Beyond Control

Eleven nautical miles northwest of San Diego sits Torrey Pines Gliderport. It was there on an overcast afternoon that I jumped off a cliff, hovering high above the Pacific Ocean, harnessed to a total stranger. Three minutes of instruction, five minutes of equipment adjustment, and five steps later, I traipsed into nothingness.

An explosion of panic went off in my head. What if this cliff-jumping stranger I was affixed to pulled the wrong cord and somehow released me from the harness? What if he decided to end his life that day with me in tow? What if the air currents took us far out over the shark-infested waters and we were unable to ride them back to terra firma?

The sickening truth was shocking to my mind.  I had absolutely no control over my circumstances, no opportunity to let this stranger know me enough to care about my well-being. I was at the mercy of the wind, a few straps, and a man whose full face had not even been revealed to me pre-leap.

On that day, the truth became crystal clear. Control is a myth, a fantasy of outlandish proportions, nothing more than a mirage.

My brain was crackling, buzzing, and firing off like a fireworks display; then it just stopped, and I experienced an eerie calm. Above me was the parasail billowing with air, around me an intricate series of straps designed to hold me in, and behind me, the one who kept me afloat, the one who spoke direction and encouragement with each swoop and maneuver of the parasail. I decided to trust him to give me the ride of a lifetime and bring me safely home. Right there, the name of our ministry was born. Tandem Spirituality.

Tandem Spirituality is simply trusting the one who knows the currents of life far better than we do, settling into the ride of your life, and trusting him to bring you safely home.