Grab my hand!

"Grab my hand!"

I had a jumble of feelings coursing through me.
Fear, panic, frustration, embarrassment...

Embarrassment? How did that fit this picture?

"Grab my hand!"

I was balanced precariously on the rock face of a cliff in Ontario, Canada.
Everything had been fine during the boulder scramble from our beached canoe's to the cliff base. Then things grew progressively worse as the wall pitched nearer to vertical. Easy hand and footholds gave way to polished granite and slippery sand.

The embarrassing part was that my friends had already navigated this section and were looking down from a slim ledge beyond this chute. One had come back to talk me through.
I didn't think I could reverse course. I had already stretched past a tiny outcrop that now looked much smaller below my feet. My current hold was tenuous and slippery. This next move up was paralyzing me - if I couldn't get past it, I would truly be in a very, very dangerous spot.

"Grab my hand!"

I heard my friend, but it had not yet occurred to me to trust him.
He was right there. He had a solid purchase and was bigger than me. He had already gotten through.

But this was a new spot to be in. I was used to being the leader, confident of next steps, able to see my way through. How could I know that this hand up would truly save me from this miserable situation.  From my own fear and panic?  And what, I thought miserably, if it only got worse?

I grabbed his hand.

He pulled me through. We all made the rest of the way up together. Helping each other and growing closer as a result. And not one of these guys every chided me for my fear. Not then, not ever.

Everybody is afraid of something at some point. Something that paralyzes our ability to move forward. Often there is a hand held out right in front of us.
It's a friend, somebody we know, saying, "Grab my hand!"
And we ignore it, looking below, looking to the right and left.
How can they possibly have the answer that I haven't already thought of myself.

I experience this more and more as the years go by and I watch family and friends struggle. They have gotten to a juncture in life that frightens them. Below or behind them are broken relationships, muddled careers, maybe an unexpected health challenge. Here they are, holding precariously to a philosophy or spirituality that they've associated or credited with their forward progress to this point.

But its not giving them the courage or hope or confidence to keep going.

"Grab my hand!"

We tell people about Jesus. Saving Grace. Peace with God. The comfort of fellowship and support.
No accusers. No ridicule. Other people who had fears and misgivings.
Forgiveness, healing.

"Grab my hand!"

I can see many people - even friends, family - look right past me.
How can this guy know something that they haven't already thought of?
Some are even embarrassed to admit it. They're confident, self motivated. Independent.
And I see myself thinking the same thing on that cliff in Ontario - looking right past my friend and his hand.

But then I reached out - not yet knowing for sure the outcome, but fully understanding the consequences of doing nothing - and he saved my life that day.

That's what Jesus will do.

What do you believe?