So, how many of us remember the scene in the 2000 stop-motion movie Chicken Run, when Babs the chicken makes a narrow escape, and then remarks "All me life flashed before me eyes..." before disappointedly concluding, "it was really borin'...!"
Well, I definitely had a "life flashed before my eyes" moment last week. We'd gone up to Malaysia for a short holiday with the kids and my parents. We found an adventure park that had some decent reviews on Tripadvisor, so we headed there one morning. You know, tree and rock climbing, tunnels and mazes, ropes and obstacles. Both kids love this sort of thing.
The highlight of the place was supposed to be this gigantic flying fox above the trees. It's split into four legs, two short flights, and two long ones. Daniel unfortunately didn't make the minimum weight of 40 kg, so only Nat could go, and I went along just to make sure she was fine. Upon reaching the first leap, I have to admit I had butterflies in my stomach. Nat turned around and said she was scared, so I quickly took the opportunity to say, "OK let's forget it!"
Naturally, this has the complete opposite effect of convincing Nat that she just HAS to do it, so off she goes, whoosh into the first station. Gulp. My turn next. Whoosh, and phew. Safely at the first station. Next one's the big one, maybe 150m or so to the next station, and by now Nat's feeling confident, so without a moment's hesitation she steps off the platform, onto the zipline, and whoops in delight, all the way to the next stop. I'm feeling a bit better too, so I step off and reach the next station fine too. What a rush, with the wind blowing in my face as gravity whips me over the treetops. I even accidentally kick the very top of one of the trees as I whoosh across, which is a bit of a shock.
Now it's the 3rd zipline, and Nat has already zoomed off. I wait till she's a tiny speck in the distance, and reaches the end. Then I step off the platform and start zipping down the line. Just as I start to enjoy the view, I hear Nat yelling for me. Uh oh. Somehow Nat has not managed to get off the line at the landing platform, and she is starting to slide BACKWARDS towards me, even as I hurtle towards her! "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" she's yelling.
You'd like to think you can be a hero in these circumstances.
But really, all I had time to do was think, "IwonderifIcanslowthisthingdownnoIcan'tifthecarabinergetsdislodgedwe'redoomedargh
WHAM!!"
Next thing I know, Nat and I are suspended on the wildly swaying zipline, several storeys in the air, her nose is bleeding, my hip feels really bruised, and as Super Mario probably says every time he finishes a stage, WE'RE STILL ALIVE.
It takes about 10 minutes for the park ranger to clamber down and reel us in (yup that's us in the picture below, no not the Super Mario one). Then we still have the final leg of the flying fox to finish, because we're in the middle of nowhere but we manage that without further incident. Meanwhile Mummy's on the ground yelling at anyone who will listen. Daniel (bless the little fella) is praying that his che che is fine. Nat's sniffling but basically fine. I escape with just two ugly bruises. And so, we survive, probably one of the only truly life threatening situations we've faced.
People are supposed to learn something profound when they stare death in the face. So here are my family takeaways.
My wife says she learned that all the little worries of life are pointless. She'd been frantically worrying over Nat's open house visits and DSA applications for secondary school, General Ability Tests and so on. But all that seemed meaningless when she saw Nat and me crash into each other up on that zipline. As Jesus so accurately observes:
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food,and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you - you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we wear?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kindgom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:25-34
As for me, my overwhelming feeling was, "no regrets". As I said to my wife, life is full of disappointments, sadness, illness, loss and conflicts that we have seen and lived through ourselves. But, I had just told my wife I love her. I was out on holiday with my kids and my parents. My kids are good kids at home and at school, and if they stay on the path that God has set out for them, they will be fine. My parents have come to know God really well, especially in recent years. As my team pastor used to exhort us, I have been learning to be a fisher of men, and not a keeper of aquariums, and sharing the good news with my friends (and colleagues who have become friends over the years) has become part of normal, daily life. My cell group has grown and is full of good people who can and will carry on the work with the poor that we started 2 years ago. I've certainly made some stupid decisions in life, and failed to do a lot of things I should have. But since you can't turn back time, you can only look at how you live life
today. And if I had met the end on that stupid flying fox, I think the only thing I could really have said to God would have been, thanks. It's been a great ride.
Today, I turn 40. I don't know when God will call me home. But if the next 10 years are as exciting as the past 10 years, it will be a great ride. No regrets. O God, help me to continue to live deliberately, with wisdom, courage and ultimately faith, to consciously seek and make the often difficult decisions that enable me to obey you and walk in the centre of your will. Not my will, but Yours be done, because really, as You've shown me time after time, You know so much better, and You love me so much better than I could ever do for myself. So dear reader, my birthday wish is for you to come and know this awesome God for yourself!
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