What I Learned from Emma & the Giant Swing

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go”   Joshua 1:9

I read this verse a few weeks ago in my quiet time. Then and every other time I’ve read it, I’ve always understood God to be saying that, first, Joshua should be strong and courageous and second, that being strong and courageous means that you do not feel fear or dismay.

A little girl showed me this Saturday that I was wrong. Emma is 6 years old and came to our base with her mom and dad who are pioneering a YWAM base in West Virginia. I had set up a video shoot for our ropes course promotional video that day, and so we’d invited Emma’s family to join us, and the youth we’d invited for the video, on the Giant Swing (picture above, me sending . We were almost done when Emma decided she’d like to go off of the swing, too. The best way for Emma to do that, since she’s so small, is to go in tandem with her dad, so both of them climbed up to join Chris, my base director (pictured, right, on the Swing), and I on the platform.

As soon as Emma reached the top, she started crying. We have a strong ‘challenge by choice’ policy at Richmond Ropes, so Chris and I began to try to comfort her and explain to her that she did not have to go off the swing if she didn’t want to. We could lower her back down the way she’d come up and no one would ever blame her for not going. She’d been plenty brave just to climb the more than 20 feet to the platform. But she was adamant-‘I want to go, I want to go’ all while clinging to her daddy and crying. We’d ask why she was crying, and she’d say ‘I’m afraid.’ But still, she stuck to her guns-she was going. Every once in a while she’d quiet and we’d take another step in the process of sending her-hooking her dad up and having him sit down, hooking her to her dad-and at each step, the crying would start again. And each time we’d say ‘You don’t have to go-are you sure you want to go?’ and through her tears, she’d say ‘yes!’ Up to and through the point when she and her dad left the platform, this continued. When she wasn’t crying, she was shaking, she was so afraid-but she wouldn’t back down.

Later that day I had an opportunity to tell Emma what God had used her to teach me-that fear and courage are not opposites. That perhaps the truest most impressive courage is shown when we act even though we’re afraid-when we refuse to give up on the challenge, even though we have to cling, crying and trembling, to our Father to make it through.

And when I reflected on all of this in light of Joshua 1:9 this morning, God helped me to understand even more. He was not telling Joshua it wasn’t ok to feel fear-fear is a feeling-feelings are given to us by God, and are often useful in handling and processing the situations He leads us into (thanks, Laurie). There are many of those situations (such as when one is standing on a 20+ foot platform about to step off into thin air) when not feeling fear is nothing short of stupidity-is, in fact, the sign of a dangerous insensitivity to reality. People who aren’t at least a little afraid in those kinds of situations end up falling off of the platform because they didn’t think it was important to hook in before they leaned over the edge to wave at the people on the ground. What’s not ok is to BE afraid, to allow fear to become not a feeling but an attitude or a state of being that keeps you from ever leaving the ground when God is calling you to climb.

And that’s what I learned from Emma and the Giant Swing.

Praise God with me:

+For a good first season directing Richmond Ropes-God carried me through so much and taught me so much! (including the lesson above :))

+For God’s provision-First, of a new windshield for my car-I was waiting until the crack got entirely across the windshield to pony up the dough to fix it, and almost the same week that happened, someone came to me and asked if they could buy me a new one! Second, of money for medicine when I had the swine flu (I got an anonymous gift the day before I got sick, for enough to make up the difference between what it cost and what I could pay). Third, airfare for my trip to Salem, Oregon for training in March-a friend is letting me use her frequent flyer award, all I have to do is pay a $50 fee.

Please Pray with me:

+That God will continue to teach and grow me through and equip me for what He’s calling me to do in Richmond.

+That God will provide the rest of what I need for my trip to Salem-I will have housing and living expenses while I’m there, as well as the cost of the training I’ll attend and the certification I’ll test for (and hopefully receive). And that He’ll help me and show me favor when I test for the certification-I actually have to test and pass two levels in 5 days, and this is an awful amount of time and money to spend if I don’t pass.

+That God will lead me in balancing the ropes course, my continued work in the urban ministry, fundraising, serving in my church, family, friends, and all of the other things on my ‘plate.’