Free Falling.

You are already free falling by the time you become aware of what is happening.  It's a screaming, kicking, sensory overload when you find yourself already living without any recollection of how you had gotten where you are.  Life, the act of living, is like being pushed, unconscious, from an airplane and only coming to in mid air.  You try to process what it happening, but things are already moving so fast.  The only certainty is: the ground.  We all hurtle towards the ground, our eventual end.  We have free will in the sense that while we are falling, while we are living we can do whatever we want.  We can move in the direction we please, we can believe what we wish.  But no matter what we do, we cannot stop the ground from getting closer, and right quick.  If we have any sort of blessing, we have people around us to give us comfort and structure and hell, we even have a chance to enjoy this fall, to see the beauty and experience joy.  But for most of us, at least at times, the impending impact can feel so near that it is the only thing we think about and that makes the fall hard to enjoy.  

Somewhere along the fall, through the guidance of others or perhaps our own self-discovery, we get a notion of salvation.  It is a sense that though the ground is inevitable, there may be a way to be saved.  Maybe it is just fear of impact that forces us to delude ourselves into seeking this salvation.  But then, what do we have to lose.  Some want to be their own saviors.  They flap their arms, or perhaps they steer themselves towards apparent safety, or maybe they try to use their pants to break the wind.  There are others that are sure that it is their mind that is the way to be free.  If they can will themselves to peace, they will be free of the fall.  There are those that realize that we have been given something in this fall, something inherent to our journey.  Strapped around us is of course a parachute.  It is the only way to be saved.  It will not deploy itself, you must choose it.  Certainly there are those that feel the straps of the parachute and call it a hindrance.  They believe that if they could just be rid of the straps, then they would really be free to fly.  Of course this is foolishness to shed the one thing that could save you.  

Choosing Christ isn't as simple as pulling a rip-cord.  You must have some inkling, some belief that if you pull then you will be saved.  And you must look to him and ask for his help in believing.  But it is available to all.  No one is thrust into this crazy fall without a parachute, but you do have to act in faith to make it open.  

As I am now half way through my fall I look around at the conditions.  I see so many beautiful things.  I also see so much pain and self destruction.  People are falling to their certain death, seemingly rushing to do so.  But in this a pain and across the horizon I continue to see white billows of hope.  Countless others have reached for their ripcords and sought refuge in the great Grace of Christ.  White dots go on and on and give hope to an endless falling humanity.  Dear Christian, may your chute shine bright, that those falling might understand and be saved.