...pretending it's not quite time yet.

When will it be time? Sometimes, we just need to jump in, fully clothed, and stop thinking about it.  

Peter jumped in the sea because he had heard John say, "It is the Lord!" 5 seconds before that, they thought it was just some random guy standing on the shore. But "It's the Lord" made Peter a different man- a jumper. 

So we jump. How much easier it should be when we know who we're jumping in for? 

Who cares how deep the water is when someone yells, "It is the Lord!" 

There are times that call for thinking and pondering, but there are definitely times when Christ stands on our shore and all we can do is throw ourselves in.

When has God called you to jump?