I was sharing with a friend of mine about a leadership retreat that I had to go on as the Academy Director for a Corporate Childcare center I worked for. I had to go alone. I knew no one and I was terrified with no way out of going!
I made it. I didn’t miss any of my connecting flights (which had me in a small state of panic) and I arrived in beautiful Colorado–in January and in one piece.
We had to do many outdoor excercises as well as indoor lectures. One in particular stood out and it was this one I shared with my friend (right before Phil Wickham and Mercy Me took it away at a concert!).
Our facilitators took us out on a bus to the middle of nowhere, blind folded us and then put helmets on us! What? Why do I need a helmet? Now, for all the southerners let me just tell you about the three feet of snow and air so cold that tiny icicles hung from your nose hairs! (eew I know but you need to understand this)
They guided us, blindly, and then put our gloved hands on a rope. In a whisper they said, “Now go.”
That was it!? Go where? I don’t even know where I am! My thoughts raced but then I realized–I may not know where I’m going, but I know I’m ultimately safe and I slowly began my adventure to somewhere.
I could hear women crunching snow all around me and then I heard a woman sobbing. I remember thinking, how could she be this afraid? We’re safe. But she was terrified.
Then I came to a point where one rope crossed over another and then another and another!
Decision time.
Do I change course? Do I keep hanging on to what was placed in my hands? I didn’t know if it was a timed excercise or not. But instinct told me…I don’t have forever. Keep moving. Go! I held fast to the rope that had been placed in my hands and I followed it…until it came to a dead end.
I could feel the tree right in front of me. I could hear water running nearby and I could still hear the woman– weeping in the distance. Now what? Do I go back?
I stayed. I sat down in the freezing cold, in the bank of snow and I sat silently as women scrambled around, bumped into one another and some even giggled and laughed…and the one woman never stopped sobbing.
It was then that I felt my own tears run down my cheeks. I realized that God had given me the free gift of salvation…a helmet… and in my hand was destiny, purpose, a plan. A race to run. A place to go. And I went. Where it would end…a mystery.
I was unsure, but ultimately–I was safe. And the woman weeping made my heart cry. She felt alone. Afraid. She didn’t realize that she was safe. She was being watched by someone who could see the course laid out. Someone who wouldn’t let her fall into that abyss.
I learned a lot about myself and my faith in that simple excercise. I learned to keep going until the very end. There is no stopping.
Take the plan of God for your life and go…go…go. Go blindly. You’re protected! Ultimately, you are safe! At the end, the blindfold comes off and all the things you couldn’t see becomes clear.
I couldn’t help that sobbing woman who was afraid during that excercise, but in the kingdom race I know that I can! So can you!
