Inspirational
Ziplining: Depending on my Life Line
I am not afraid of heights. Well, not so much. I am, however, afraid of falling and hurting myself. So when the chance (or should I call it a challenge or dare) to try out ziplining came up two years ago, I hesitated, but then thought: “I’m 52 and I’d better do this before I find out I can’t even climb up to the platform!” So, with my heart pounding, I agreed to try zip lining for the very first time.
It was our annual reunion in Subic. Every year, my 3 sisters -Monina, Chato and Beckie- our only brother, Randy with his hip wife, Tessa, and I make an annual trek to Monina’s house in Subic just to bond, cry on each other’s shoulders, laugh at each other’s corny jokes, and basically try relive those times when we were still young and carefree; even though our joints aren’t anymore. Just imagine! Six of us in our 50’s and 60’s cavorting on the beach! But I digress! Back to zip lining.
Savina and I
As expected, my gung-ho brother who at that time was 57 but still thought he was 37, immediately said he’d give it a try. We both got ourselves harnessed and helmeted and off we went and climbed up the steep steps to the first platform. Monina, Chato, Beckie, and Tessa decided to stay on Tierra Firma and pray for us instead.
Randy was the first to get off the platform and whiz down the cables. It looked like fun, but I was still nervously eyeing the long drop down. The tree tops were below and they looked awfully and awfully tiny to me. What if the cable snaps? What if I slip out of my harness? What if I get stuck in the middle? All these thoughts walked slowly across my mind, but I had to shoo them away.
The guide was telling me to hold the bar and just trust the harness. What? Trust the harness? But we’ve just met! I didn’t know him well enough to trust him! Crazy, crazy thoughts. I asked the guide, whose color like burnt toast, showed me that he had been doing this for quite some time, “Has anyone ever fallen?”
He answered: “Wala pa naman na-aksidente, Ma’am. Kung meron, sirado kami sigurado.” (No one has had an accident yet, Ma’am. If ever, we would have been closed immediately for sure.) Yet? YET? What if I was the first one!? Oh my! I wasn’t too sure if that was the kind of assurance I needed. I thought of my husband Em, at home and confident that I was safely enjoying a stroll along the beach with my siblings. The only possible danger was me tripping over a shell. And my 9 kids! “Goodbye! goodbye!” But my brother was already on the other side taunting me and I had to show him that I could do it.
So, with the sound of my heartbeat in my ears, I took hold of the bar and slowly slipped off the platform. When I signed that I was ready, the guide snapped me free and I was on my way. Aaaaah! I could see the treetops below as I whizzed overhead. Wheeee! I screamed all the way to the next platform. When I got on the platform, I had a huge smile on my face and a huge-er (no such word but hey!) sense of being alive! I then noticed our guide unscrew a line attached to my harness from a cable and he immediately latched it on another. As we walked on a hanging bridge, the line followed me. When we got to another platform for the next zip line, he once again unscrewed the line and attached it to another cable. He explained that this was my life line. If anything happened, it would be the one to hold me up so I wouldn’t fall.
There! There was the assurance I needed to quash my anxiety. I confidently zipped on 3 more lines and enjoyed myself immensely.
As Randy and I labored to climb the trail to get back to the station, I thought how zip lining is very much like my life.
Life is very much like zip lining, it offers a great view of what God has planned for me, and full of trials and pitfalls too. What’s good is nothing can separate me from Him, He’s my Life Line. (Romans 8:38-39) (Image credit: www.thepostmodernpastor.com)
Life is exciting and it promises a lot of thrills. It offers a great view of what God has planned for me. But it is also full of trials and pitfalls, both known and unknown. I guess it is the unknown that makes me most afraid. The what if’s. What if I’m wrong? What if I fail? What if people find out I’m not good after all? What if…? It makes jumping off the platform to see what life offers so difficult. I hesitate, and with heart pounding, I jump, not because I want to but because I have to. Isn’t it great that I have a Life Line that keeps me always safe? Wherever I go, whether I am forging ahead, busy with living, He is with me. As long as I am attached to Him, I am safe. I will not fall. I will not die. I will reach my destination. Even in my times of rest, even in those times when I am safe and comfortable, Jesus, my Life Line, is here with me, keeping me close.
A few weeks ago, at the age of 54, I once again dared to go zip lining. I was with my daughter Savina in the Ma. Cristina Falls power plant in Iligan City. She didn’t want to go on because she was afraid of heights. This time, I was able to give her the assurances she needed to get off the platform. I told her about the life line, and how it keeps her safe. I also told her about the time I first tried zip lining and how it got me to realize that Jesus is our Life Line. We had an exhilarating time zipping over the raging waters of Agos River.
Posted on November 6, 2010
