Authors | Jamie & Steve

(Ok, this is actually from Jamie. She just didn’t like the way this read, so she asked the English major to pretty it up some. So really, everything meaningful and mind-blowing is from her, not from me. Not that any of you who know us would be surprised. ~ Steve)

What does it mean to trust someone?

I’ve been thinking a lot about this. I think it means to believe that someone can be depended on to do what they say they will do. Ultimately, it means to trust that they have my best interests in mind and they have the power to do something about it.

The Jump

A young girl stands haltingly at the edge of the pool. Mom, already shoulder-deep in the water, calls out, “Jump in! Come on, you can do it! Trust me!”

Now think about this for a minute. Both people have a very similar goal: to be in the water with each other. However, they have a very different perspective on how that should happen and what that will look like.

The little girl wants to be with her mom. She wants to experience the water from the safety of her mother’s arms. Success for her does not involve water in the eyes or up the nose. That would be a traumatic failure. She’s scared to jump because her Mom is a little too far away for her liking and she wants to stay high and dry above the water in her mother’s arms.

Success for her does not involve water in the eyes or up the nose. That would be a traumatic failure.

Then there’s Mom. She, too, wants to experience the water with her daughter, but she knows something her little girl doesn’t. She knows what life is like under the water. It’s a whole other world to explore. Her goal is for her daughter to discover this new world so they can play together under the water. For Mom, success doesn’t just involve some water in the eyes and up the nose, but total submersion!

For Mom, success doesn’t just involve some water in the eyes and up the nose, but total submersion!

So…the little girl trusts her mom, and she jumps. Mom backs up a little and allows her to go completely under, catching her and quickly bringing her up in a big ball of tears and crying and coughing and eye rubbing. Now she’s not only scared, but she is confused and a little angry at her mom: “How could you do this to me!?”

Press pause. Let’s say you were witness to this little scene at the pool. Was the child ever in any real danger? Was the mother not being trustworthy? Should the little girl stop trusting her mother because of this?

Of course not!

A New World

I believe our faith life with Jesus is often like this. We attempt to trust Him, but when we get a little water up our nose we assume He has abandoned us and we stomp away from the pool! We become firm in our private conviction that it’s foolish to trust Him.

What if we’re wrong though?

What if, by walking away, we miss the excitement of a whole new world Jesus is inviting us to discover and explore with Him – a world where trusting Him opens our eyes to miracles? What if, by not trusting anymore, we miss the exhilaration of flying through the air and landing in our Savior’s arms, doing something we never could have done on our own? What if jumping over and over again and getting water in our eyes and up our nose is exactly what Jesus wants for us, and more? What if He wants to take us under, so we can see just how powerful He is and just how much He loves us and just how amazing life is with Him under the water?

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” ~ Romans 15:13