Surrender at 10,000 Feet

On my 70th birthday, my family took me tandem skydiving—something I’ve always wanted to do.

As I waited in the skydiving office for my turn, I felt nothing but excitement. No apprehension—just eagerness.

When my tandem instructor and I squeezed into the very small plane with my daughter and her instructor, he told me there were only two things I needed to do: don’t hold onto the plane when it’s time to jump, and don’t put your feet down when it’s time to land.

As we circled higher and higher to reach 10,000 feet, my instructor asked how I was doing. I replied, “How I’m doing depends on how you’re doing—because my life is in your hands.”

In that moment, I realized I could rest in the simplicity of trust because my instructor was fully aware of—and fully engaged in—the complexities of the situation.

Simplicity & Complexity

The Christian life is both simple and complex.

At its core: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

We are invited to rest in the simplicity that:

• Christ is with me.
• Christ is for me.
• Christ is in me.

As I prepared to jump, I had to believe my instructor was with me and for me—that he had secured me to himself as we would fall at terminal velocity, nearly 120 mph. (If his parachute didn’t open, he’d be “in me” when we hit the ground.)

Scripture describes this kind of trust as childlike faith:

“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:3)

Yet Scripture also calls us beyond childish thinking:

“Brothers and sisters, do not be children [immature, childlike] in your thinking; be infants in [matters of] evil [completely innocent and inexperienced], but in your minds be mature [adults].” (1 Corinthians 14:20, AMP)

The Complexity

The longer we live, the more we encounter life’s complexities—relationships, health, aging, struggles, calling, beliefs, doubts, living in the world but not of it, and the reality of the Kingdom.

With that comes the call to maturity—to leave behind naïve thinking and grow in depth, understanding, and perspective.

At the heart of these complexities is God’s redemptive work: forming us to become more like Christ.

We are called to embrace both simplicity and complexity—just as I had to do at 10,000 feet.

I had to simply allow my instructor to push me out of the plane—not resist him or try to help him. In a word, it was surrender.

But to surrender, I had to trust that he possessed the understanding, power, and control to bring us safely to the ground despite all the complexities. In a word, it was faith.

Christ at the Center of Both

Through that experience, I came to a deeper realization of how much I need to rest in the simplicity that Christ is with me, while also leaning into the complexity of how Christ is forming me.

And I’ve been asking God:

Are there complexities I avoid because I don’t fully trust Him?

Are there complexities I immerse myself in because I don’t fully trust Him?

Is there something God is waiting for my “I’m in,” my surrender?

—Gary Barkalow