Life On A High Wire

He did it! Daredevil Nik Wallenda wire walks across the Grand Canyon

That was the headline on Today News online shortly after Nik Wallenda of the famed Wallenda family high-wire and circus performers achieved a feat no one else had ever accomplished. To my knowledge, no one else has ever tried to walk across the Grand Canyon. I couldn’t decide whether his attempt without safety equipment on Sunday evening was just incredibly stupid, selfish (because of his children), or, as he portrayed it, an act of faith.

All I know is I couldn’t watch it. From the moment he stepped out and began praying, my feelings about the walk became more ambiguous. He obviously needed his faith to center him on his task, but would the world consider God just as great as Wallenda proclaimed if he’d fallen to his death? That’s the danger of challenging the laws of physics and gravity God put around us and then expecting Him to intercede when we do. Human error can, and often does, get folks killed.

Yet, who am I to judge Wallenda on his earthly feats? After all, many folks walk a spiritual high wire daily with no thought of tomorrow or their eternity. They’re willing to gamble that when they face physical death, there is no afterlife, or their good deeds will be sufficient to get into heaven, if it exists. Self worship is one way to term that belief system.

Good deeds should naturally flow from a Christian’s life. But good deeds in and of themselves will not buy entrance into heaven’s gates. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6.

Wallenda had one chance to get his walk right. If he’d slipped and fallen, his life would’ve been over. He risked everything. Without the tether Jesus provides through salvation, when physical death comes, there will be no more chances for the unsaved to get eternity right.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8

Jesus loved us so much, he willingly sacrificed his life for us. We have all the chances in the world while we’re still alive. Once we are standing at heaven’s gates, our decisions are irrevocable.

Are you walking a high wire, balancing your earthly life against your spiritual life and hoping it’ll all work out in the end? My prayer for you today is that you’ll reach out and take God’s hand before it’s too late.

If you have a prayer need, I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment or e-mail me confidential requests.

Update on Emily, a middle-school girl battling osteosarcoma: Due to pain in Emily’s leg, surgeons successfully removed a plate screw yesterday morning that was snaring muscle tissue when she moved. They will continue to monitor her growth and decide later whether to address the minor discrepancy in her leg length.

Latest photo from Sgt. Jesse McCart's family:

Jesse sustained injuries in Afghanistan 

last summer and has been rehabbing since. 

Please continue to pray for him and his family.

Thanks for the continued prayer support for those who have requested it since I started posting a weekly prayer blog last year. I appreciate it, and I know they do. J

Would you take a moment to click on the Missions page to learn more about how you can support Pastor Mike and Adrian Gonzalez on their mission trip to South Sudan and Kenya in August? Yesterday’s blog post, Passport Through Darkness, sheds more light on the conditions in South Sudan as they struggle to build their new nation. Click here to read.

God bless,

Laura ✞

©Laura Hodges Poole