The palms of my hands were sweaty, and my heart was pounding. I wanted to watch, but and then I could not watch. I paced around the room and was praying for Nik Wallenda as he walked across the Grand Canyon on a tightrope in a show on TV a few years ago.
Each minute seemed twice as long, as the camera followed each step of his quarter-mile hike without a net beneath or a safety harness that was that was tied with the tightrope. With a 40-pound pole on his back to assist him in his maintain his balance, Wallenda had to stop at least twice before kneeling down because the tightrope was spinning.
Wallenda was wearing a microphone, so people could hear him talk or perhaps praying. For the majority of his tightrope walk of 23 minutes, Wallenda asked Jesus to slow the winds which were much higher than he had expected. Wallenda thanked the Lord every time for his help when he slid one foot before the other. “Thank God for your help. Thank you for soothing the cable God.” The man thanked God for the marvellous design of this canyon that was 1500 feet below his.
Nik Wallenda, the seventh generation of a tightrope family of walkers, accomplished what people considered impossible…yet again. In the month of June, 2012, Wallenda strolled over Niagara Falls on a two-inch steel wire, and an estimated 13 million Americans were watching.
In the course of an interview on Christianity Today, Nik Wallenda was asked how he conquers the fear of failure and endure in difficult circumstances. Wallenda replied: “…I have faith in following your goals and keeping your eyes on what is positive…My faith plays a major influence on my life and I am extremely blessed to be in the position I am.”
While others might not agree, he doesn’t believe that he’s testing God. He says “I believe that God provides me with a unique capacity to run the line and it’s my responsibility to train correctly.” The verse he likes the most is “Trust on your Lord to the core and do not rely on your own knowledge to trust the Lord in all of your actions” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
The 44-year-old high-wire artist is married and a mother of 3. The book he wrote is “Balance The Story of Family, Faith and the Life that is on the line.” The book, he is quoted by his grandfather Karl Wallenda, “Being on the tightrope means living; the rest is just waiting.” When we went on holiday in the summer of 2013 the family got to see Nik Walenda in person.
American author William Arthur Ward once wrote, “A well-developed sense of humor is the limb that helps you balance your steps when you traverse the tightrope of your life.”
Life isn’t always easy Looking back on my own experiences there were times when I was not sure I could continue walking one foot over the other. According to what the Apostle Paul stated, “We walk by faith not blindly” (2 5:7 NKJV, Corinthians 5).
“An honest religious person is similar to the tightrope walker. He appears as if the ground was air. His support is slimmest possible. But it’s possible to walk across (faith),” states British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Nik Wallenda said it took all of him to keep his focus as he traversed the Grand Canyon on a tightrope. As Christians, we need to concentrate on Jesus as the creator and ultimate authority for our belief.
Jan White has compiled a collection of her columnists in her book “Everyday The Faithful Daily Life.”
The article Christians must walk with faith, not blindly was originally published in The Andalusia Star-News.
