Get In The Wheelbarrow.
"In the 1800s, an acrobat named Blondin attempted his most dangerous crossing of Niagara Falls - to push a wheelbarrow loaded with a heavy sack of cement across a tightrope. The slightest miscalculation could tip the wheelbarrow, plunging him to death.
Thousands watched breathlessly as he made his way across, placing one foot carefully in front of the other, quietly pushing the wheelbarrow across the spray-filled chasm.
When he made it, the throng let out its collective breath and cheered! After his crossing, Blondin challenged a nearby reporter: "Do you believe I can do anything on a tightrope?"
"Oh yes," said the reporter, "after what I've seen today, I believe it. You can do anything."
"Do you believe, then," said Blondin, "that instead of a sack of cement, I could put a man in this wheelbarrow…and wheel him, without a net, safely over to the other side?"
"Oh yes sir, I believe it," said the reporter. "Good," said Blondin, "Get in."
The reporter paled and quickly disappeared into the crowd. It's one thing to believe something but quite another to have that kind of faith in someone.
However, one person that day did have that kind of faith in Blondin. This brave volunteer agreed to get into the wheelbarrow and cross the falls with the master acrobat.
Men on both sides quickly placed bets on the outcome. Then as the crowd cheered, Blondin made his way back across the falls, pushing a nervous passenger ahead of him.
It looked like another easy conquest. But when they were halfway across the 16-foot rope, a man with a heavy bet against them crept over and cut one of the guy wires.
Suddenly the tightrope pitched crazily back and forth, the force of the whipping gaining in intensity. Blondin fought to keep his balance, knowing he was seconds from death.
Blondin spoke, cutting through the terror of his passenger in the wheelbarrow. "Stand up!" he commanded. "Stand up and grab my shoulders!"
The man sat there paralysed.
"Let go and stand up! Let go of the wheelbarrow! Do it or die!” Somehow the man managed to stand up and step out of the swaying wheelbarrow.
"Your arms - put them round my neck! Now your legs - round my waist!" said Blondin
Again the man obeyed, clinging to Blondin. The empty wheelbarrow fell, disappearing into the waters below. The aerialist stood, using all his years of experience and every trained muscle to stay on the wire until the pitching subsided a little. Then inch by inch he made his way across, carrying the man like a child. Finally depositing him on the other side.
That's what it means to live the life of faith. You have to have real confidence in the One who is carrying you across."(1)
"That's what it means to live the life of faith. You have to have real confidence in the One who is carrying you across."
Are you like the reporter or the stranger who got in the wheelbarrow? Do we shrink back at God's invitation or rise to the challenge to live a life of faith? Many of God's promises are held in trust and can only be accessed through faith.
We can remain in comfort or choose to step bravely into trusting who He is, opening a world experienced by few - a world of promise. Where and in what ways is God extending you an invitation to get in the wheelbarrow? Cause I assure you, the invitation is there for us all.
Bethany
Read Romans 4 TPT and (1) story taken from 'Daring to live on the edge' by Loren Cunningham