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Some of you are breaking out in a cold sweat looking at this picture. You can’t see yourself on this tiny platform clinging to the pole because you’re deathly afraid of heights.

Lutheran Valley Retreat, Colorado

This is a zip line at Lutheran Valley Retreat.  The line is strung between two telephone poles. To reach this platform you must climb the pole on small rungs. Yes, you are belayed to keep you from hurting yourself should you fall on your way up, but who wants to find out if the belayer is paying attention?

When I made my first journey up the pole I was promised that if I fell I wouldn’t hurt myself. That information did little to stop my hands from sweating and my heart from racing.

“I praise God for what he has promised; yes, I praise the LORD for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?” Psalm 56:10-11 New Living Translation

God has made us a promise. He will not abandon us no matter how fearful life becomes. I don’t know the fears you face. I know mine and at times it is hard, maybe even impossible, to feel God’s presence. But his promise remains whether we feel it or not. He will not abandon us.

Our fear is conquered when, by the grace of God, we trust his promise. His promise is not visible proof of his presence, but the conviction of what we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1).

Even when death confronts us, we need not fear. God has promised his presence throughout eternity.

Maybe one year I will try rappelling the two hundred foot cliff at Lutheran Valley Retreat…ya, I don’t so.

Copyright Douglas P. Brauner