So it was summer 1998, I was probably 14 years old, crazy, full of energy, and on my way to one of the best water parks in the nation. When we got there I notice the "big dive", a 20ft-high jump into the 20ft-deep pool. No one in my family wanted to try it, but me. You see, since I was small I wanted to try crazy things. I was very young and full of life, that's what teenagers do, right? So, I went for it. I went up the stairs, but when I got up everything looked different. I was scared to jump. Many others next to me where jumping; including this Russian tourist, who for all I know must have been part of the Russian diving team. They all went in front of me and jumped. My family down on the ground was cheering for me "come on jump, just jump". After three unsuccessful attempts, I finally did it. I jumped. On my way down my whole life started to flash by my tightly closed eyes. Don’t ask me why, but I decided to flip. I wanted to make things more exciting, but I just didn’t know how to dive. I jumped, but I didn’t really think about how the landing was going to work. So of course, I landed in a fetal position. Bang. I smacked myself as a splashed into the pool. The first words I heard were from a stranger yelling to the lifeguard "Oye loco tirale el salvavida que ese tipo se dió duro". (dude, toss that guy a lifesaver, he hit hard). He sure was right, I got hit pretty badly. The aftermath: I never jumped again. I became frustrated, and too afraid to jump again.
You see, this leads me to think about a man that's been influential in my life, Mike Yacconeli, he said in a motivational video for youth workers, that has been in my mind since then: Just Jump First and Fear Later. This is very different from the way we tend to think. We want to have everything figured out before we get ourselves into anything. This was not the way Peter thought before he walked on water. He just jumped out of the boat, and went for it. He became the only man ever recorded to walk on water (besides Jesus of course). My question for you is: How long has it been since you decided to do something mega-awesomely-big for God? Think about the last time you took the chance of dreaming in GOD, and waiting on Him to help you make those crazy dreams come true.
Trust me, sometimes we need to just JUMP! Jump first and fear later. Let your stubbornness and “child-like” faith in Jesus allow you to let go of the past, the voices in our head, and jump into God's arms in order to JUMP into all the great things He has for you. Right now I am jumping into many things that are big projects and only with God's, help I could guarantee success. My motivation for you is to jump, jump into something crazy for God. He will take care of the rest. Just jump first, fear later.