We all know what a dare means to a teenager – especially when the one making the dare is very “looked-up-to.” When I was about 15 my favorite cousin Harold had just earned his drivers license and we were looking for some adventure – some fun – some way to break away from the boredom of our summer. He invited me to drive out with him to the Bear Creek railroad trestle west of his hometown and my annual summer retreat Haleyville, Alabama. We reached the end of an old logging trail that overlooked a deep ravine called the Bear Creek valley. And across this expanse of trees, underbrush and flowing stream stretched a massive “high timber trestle” on the North Alabama Railroad that stood 116 feet at its maximum height and was 684 feet long (statistics reported July 23, 1904, Engineering Index of the Association of Engineering Societies (US) p. 1157). This was a monstrous structure made of black creosote timber like we still use for telephone poles and railroad ties. But this was hundreds of long timbers bolted and tied together in a framework of crisscrossing sloping legs at increasing height that made layers and layers of intricate vertical and horizontal beams. All of this latticework was crowned with horizontal beams festooned with railroad ties and iron rails.
Out of nowhere Harold invited me to walk with him across the trestle. Like any red-blooded American teenager I immediately accepted the challenge and Harold led the whole livelong way. He kept saying things like “look at the ties and don’t look all the way down . . . stay in the center . . . and ‘are you doing OK?’” Even though there were side landings that looked like they were meant for us to get on in case a train came through, there were no railings to hold onto at any point and those landings looked more dangerous than staying between the rails and just focusing on each of the next railroad ties for a sure footing. I kept remembering what Jesus said all the way to the other side, ‘Lo, I am with you always, until the end of this time” (Matthew 28:20.)
“Dinner with a Perfect Stranger ” (a short story by David Gregory) tells about a bright young man named Nick Cominsky, who is good at accepting challenges at work and at home. He had already faced dares to walk across trestles in his life – like getting a good education, starting a family and pursuing a successful career in business. He is kind of like the young men who are fishing when Jesus comes by in today’s scripture. Only Nick takes a little more time to deal with his personal cynicism like his scriptural predecessor, Nicodemus (John 3).
Nick Cominsky fishes for answers in today’s business world. He fishes through stacks of credit-card applications and business-related junk mail. His 70 hour workweek eats into his limited family time with his wife and young children. But he can’t pass up the dare to see what kind of plot his colleagues might have hatched, when he receives a very formal letter to meet Jesus of Nazareth at a local Italian restaurant. He shows up at the appointed time and place. His cockiness soon pales when Jesus actually gives him a personal appearance in his life in his somewhat familiar surroundings.
Jesus has already given you an invitation and many of you have gone beyond merely considering an ongoing personal relationship with Him. Moment by moment conversations and prayer with Jesus makes everything an adventure and takes us away from the mess of our lives. Massively dangerous and daring challenges are not just foxhole religious experiences in the heat of battle. Scary trestle walks and even death itself is conquered with Jesus. Jesus tells Nick, “You’re bored, Nick. You were made for more than this. Your worried about God stealing your fun, but you’ve got it backward . . . There’s no adventure like being joined to the Creator of the universe.” Jesus then leans away from the table and says, “And your first mission would be to let Him (the Creator of the universe) guide you out of the mess you’re in at work” or any other time and place in your life. Let’s pray:
Dear Father, Son and Holy Spirit - almighty Creator of the universe - We don’t have any of the answers and we’re not sure if we even have the right questions for our lives. Please, come to each one of us and challenge us to walk with You instead of in front of You. Guide us over our discontent, boredom, anger, fear, and rejection with Your bridge made of love, forgiveness, kindness, peace, gentleness, and steadfast longsuffering – in the blessed name of Jesus of Nazareth who sends His Holy Spirit to guide and encourage us, Amen.
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