I tugged on the ropes holding me up. I can’t do this! Oh lord. Help me. If this was being terrified, I had never even been scared!

“Ali-thon? Do I have to jump?” I glanced nervously down at ground, forty feet below me.
“Yes Brynn! I want you to jump. It’s ok! I can step across it. It’s really not that far.” Ali-thon, whose real name was Alyson, was sitting two platforms ahead, watching me.
I took a deep breath, and grabbed a hold of the two ropes that were the only thing holding me up. Currently, they were slack, but if I didn’t make this simple jump, they would save my life, jerking me to a stop four feet below me. That would HURT. They were attached to the harness around my waist. Apparently, I could step across it. Clinging to the ropes – and pulling the carabineers out to the middle of the wire – I leaned as far out over the edge as I could, and lifted one foot. I couldn’t do it. Please God!! Give me the courage to do this!!
Come on Brynn! It’s just a simple jump! This was part of the ropes course, at my beloved Christian summer camp – Sound View.
The ropes-course was 20 to 60 feet up in the air, the part I was on, the ‘B’ course, was 40 feet up. This particular obstacle was called the Flee Leap, otherwise known as the Leap of Faith; two platforms a yard and a half apart. With nothing in between; to get across, you had to jump – or sit down and swing across – but Ali-thon wouldn’t let me jump, saying I would hit my head.
I almost found out was it meant when people say the world spun; just by thinking about the actual act of the jump. My heart was pounding, my eyes trying to see everything, my mind spun like crazy. People on the ground were calling up to me, their words mixing together and getting confused on the way up to me,
“Yay-”
“Can-”
“Go Bry-”
“- Do it!”
“You ca-”
“Just jump!”
I can do it! Just do it! Take a breath, and do it! I walked back to the tree, getting ready to jump; I wanted a running start. This time, my third or fourth time trying to get across, I was going to succeed!! Turning around, I moved quickly to the edge, and just before I leapt, I looked. Not down, not across, but up. At the steel cable keeping me safe; at the suddenly flimsy looking carabineers that were my connection to the cable. I had to sit down.
Oh lord in heaven, please. Give me the courage and strength to do this. Please. Save me. I need you. I had squeezed my eyes shut while I was praying. Praying harder than ever before. Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes and looked around. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, then the sunlight fully registered for the first time that day. The birdsong finally filtered through my thoughts. I knew now, it wouldn’t be hard; in fact it would be really easy, with God on my side – as he had been all my life. How could I not have known this before? I stood. Looking at the gap, and the fear came trickling back.
No. I’m not scared. God will help me. This time when I looked at the gap, I could ignore the fright. My feet carried me over to the edge. I took a deep breath, and trying hard not to think, stepped across.