After church Sunday, I went away to Brevard, NC for a planning retreat with the pastors of Team Church.  Because Team Church has two campuses, we’ve got lot’s to coordinate.  Plus, it’s a lot of fun getting away and building the relationships with the team.  The first dip in the ccc…cold NC water wasn’t so bad at Sliding Rock, but the next day after our plans were done, we hiked to Turtleback and Rainbow Falls.  I can’t say that I enjoyed the water as much that day.

I found myself looking over a cliff  where we could dive into the pool at the bottom of the falls. Have you ever climbed up a high dive or a ride at Carowinds where you wanted to back out, but there was no way down other than to take the plunge?  That was me.  It was either jump or call the rescue chopper!  Kenny said it was fine to not jump, but how could I get back out?  We had let ourselves down a steep rock face to get to the jumping ledge.  Even if you wanted to get out, it seemed impossible to scale the rock that led back to the trail.

I wish I could tell you that I conquered my fear of jumping, but I can’t.  It overwhelmed me and jellified my legs.  You can see the ledge on the left side of the picture, and yes, I know it doesn’t look that high.  I know.  But no one ever said that the fear was rational.
Instead, of saying that I took the leap, all I can say is, “I’ve been to the edge and back.”  And as for scaling the rock to back out…it was nothing! I went up a root like I’ve never climbed before in my life.  It seemed impossible for me to climb out of there, but it’s amazing what fear can do for you.  Kenny said I went up that root like a fireman going down a pole.

I don’t typically get myself into situations like this where you’re literally stuck between a rock and a hard place.  But it gives me a little more insight into the emotions that must have gripped Isaiah when he envisioned the Lord sitting on a throne high and exalted and just the hem of his robe filled the Temple building.  (Isa. 6)  When I was on the cliff I was thinking what Isaiah said when he saw the massiveness of God, “Whoa! I’m gonna die!”

Read Isaiah 6 in preparation for the message this weekend, which begins the new Activate series.  Also, tomorrow we have the Movie night.  Keep your eye on our facebook page to see whether the rain changes our location for this event!  See you there!