In the early stages of...
Illustration
In the early stages of Army paratrooper training, soldiers take practice jumps from a tower, learn how to pack a parachute and become familiar with their equipment. Yet the day eventually comes when the recruits must take their step out of an airplane in flight. They hook their ripcord to an overhead line and slowly move in single file toward the open door. In the moment of truth, each one stands for a moment contemplating the vast emptiness outside the plane. Fear enters the mind, in that moment. No matter how thorough the training, always there is the fear.
When the soldiers finally do jump, it is not their own training they trust, nor the parachute that will support them. It is the voice of the "jump master," the trainer who looks each soldier in the eye and tells him or her they will be safe. Those times in life that we successfully trust our faith to be reliable, it is because we have heard the word of a trusted person, and we believe it. In the case of Abraham, it was God. In the case of the apostles, it was Jesus, who appeared to them on numerous occasions and said, "Be not afraid."
When the soldiers finally do jump, it is not their own training they trust, nor the parachute that will support them. It is the voice of the "jump master," the trainer who looks each soldier in the eye and tells him or her they will be safe. Those times in life that we successfully trust our faith to be reliable, it is because we have heard the word of a trusted person, and we believe it. In the case of Abraham, it was God. In the case of the apostles, it was Jesus, who appeared to them on numerous occasions and said, "Be not afraid."
