Walking Over Niagara Falls

By Alex Anderson, Senior Associate Pastor at Bayside Community Church

During one of our Easter Services at Bayside Community Church, Nic Wallenda (one of our members) walked a high-tension cable over the audience in our auditorium as an illustration for our Lead Pastor, Randy Bezet’s, message.

As Nic climbed onto the high wire and began his walk over our heads, he shared that his family had been high-wire walkers for seven generations. Recently his aunt had been featured in an article on a high-wire walk she had done at 80-years old.

To watch him on the wire over us was truly an extraordinary thing to see. He was calm, focused, articulate, funny and even picked on Pastor Randy’s favorite football team, LSU.

But what I really liked was two very critical keys he shared from the wire that helped him be safe and successful. His success includes holding nine Guinness World records for various acrobatic feats, but he is best known as the first person to walk a tightrope stretched directly over Niagara Falls.

Nic said that while he is walking the high wire, doing these death-defying acts, he talks to his dad through a two-way communications piece attached to him. He said that once while he was riding a bicycle on a wire he got to a place on the wire and the bicycle tires started to slip and lose traction. He told his dad that he was going to back up and not cross the wire with the bicycle.  His dad calmly and patiently talked him through it, and he went on and crossed safely and successfully.

The second thing he said is that even after months of preparation, while he was walking over Niagara Falls the winds were so gusty and strong that he had to stop the walk and get down on one knee and wait for the gust to pass while he talked with his dad.

What great examples for Christ-followers.
We constantly have a line of communication open to our Dad in Heaven and can talk to him at any time, especially when the scary winds of life are gusting all around and are threatening to harm us. Like Nic Wallenda, we can get down on our knees and let our Dad in Heaven talks us through it.

As a Christ-follower I have found that you can hear God speak to you in that inner place called the heart.

And actually the Lord Jesus said this,

“My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them real and eternal life. They are protected from the Destroyer for good. No one can steal them from out of my hand. The Father who put them under my care is so much greater than the Destroyer and Thief. No one could ever get them away from him. I and the Father are one heart and mind.”

(John 10:27-30 Message Bible)

What a great comfort to know that you have an open line of clear communication to your Dad in Heaven who is so much greater than anything that you could ever face.

Like Nic and his relationship with his dad, the key is to have a relationship with your Dad in Heaven through His son Jesus Christ. It’s in a relationship with Him that you learn to trust Him and become familiar with His voice.

Nic Wallenda took his dad’s advice for one reason: he knew his dad’s voice. Nic’s dad had Nic training on the wire since he was two years old.  So he had been hearing his dad’s familiar voice all his life. And when those scary gusts of wind hit him on the wire, it was his dad’s familiar and trusted voice that helped him not only get across the wire but also get nine Guinness World records.

Let’s think about that for a minute. What amazing things could you accomplish if you were to come to know and trust your Dad in Heaven’s voice? Not only could you endure through turbulent times but you could even obtain some amazing new records or goals in your life. You could go to a whole other level.

So start today…get down on one knee and unabashedly talk to your Dad in Heaven. Dare to ask Him for something outlandish. Reach beyond your normal everyday life. Live an extraordinary life of faith in what can be and should be. Live your life with intention and purpose. Do life on your own high wire with your Dad in Heaven’s comforting voice constantly in your ears!

Go ahead…I dare you!

To your spiritual health,
Pastor Alex Anderson
Author, Dangerous Prayers
alex.anderson@alexanderson.org
www.dangerous-prayers.com
mybayside.church