Hammer on Anvil '

For a couple summers I had worked at a high ropes course, Windermere's The Edge, which Nick has also worked at. It featured zip-lines, a cargo net, a couple rock walls, a giant swing, etc. There was one particular element that I always disliked the name of: the "Leap of Faith." I described this element in last week's post but I wonder about the name. Without jumping there is no hope of reaching the trapeze, so it is quite literally a leap, which is likely the reason for the name choice. However, a leap of faith is generally has a negative connotation. To trust Wikipedia could be one, but anyway it describes it as "act of believing in or accepting something intangible or unprovable, or without empirical evidence." This is very much the opposite of what is done in this element.

When facilitating the "Power Pole" as it's otherwise called, we remind the participant that they are 99% safe (harnessed, hooked to a rope and other equipment) and we give them all the facts, the trapeze is 8feet away, 1foot up, etc. We are not asking them to jump blindly and without caution, though some do climb blind-folded. Rather on the basis of past participants' success and the evidence of their safety, we invite them to jump. If we apply this idea elsewhere, what does your faith look like? Is it more characterized as a blind leap or a reasoned step?


"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life."

Brett