In the World

Do you remember in the Bible where Jesus said that we should have faith like little children? (Yeah, I know I’m paraphrasing; deal.)

Well, I’m no greek scholar, but my buddy Webster tells me that “faith” comes in many different forms.

My daughter illustrated one of them to me yesterday by JUMPING OFF THE TOP STEP OF A STAIRCASE AND TRUSTING THAT I WOULD CATCH HER EVEN THOUGH I WAS FIVE STEPS BELOW HER (and carrying a plate of waffles).

Backstory: According to my Munchkin-creature, I am the “mostest best person in the whole world forever,” execpt maybe for Blossom, depending on the day. She likes it when I carry her up and down the stairs. We live in a ranch-style house, with the kitchen at ground-level and the living room/playroom/tv room in the “basement”. So in the morning, we get breakfast, and I carry her (and breakfast) downstairs to watch cartoons.

This particular morning, I had a plate of waffles in one hand and my boots in the other. I figured I’d make a quick run downstairs and then come back up and get Offspring when she was done washing the butter and syrup off her hands.

I was halfway down the stairs when she realized I was headed down, and she jumped off her stool and ran full-speed across the kitchen and launched herself off the top step of the staircase.

I saw this happen in slow motion, the way you see most bad things happening.

I heard her feet pounding the floor. I heard her yell “Daddy!” And I turned my head just in time to see 35 pounds of nearly 4-year-old take a flying leap from the top step of the stairway, 6 feet above me.

Thanks to my catlike reflex, I caught her AND didn’t spill one drop of syrup from the plate of waffles. (I know, I’m awesome!)

After my heart slowed down a bit, I asked her why she jumped off the steps like she did. Her answer? “Because you catched me!”

And that got me thinking. There was no hesitation on her part of putting her life in my hands. She had total and complete faith that I was going to catch her.

That’s how much Jesus wants us to trust him.

Huh.