Ben looked down and baulked. From the ground it hadn’t seemed quite so high, but now that he was at the top, he felt the blood racing and his knees quivering. The professional mountain guy who was coordinating the activity beckoned to him. Ben hesitated.
‘Come on, it’s your turn. Just step over here and I’ll get you hooked in,’ said the man, smiling as if he was suggesting a stroll in the park. Ben totteringly peered over the edge of the cliff face. This didn’t look like a stroll in the park to him. There must have been at least 30 metres to the bottom and besides that, Ben preferred his strolls horizontally rather than vertically.
‘Hurry up. We’ll miss dinner at this rate,’ said the mountaineer, trying to motivate Ben. Ben however felt like this evening’s dinner was one that he could get by without.
‘Well, if you won’t get a move on, you’ll have to let the next person go.’
Ben was all too glad to allow the little girl that was waiting behind him go on before him. He watched carefully as the mountain guy attached her harness to the rope which was tied to hefty looking tree. The man gave her some final instructions and then she courageously leaned back over the cliff edge and began pacing backwards down the cliff face. Abseiling, who would have ever thought that it was so easy!
The girl, although uneasy at first, at least once almost losing her footing, nevertheless recovered well and was soon into her stride. Effortlessly she glided to the bottom of the rock face as the onlookers below encouraged. As she arrived at the bottom, another mountain guy approached to release her from the rope, while what were presumably her parents came forward to take a picture and offer many hugs. It seemed so simple when other people did it.
Ben gathered himself together, buoyed on by this sterling example of bravado. If she could do it, then sure he could too! Then the call came.
‘Right, now, it’s definitely your turn.’ Ben heard these words and they began to ring around his mind. He edged towards to the starting point. He felt like falling down onto his hands and knees, but he steeled himself and managed to remain upright. He focused his attention on the mountain guide, whose instruction was what he was now basing himself on for survival.
‘A little closer,’ encouraged the man. Ben felt like he was quite close enough to the edge, but the man couldn’t quite reach the crampon of his harness yet. Ben became very conscious of how small the people below appeared and how dangerous it would be if he slipped. He had though no intention of slipping. Finally, after what seemed like an age the man said, ‘Got it.’ He reached out, grabbing the crampon and then hooking it on to the rope and fastening it up. He gave it a shake to check that it was well connected. Ben would have preferred him not to.
‘Great, now turn around, lean back and start stepping backwards. That’s all there is to it. Easy as pie!’.
Ben wasn’t keen on pies. Nevertheless, mustering all that he had, he managed to turn himself around. He suddenly became aware that there was nothing behind except for a 30 metre drop to the ground. He didn’t need to do much speculating in his mind to reach the conclusion that it wouldn’t be good for him to fall from here. All that was preventing that unfortunate occurrence was the rope that he was attached to, which in turn was tied to just a tree, albeit a sturdy looking one. Ben began reflecting on how he got himself into such situations as this, but now was not the moment for introspection.
‘Go on, just step back!’ yelled the mountain man.
That’s easy for him to say, thought Ben, he’d probably grown up somewhere that Heidi would be proud of, but Ben was from the city and he didn’t remember seeing many cliff faces there!
‘It’s now or never!’
Ben was aware of that. He summoned up all that he had, leaned back and he was off. He took his first backward step, wondering if it had taken more or less to perform his first step as a toddler. As he placed his foot back down, he felt it losing its grip. All of a sudden, he lost control and collapsed into a heap on the edge of the cliff. Fortunately, the harness locked tight, as it was supposed to, and Ben remained there teetering on the edge.
‘Good, the harness worked well,’ called out the mountain man.
Ben didn’t want to think about what would have happened if the harness hadn’t work well.
‘It’s nothing. Get up and carry on!’ were the mountain guides instructions.
Easier said than done thought Ben, as he scrabbled to lift himself to his feet. With some considerable difficulty, he eventually managed to get himself into position again. By now, the fear he felt insidewas nauseous, but it was too late to turn back. He was at least a little reassured by the fact that the harness had held him.
Realising that there was no other way to go now, he simply let himself go. As he leaned back this time, he felt the rope becoming taught. This somehow reassured him even more. Encouraged by this he took another step. This time more confidently and managing to firmly set his foot down at the end. A third step followed. Then a fourth. He began to build up confidence as felt the rope holding and gradually got into his stride.
One step after another ensued as if he had been doing this all his life and he gracefully strolled to the bottom of the cliff face, even having time to stop to pose for a photo on the way.
Later, when reflecting on this experience, Ben realised that here he could learn something about the difference between belief and faith. When he was on the ground below watching others as they abseiled down the cliff face, he certainly believed that the rope would hold, and everything would be alright. But it was a different matter when it was his turn to get hooked up to the rope. At this moment, it was now practical rather than theoretical. Before, he intellectually thought that the rope was strong and that everything would work out ok, but now he was being practically challenged to test things out for himself. In other words, it was one thing to agree in his mind that something was true, but it was quite another to entrust his wellbeing to that something.
This could then be extrapolated to someone’s perspective on God. There are many people who believe in God that is to say intellectually accept that He exists, but there are less people who have faith in Him i.e. entrust their lives to Him. Another way of putting it, would be to say that faith is belief put into action. I might believe that a chair can support my weight, but faith is actually sitting down on the chair!
Ben concluded from here that belief in God was acknowledging that He was there, but faith meant asking God what he wanted Ben to do and then being willing to do whatever the answer seemed to be.
