Menno Haven Musing: Climbing Wall Faith (Part 2)

In my last post I reflected on some young climbers we had recently that were with a family gathering at Menno Haven, and talked about the joy of climbing without destination.

I want to return again to those climbers, because something else really struck me as I belayed them (aside from one or two swinging out and hitting me ;) ).

When I was facilitating the younger kids, around that 5 year old range, they would climb up the wall a ways, and then say they were ready to come down. Normal rock climbing safety protocol is to alert the person on the ground that you are letting go, and then lean back so you are facing the wall and can kick yourself out as you repel down. This keeps your head safer.

These little guys didn’t quite have that part mastered, but everyone was wearing helmets so it was ok. They would let go in such a way that they would spin around and face out.

I remember one little boy who wouldn’t let go, and I could see the anxiety across his face as he contemplated the drop below him. Suddenly he had to trust the rope, the harness, and me(!) that I could get him safely to the ground. Letting go was hard! First he let go of one rock, then reluctantly the other. After he let go and realized that everything was fine and he wasn’t going to fall, he got a huge grin on his face. He could look out over everything and just enjoy the ride down. That little guy came back a couple more times, and I’m sure he just climbed for the fun of being lowered back down. After that first time, he had no trouble letting go and trusting the rope.

Trusting can be hard. Especially in things that are unseen. From way up high with your back to the person holding the rope it can be hard to tell if everything will be ok. We often have similar struggles of letting go and trusting God. We can’t always see if the rope is held. We are not really sure how high we’ve climbed, or how far it is back down. But time and again we learn that God’s got the rope.

But knowing that we can trust God and actually letting go of the rocks we are clinging to are two completely different things. The climber knows that someone below has the ropes, but that doesn’t always make it easier to let go! But the Bible is consistent, letting go and trusting is the right way to go.

Ps 25 1-2b To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

O my God, in you I trust; 

do not let me be put to shame.

Ps 40: 4 Happy are those who make
    the Lord their trust,
who do not turn to the proud,
    to those who go astray after false gods.

Isaiah 12: 2 Surely God is my salvation;
    I will trust, and will not be afraid,
for the Lord God^[a] is my strength and my might;
    he has become my salvation.

Isaiah 26: 4 Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord God you have an everlasting rock.

1 Peter 1: 21 Through him (Jesus) you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.

(and many many more!)

The verse that I have on my computer right now comes from Jeremiah 17. Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is in the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending its roots out by the stream. It does not fear heat, and its leaves shall stay green. In the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.

Those are some pretty amazing promises for “just” trusting! Fearless, alive, worry free, and fruitful. But how easy it can be to hang on to the climbing wall! Holding our family close, and our guns closer, staying safe in our addictions and patterns of thought, surrounding ourselves with money and possessions, material security.

When you think about it though, what makes it safe for the climbers to climb the wall? Is it the rocks they hold onto, the strength in their arms? No, what makes climbing the wall safe and fun is knowing that we have a strong rope, and an able person holding the rope.

Maybe in this New Year we should look down from the high place we’ve positioned ourselves to see our God holding our rope, ready to lower us down whenever we are ready to stop relying on our own strength. And as we are lowered down and become closer to God we will realize that it’s more fun coming back down than it was going up.