Twenty-three years ago two completely separate events
happened that have changed and shaped my life.
On April 24, 1993 I was sitting in front of my
television when by “chance” I flipped to a Billy Graham telecast and watched.
At the time I was a “CEO” church-goer (Christmas and Easter Only) without any
relationship with the living God, divorced for a few years after a brief
marriage and very successful in the eyes of the world. I had a great job, a
nice house and a new car, I was on top of the game. I had never watched Billy
Graham but for some reason his broadcast captured my attention that night. As Mr. Graham closed his crusade he looked
into the camera and asked “do you believe?” then he went on to say; “good for you, but the bible
says even the demons believe and tremble”.
He then told this story, a story that demonstrates difference between
believing in your head and truly believing in your heart… the tightrope story.
A tightrope walker came to Niagara Falls where a wire
was stretched across the falls. A large crowd of people had gathered to watch
the man traverse the falls. Without saying a word the man took a balance bar
and stepped out over the falls. After quite a long time he got to the other
side and without saying a word and without even turning around, he stepped back
onto the wire and walked backwards across to first side of the falls. The crowd
was amazed and grew even larger when he put down the balance bar and without
saying a word headed across the falls again. He got to the next side and again
silently waved and smiled and proceeded to walk backwards across the falls. This
time when he got to the first side he had a wheelbarrow waiting for him and
without saying a word he placed the wheelbarrow on the wire and confidently
walked across the falls. He arrived at the far side, waved and backed across
the falls. The crowd had swelled to thousands as helicopters and live cameras
rolled. The man began to shovel the wheelbarrow full with 200 lbs of dirt; he
smiled and set back out across the wire. As the wire stretched and the falls
roared the man reached the far side and once again without speaking a word then
proceeded to walk backwards across the falls. The crowd was astounded as
finally he placed a chair on top of the dirt on top of the wheelbarrow. This
time the man turned to the crowd saying “Who here in believes that I can go
across with this chair on top of the wheelbarrow?” Everyone in the crowd agreed
that he was the best tightrope walker they had ever seen, there wasn’t a doubt
in anyone’s mind that he could do it. The tightrope walker spotted a man with a
baseball cap in the midst of the crowd and pointed to him and asked; You sir,
do you believe that I can go across with this chair on top of the
wheelbarrow? The man with the cap said
“there is no doubt in my mind, you can probably go across blindfolded,
cartwheel, backwards or forwards, you’re the best tightrope walker I’ve ever
seen.” Well, responded the tightrope walker, if you really believe, come here
and sit in this chair, I’d like to take you across the falls! The wide eyed man
exclaimed “you’re crazy; there ain’t no way I’m going to get in that chair, we
could fall!”
At that point I realized the point of the story, the
difference between believing in your heart and believing in your head was the
difference between eternal life and eternal separation from a Holy God. When
Mr. Graham lead the audience in the sinners prayer I got off my chair and knelt
on the floor and asked Jesus to come into my heart and forgive my sins. That
night I truly believed in Him for the first time. Immediately everything
changed; I felt loved and forgiven. Within a week I had found a good church, told them about my decision and got baptized. I began to tell anyone who listened
about the God who had changed me forever. I started an evangelism course and learned to
lead others to faith in Jesus and trained others to share their faith. Within a
few years I began to go on short mission trips to foreign countries, first to
Russia then 2 years later to Thailand, then to Portugal. I shared the gospel and the tightrope story
with hundreds and hundreds of people and saw many trust in Jesus.
In 2001 I went with my church to The Bahamas on a 8
day mission trip to the Adventure Learning Centre, a ministry that had started
the same year I started in Christ, in 1993. While there I felt God’s pull to
give up my high paying Environmental Consultant job, sell my house and
possessions and to leave my church family and friends and tell Bahamian children about the
God who loves to forgive. A few months later, with two duffel bags to my name I
flew to Nassau to serve at Adventure Learning Centre where a science based
educational program is used to share the love of Jesus and the gospel message.
This ministry was a perfect match for me as it has an animal petting farm,
nature centre, a planetarium, nature trails and a wetland boardwalk where up to
10,000 school children per year come for a fieldtrip. Environmental science was
my vocation, I had been a youth worker since I was saved and telling others
about Jesus was my passion. Eph. 2:10
says “We are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which
God prepared in advance for us to do”.
I have served at ALC for over 14 years now, sharing
the gospel message and the tightrope story with tens of thousands of Bahamian children.
Although the tightrope walker traverses the “two bridges of Paradise Island”
instead of Niagara Falls, the message remains the same; by believing in Jesus
and His work on the cross we can enter into an eternal relationship with the
eternal God. Only He knows the full impact that He has had on the children over
the years but I know that I am in the middle of His will as I serve here.
Almost 11 years ago I married a beautiful Bahamian lady and we now have two
precious “BAmerican” children. God is soo good to me,
everything I have and everything I am belongs to Him. This year both the ALC
and I celebrated 23 years of serving Him and we both look forward to serving
Him for the next 23 years as He guides and directs our path.If you would like to help me share the tightrope story and would be willing to sacrifice some of your hard earned money, I would be blessed. You can donate thru GO! Ministries online at http://go.ccnorco.org My missionary account # is 1273.
