My husband had a conference in Hawaii, so I came along for the fun! We were there with one of his eleven ‘bosses’, and it was my job to entertain his wife, and come up with fun activities when the two of them were not in sessions. We made arrangements to go down a Zipline on the other side of the island the second day we were there, but when we woke up that morning, it was raining cats and dogs. I got online to chat with the booking company to move this excursion to another day, but they said rain or shine, we needed to show up. I called the local place we would be going out of, and they said just come over, it should be fine.
The four of us jumped in the car, and nervously headed out. As we headed to the other side of the island, the rain became progressively worse. We stopped along the way to get a bite for lunch during the downpour and half-jokingly (and half not) made fun of the fact that we would be sliding across a wire while being pelleted by the rain.
As we approached the rainforest where we had booked the adventure, the clouds began to part. As we climbed into our harnesses and jumped in the van with seven zipliners, the rain turned into sprinkles. By the time we reached the top of the mountain, the rain had vanished.
The course was made up of seven different ziplines, growing in length and difficulty. The first four short lines where in a banana tree plantation, with the last three crossing over beautiful lush valleys. We could not have asked for better weather or more beautiful scenery, or a more fascinating adventure.
After completing the final and most amazing line, we walked down the hill to meet our driver. One of our guides walked around us and found himself caught in the middle of a giant sticky spider web. After flailing his arms to remove the web, he walked up beside me as he was informing us about the spiders on the island. He began to describe the white dots on the little eight-legged creatures that look like a smiley face. I turned to look at him and saw that smiley faced spider… on our guide’s neck! Without thinking, at the same time I told him the spider was on his neck, I reached over and SLAPPED that thing right off his neck. I don’t know who was more stunned…. The spider that went flying, the pour guy that I had just hit, my husband that watched his wife (who doesn’t like spiders) slap a spider, or me for jumping into ‘mom mode’ to save this young man for the tiny spider on his neck. The guy was speechless for a short time, then calmly thanked me for saving him from the non-venomous arachnid and continued his talk about all the bugs and animals on the island. We all waited until we were in the car by ourselves before we began to laugh about how I stunned the poor young man, and in MY mind, save him from the evil ‘hitch hiker’.
I am sure that there have been times in your life that you have done something that you might not normally do, but you did it without even thinking, to help someone else. Most of the time when we think of being ‘strong and courageous’, fighting huge battles is what usually comes to mind. But there are also times in our daily lives that we need to have courage to have a hard conversation, talk to the person that is standing off by themselves, bring someone a meal that is in need, or maybe even save someone from a spider. Being courageous sometimes means to simply step out of your comfort zone. It can mean you take your focus off yourself and focus on others. When we find it difficult to focus on others, we seem to get in our own way, and cower in fear. God wants us to remember that no matter what the situation is, big or small, He is with us.
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
