McClain Family Blog: Zip-lining

Well, life has been busy lately...and it is just now winding down enough to where I can sit and post about it. And breathe....ahhhhh... :)

So, a couple of weeks ago, actually the 19th, our family, along with Sarah and Michaela, were gifted with anafternoon out together. We were not told exactly what we were doing, nor where we were going, just that we should wear pants and be at the community center at a certain time to be picked up. It was a last adventure of sorts with the girls before they left to go back to the states.

We all hopped into two vans - air conditioned vans, I might add! - and were driven off...we drove into an area we were not familiar with and enjoyed seeing a new part of the area. We arrived at a large finca and were greeted by friendly staff and told we were going zip-lining...I had mentally prepared myself for this option and honestly was quite excited about it. (I have always been terribly afraid of heights. I had the opportunity to go zip-lining once before but I couldn't do it for fear of falling). So, we arrived and filled out the necessary forms signing our life away...heeheehee...and headed off in this huge flat-bed truck fixed up with benches. it was a beautiful ride out to the zip-lining field- beautiful Guanacaste fields, mama cows nestling their babies, birds, flowers and huge old trees of varying kinds. The wind rustling our hair and the sun on our faces. We met a family on the way on a mini-adventure, the father here visiting from Venezuela. It was fun to get to know them.

As we made it to the first platform...we all got out and began to suit up. Each person had to be fitted with their own harness, two separate lines with hooks, helmet and gloves. It was quite the process to be fitted. Once we were all fitted it was first time for a group photo:

harnessed up and ready to go :)

After several minutes of instructions, it was time to jump :) literally! Our two girls and Victor's daughter, Sofia, were all too tiny to go alone, so the three of them were hooked together and then hooked to the guide each run.They loved it! Ethan and Dennis, Victor's yongest son, were hooked together on some runs and on some, they went alone.

We had to walk up steps to get to the first platform and there were so many of us that several of us were stopped on the steps, waiting. I was standing with the Venezuelan man, who was a rather tall, thick man, and I said, "¡Que miedo!" which means 'this is pretty scary' and he said "¡Claro!" (Of course!) I then asked him if he was scared and he said," I may be big and I may not look scared, but you bettter believe I am!" That made me feel a little better about being scared! Sarah, too was pretty nervous about doing this, but she was a real trooper. Our girls and Sofia went first- I couldn't even see them jump off since I was down on the steps, but I saw them flying through the air as they flew down the first line...that was pretty scary, too! (but only for me...their screams of glee and excitement bounced around through the air for several seconds!)

finally, there was room for me to walk up on the platform and as I stepped up ontop it, I ended up being right next to the guide who was hooking up people, which meant I was next! The guide hooked me up, told me to sit down and relax...then he graciously slid my feet out and away I went! What a rush! It was quite possibly the scariest thing I've ever done, but also the most fascinating, exhilirating and most amazing thing I've ever done! I screamed, then stopped, then screamed some more, then thought I should keep my mouth closed because of bugs...and just relaxed and praised the Lord! It was amazing to see His Creation from that view, to be flying through the air like that.

After the second line, I was hooked. There were still some moments when it was a little scary, like when I got stuck near the end of the line and the guide had to come and get me moving again! :) But it was exhilirating!

I praise the Lord because I believe the experience was a gift from Him. I still do not know who paid for us to go on this excursion, but I am so very thankful. I believe a fear was conquered that day and my faith and trust in the Lord was strenghtened.

Being on that guideline, hooked to it, was truly a tangible way the Lord showed me our relationship. Sarah summed it up by saying "we trust the guide to keep us safe through his instructions, we trust that the hooks will hold us and not let us fall, and we trust the cable to safely guide us where we need to go."

I look at it as the guide in the beginning gives us his instructions, and along the way he is the one who hooks up to each cable and unhooks us at the next platform. We were told very specifically not to hook ourselves or unhook ourselves ever. That is the guides job! The guide also gave us specific signals that they use to allow us to know what we should do if we should brake, let go, or come faster. We were to respond appropriately if we saw them making any of the three signals. But we were to always follow the instructions of the guide. We had a serious harness on with two separate lines and hooks. The harness attached to both legs up over the hips and strapped tight around the waist. Both lines attached to the waist and one hooked to the cable and the metal pulley that allowed us to glide over the cable. The second hooked us to the cable itself, but below the glider pulley. We had to trust that the guide was hooking us up correctly and that the pulley and lines and hooks were working properly and would keep us connected to the cable as we flew into the air. Lastly, the cable was literally our lifeline. It was what we had to maintain the connection to or we risked falling. There never was a moment where we were not connected to the cable. Now, at this facility, there was not one long continous cable from platform to platform. We had to walk from one platform to another several times, and therefore were not connected to the cable. However, each time we approached a platform, we had to be connected to the cable for safety.

Now, if you are reading this as a believer in Christ and in the Trinity, there are mounds of spiritual applications to this whole process. Some of you may say I over-spiritualize situations in my life. But I might counter that those of you who say that might not be looking for God in the little things...I know the Lord was speaking to me that day and I clearly saw the application for my life through this experience.

One of the lines near the middle (there were 11 total), I realized the magnitude of what we were doing and all the trust that had to be there for a person to do this. And clearly, the Lord spoke to me about my relationship with him.

He is the cable in my life, He takes me where I need to go. I must stay connected to Him. The only way to get to Him is through Christ. The line that hooked me to the cable and the cable to the glider pulley is like Christ. Without that glider moving along the cable, I wasn't going to go anywhere. And the guide was essential in this experience. Without the guide there to hook us and unhook us, to give us the necessary signals and our instructions, none of us would have known what to do. The guide is like both the Holy Spirit and the Bible for me in this illustration. Both the Holy Spirit and God's Word guide us in our life. The Holy Spirit lives in us, prompting us, directing us, and leading us. God's Word does the same, as it is alive and active and cuts through us like a double-edge sword. But here's the thing- on a couple of instances, I wasn't able to follow what the guide was saying to do. One time, the guide was telling me to keep coming me, but I used my gloved hand to brake because I felt like I was going to fast- that is when the guide had to come out on the cable and get me going again to make it to the platform. Another time, my guide hand slipped off the cable and all I could do was put both hands on my lines, because I was scared to put my guide hand back up on the cable, even though that was what I needed to do in order to brake, as the guide was instructing me. The guide then had to manually brake for me using a separate line he had to quickly hook up because I was coming in to fast. All of this I realized after the fact, as I was just enjoying the view and trusting that I was going to stop somehow, with his help...

How often I go my own way, or forget the 'sginals' or what I've learned from the guide (God's word). How often I brake out of fear when the Lord is clearly giving me the "go!" How often it occurs that I slip a little and then find that I am too scared to move to get back on track and have to be stopped hard and quick in order to get back on track or to keep me from crashing.

The guides on this excursion have done these lines thousands of times. They are comfortable and know the course well. At one point, one guide went on the cable and actually flipped himself upside down as he flew down the cable!

Oh might I have that amount of trust with You, Father, to let go and follow you in complete freedom...

It was a wonderful experience. I loved being able to be with Sarah and Michaela and to be with Sarah as she,too, conquered her fear of heights that day. It was awesome to watch the wonder and excitement on the faces of Isabelle and Audrey. Audrey loved it, as those of you who know her can imagine! It was crazy seeing them fly off like that without me, but that too, is so like my relationship with my God. These precious children are not mine, but His. They are lent to me to raise and nurture and train in His way. But ultimately, I have to let them go and trust that He knows best and has them under His wings.

Ethan really enjoyed this time with his friend Dennis. Dennis is now in high school and they don't get to see each other as much anymore. It was a great day for all of us. It was a memory I so thankful to have shared with Victor and his family and Sarah and Michaela.