Preposterously Impossible Hypothesis #7: “If everyone else jumped off a cliff would you jump too?”

There’s nothing like a good spring afternoon spent rappelling—a quiet mountain breeze gusting around you and the soft shades of late March afternoon sunshine. I like the feel of the rope in my hands and the smell of my leather gloves. However, none of those sensations trumps that feeling you get when you approach the edge of the cliff.
I remember first starting a few years ago and how intimidating that approach could be, my knees nearly shaking from nervousness and a rumbling uncertainty gnawing at the back of my mind.

I got over those uncertainties. I learned to trust in my skill and my gear to get me over the edge and to the bottom safely. Now when I make my initial approach to the precipice the fear is gone. I can adequately turn around and back off the cliff with an assurance that all will be ok.

It didn’t start that way for me though. In fact, for most of my life I was deathly afraid of high things and to this day I still have trouble with man made heights like bridges, mountain highways, and tall buildings. This nearly crippling fear I use to carry around came from a tragic story of a classmate of mine who died in a climbing accident when I was in junior high. However, a few years ago I decided to conquer my fear.

I started small, and by small I mean I started with cliff jumping. Cliff jumping is essentially finding something tall to jump off of into water. From that I started doing a little rock climbing, nothing crazy or very dangerous. Eventually I wound up rappelling, caving, snowboarding and all kinds of fun things that revolve around God’s heights. There is just something about a high thing I know God put there that doesn’t elicit the same response as something some engineer designed in a cubicle. Rocks and water just seem to carry a greater sense of permanence than do steel and glass.

Let’s look at this phrase for a minute, “If everyone else jumped off a cliff would you jump too?” Naturally, your first impression or answer is most likely a resounding, “No.” That’s all well and good, just because the president gives a speech about government ran health care we wouldn’t all go dump our medicine in the garbage and quit our HMO. Some would, and probably did tonight, but many would not.

What if someone you trusted impressed upon you to do something seemingly crazy? Would you follow them off that cliff? What in you rouses that kind of response? Is it faith in their decision making ability? Is it trust that they are informed enough, skilled enough, or in some way adequate enough to make the decision for you?

We make, follow, or disagree with the decisions of others daily. Our lives are a continual process of decisions and their circumstances. The fulcrum of this issue lies not in the cliff, the inherent danger of following someone blindly, or the result gravity might have upon you. The real issue, the million dollar question, is why you do or don’t follow? It doesn’t really matter whether or not the “right people” are doing something. What really matters is whether or not what is being done is right.

In life there are leaders and there are followers. You either have to lead, follow, or get out of the way. You won’t always lead and you won’t always follow, but at times you have to be willing and able to do either.

Those who succeed in their walk with God aren’t the timid souls who are afraid to step over the ledge. Neither is it the fickle crowd running rampant after every fanciful fad fashion and fallacy to erupt from mainstream society. Those who find real success, a God inspired eternal success, are those who live out Hebrews 10: 38, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.”

A lot of time life can feel like backing over a cliff, but at least with God you know you’re in the hands of the very one who crafted gravity itself.