Don’t try this at home. If you do, wear a jockstrap.

It never ceases to amaze me how this happened. It could have been worse. A LOT worse. Suffice to say that I never did that jump ever again, and it took awhile for me to try anything new on the slopes.

It’s incredible how paralyzing our fears can be, and for me, especially my fears of embarrassment and failure. These fears have caused me to live mostly in my comfort zone and avoid the things that I might potentially fail at. Unfortunately, in my Christian life that translates to simply living life on my own strength without much of a dependence on God.

Many times the things God calls us to are not within our comfort zones. A recent guest speaker, Todd Grant, challenged us with this: “God’s holy calling are hard callings, if its not hard it’s probably not Him.” Some of my recent career decisions have been difficult (and scary). Stepping out in faith with this book project and blog has been hard. Jesus did promise that those who follow him will be ridiculed and rejected by the world, just as the world rejected Him. But I have this promise from Romans 9:33: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

I may very well “fail” in the eyes of the world. But if anyone ever asks, “Have you ever tried a snowboarding jump but slipped at the last minute, falling in such a way over a fire hydrant to avoid massive internal damage but getting stuck in the process while crowds watched and laughed at me?” I can say, yes I have. And I have the video to prove it.

What has God called you that you have not yet embraced because of your fears? How does our relationship with Christ help us with those fears?

The culprit that caught this on video: Jeff Wu