Leap of Faith

There is nothing quite as rewarding in life as doing something you never thought possible. I recently had the opportunity to take a leap of faith out of a plane, something I never really thought I could do. Sure, I had put it on my bucket list, and I certainly thought it was something I wanted to do before I died. But as I drove to Delaware to the skydiving site, my stomach just got more and more twisted.

More than once I thought of calling my friends and telling them I would not be able to join them. Yet, I kept driving. Something inside me kept pushing me to take this leap.

Once I arrived at the site, they had us fill out all this paperwork "in the event of an accident"...yikes, nerves came back big time!

Then it was time to meet our dive instructors. My instructor's name was Joe. He pointed me in the direction of the suits and then got started on placing the harness on me. As he tightened all the various cords to me, I began to feel my body relax.

They called our names to board the plane, my body relaxed even more. By the time we were up in the air I felt such a thrill that my nerves were completely gone. "I'm doing this", I kept thinking.

There was a "ding" in the cabin and Joe announced "three minutes till we jump". Before I realized what was happening, the door of the plane opened and out went the more experienced divers. Joe started shouting orders at me over the noise of the plane: "stand up", "walk to the door", "on your mark, set, go"...and off we went. It had all happened so fast I had no time to get nervous again before we plunged into the open air.

I always imagined that skydiving was a bit like a roller coaster. That my stomach would surge as I fell, and that the earth would be approaching me at an alarming speed. Yet, the reality was quite different. It felt like I was floating, the ground looked the same as if I were looking out of an airplane window. The view was magnificent. The Chesapeake on one side and Ocean City on the other.

Before long Joe flashed me the signal to open my parachute. It was a smooth ride down to the bottom.

A incredible sense of accomplishment flooded me as I finally hit the ground. I had done something crazy. I had taken a leap of faith.

This experience will continually remind me that taking a little risk can be incredibly rewarding if you have the right instructor on your side. "With God, all things are possible".