a leap of faith…

Do you remember the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?  Near the end of the movie, Indiana must obtain the holy grail in order to save his father’s life. But first he must pass a series of tests.

In his second test, Indiana comes to a ledge overlooking a deep canyon with the trail to the holy grail picking up on the other side… but there is no bridge over the ravine. As Indiana stares at the canyon and the impossible distance to the other side his father’s voice echoes in his head reminding him of the clue to pass test number two: “only in the leap from the lion heads will he prove his worth. “

Indiana is standing at the lions head. A leap sounds crazy… looks even crazier!

For a man of science, this makes no sense, but Indiana trust his father and as he reads the words in his father journal once again, Indiana takes a deep breath, and steps into the abyss.

His foot hits something solid… and with another faltering step Indiana realizes it is a bridge. He reaches back and grabs a handful of dirt, then throws the dirt in front of him, revealing the rest of the bridge crossing the canyon and leading to the other side.

Without the leap, he would never have found the way across.

A leap of faith is often required for most anything valuable or meaningful in our lives.

• We leap… hoping and praying there is something more than us, and our meager strength, faith and limited resources to sustain us and see us through o the other side.
• We stand at the altar and commit to marriage, hoping we can make it work.
• We hold our newborn , and wonder if we are equipped to raise him well in this quickly changing world.
• We take a new job and relocate our family anticipating that this career move will provide for our family’s needs, hopes and dreams.
• We let go of our kindergarteners hand as they step onto the bus, wondering what her day will hold, knowing we can’t protect her forever
• We put our daughter on a plane to pursue a dream of missions and trust God to carry her safely there and back home again.
• We move our son into the college dorm and remind him to be wise in a world of temptations, trials and grown up problems.
• We worry and struggle with how to care for aging parents.
• We worry about how to live well with failing economies, uncertain futures, instability in our world.
• We hear the doctor say, its cancer and hope the treatment plan will restore our health.
• We kneel and pray, asking God to intervene in our lives with hope, healing, protection but most of all…

But most of all, we ask God to give us…

the courage to leap…in faith

…to remind us that He has it.

and… to give us the assurance that He has us in the midst of whatever happens.

 

What leap of faith has God asked you to take?  What gave you the courage, assurance or peace to actually take the leap?