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Larry Walters, a 33-year-old man, decided he wanted to see his neighborhood from a new perspective. One morning he bought forty-five used weather balloons from the army surplus store. That afternoon he strapped himself into a lawn chair, to which some of his friends tied the helium-filled balloons. He took along a six-pack of beer, a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, and a BB gun, planning to shoot the balloons one at a time when he was ready to land. Walters, who assumed the balloons would lift him about 100 feet in the air, was caught off guard when the chair soared 11,000 feet plus into the sky, into the middle of the air traffic pattern at Los Angeles International Airport. Too scared to shoot any of the balloons, Walters remained airborne for more than two hours, forcing the airport to shut down its runways for much of the afternoon and causing long delays in flights from across the country. Soon after he was safely grounded and cited by the police, reporters asked him three questions. "Were you scared?," He replied, “Yes." "Would you do it again?" He replied, "No." "Why did you do it?" "Because," said Matthews, "you can't just sit there."
(Leadership, Summer 1993, pp. 35)
Life is meant to be an adventure. For life to be an adventure, we take reasonable risks. We are not to approach spirituality to discern God’s will in order to avoid risks. Taking sensible risks is part of God’s will. The only alternative to adventure is boredom, and the human being was not created for a life of boredom.
Question: Have you ever taken an unreasonable risk? Explain. Have you ever taken a reasonable risk? Explain. Is there some risk you need to take, now, to make your life even more the adventure it is meant to be? Explain.
OneLife Ministries is a pastoral outreach and nurture ministry of the First United Methodist Church, Fort Meade, FL. For Spiritual Direction, Pastoral Counseling, spiritual formation workshops, Christian meditation retreats, or more information about OneLife, write Rev. Dr. Brian K. Wilcox at briankwilcox@comcast.net.
Brian's book of mystical love poetry, An Ache for Union, can be ordered through major bookdealers.
Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors
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