-The Heights-

Earlier this week Jason Romero became the youngest person to climb Mt. Everest as the ripe old age of 13! Not only that, but he only has one more peak to have climbed the highest peaks in all 7 continents. He now has his sights on the last, Vinson Massif in Antarctica.

Apart from cruising at 35,000 ft in a 747, the highest I’ve been is several peaks in Colorado at just over 14,000 ft. We spent a week last year at Leadville, CO, which is the highest city in the U.S. I was sick at my stomach most of the week because, like an idiot, I forgot to do what I told the rest of the group before we left: drink tons of water!

I’m not particularly afraid of heights & have worked several stories up in carpenter work & repelled several times. Unfortunately I have one little hitch-jumping from heights into water. I suppose it’s a phobia. Odd how I can repel or hang hundred feet up, but ask me to jump off into water & I start backpedaling & breaking out into cold sweats!

Stems from an incident YEARS ago where I served on a mission team. We were at FBC Searcy & the entire youth group went to Greer’s Ferry Lake in Heber Springs were they all jumped off the tallest cliff like a bunch of crazy Acapulco cliff divers or something. They all shouted some stupid phrase they had & jumped out into oblivion. Me & my team-mate were the last on the ledge & knew that: 1. they had all jumped & survived 2. They somehow even ENJOYED it 3. If we didn’t they weren’t gonna listen to a word we had to say all week. So, I took a deep breath & launched out.

I free-fell for what seemed like minutes, when a thought went through my mind: you are supposed to jump out or you’ll be a greasy spot on the tapered rocks on the shoreline. Did I jump out far enough? Uhhh….I looked down to see. That’s when I hit the surf at about 100mph! Felt like someone hit me with a table leg, or a brick bat. I know…been there, done that.

Almost unconscious, and what seemed like 100ft below the surface, somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered-‘when you’re underwater & disoriented see which way the bubbles go from your mouth.’ They went up sideways. Otherwise, I would have swum into the lake and, well, I wouldn’t be typing this now.

So, there you have it. I don’t relish jumping off into water. Thing is, no matter how high I go or how low I were to dive, I could never be apart from the presence of God. He’s with me wherever.

“Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, Your justice like the ocean depths.” Psalms 36:5-6 NLT

My prayer, as always, is that you know His presence. You know His unfailing love. He loves us deeply & wants to have close fellowship with us. We need to allow Him control & make our lives aright. At the furthest reaches we are not alone. He is there. When you feel your lowest & alone, He is there, as close as our next breath & heartbeat.


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