Cliff Jumping

 "They will come with weeping, and with supplications, I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way in which they will not stumble."  Jeremiah 31:9 [MEV]

The sound of waves bumping up against the cliff edge beneath me barely registered as the deep, dark depths peered straight into my soul. None of us made a single sound. We just stood on the edge, where jagged, rocky ground abruptly dropped off into nothing but miles and miles of Pacific Ocean.  Suddenly, I became acutely aware of the heat beating down on my burned shoulders, and each wave greeting the pock-marked cliff face beckoned me with a new, enticing song. 

Image: "Puerto Galera" AsiaDivers.com

"Jump in," the breeze whispered as it tickled my ear lobes. "It's cool and soothing." 

We [five Faith Academy seniors] had been hiking the entire perimeter of the cozy little peninsula jutting out from Mindoro just South and significantly offshore from Manila, Philippines. Thus far, it had been a spectacular senior trip to Puerto Galera. Though tired, each of us was in a celebratory mood, knowing that this last adventure together meant our high school days were about to be officially over. Most of us would scatter to all corners of the globe, returning to the countries of our birth as we embarked on whatever journeys this new chapter would inspire. The end of a thing, after all - is only the beginning of something else.

However, at some point during our hike, the tide had come in. The beach, bearing the marks of our super-pink feet only seconds before, had disappeared beneath the waves. Almost mirroring the crossroads we'd come to in our young and budding lives, the overwhelming intimidation of the fifteen-foot drop mere inches from my sand-buffeted feet gave me thought to pause. This island was completely foreign to me and vastly different from my stomping ground down on Mindanao.  I could not see the bottom where the waters licked at the rocks beneath my toes, and slightly peeking over the edge only made the hairs on my neck stand up. Every inch of rock face crawled with tiny crabs and sea louse. Gross! Gross to an almost seventeen-year-old girl, anyway. I didn't want those things crawling all over my feet! I had to make a decision. And I had to make it fast! Complete the hike, jump into unknown black water and avoid the dinner about to be made of my tender tootsies - or - turn around, slug back through thick brush, rough terrain with no shoes, sweat more buckets, get left behind, and miss out.

Swoosh. Another wave embraced the shore. 

Sweat trickled down my back. Sunlight danced on the surface of the water, only making visibility worse.

Looking around at my fellow "Spartans" [school mascot], I took a deep breath. I held my nose. I locked my knees, crossed my legs at my ankles, and jumped about seventeen feet into the Pacific with a splash that was hopefully big enough to startle any would-be creatures sporting stingers, teeth, or any other thing that could cause me bodily harm. 

Image: Jun Acullador/Flickr -where we jumped

The seconds it took for my head to pop back up to the surface stretched out into eternity. I had avoided tiny, hungry mandibles but was now at the mercy of the tide pulling me toward the broken, fallen chunks of cliff clustered in precarious formations like a sentry guarding my return to dry land. Too late to do anything about the fist-sized jellyfish brushing up against my arms and legs - I did what I could to avoid a collision with the rocks. 

There was no time to yell out a warning as my four fellow classmates splashed down in quick succession. But the fright I must have given whatever lurked in the depths beneath our feet was enough to prevent my friends from suffering the same jelly-stung fate. Next time - I will not be the first one to jump in with both feet.

The swim/climb back to Beach Camp was exhausting and took forever. Fighting an incoming tide, we were forced to diagonally maneuver against undercurrents and fiercely fought to prevent knees and elbows from banging against the coral and those treacherous long black needles poking out from sea urchins. When our feet finally reached the white sandy shoreline, red streaks began to form on both my legs. Since no one had to pee, I was stuck with the last resort, handfuls of rough sand rubbed vigorously up and down my calves. The burning was relentless. The itching was worse.

The thing is - once you jump? You can't go back.

Once my tightly locked ankles hit the surf, I was at the complete mercy of the mighty Pacific. I could not see where I was going for the waves, and though the soft, fluffy beach was just within reach, I was powerless to move in the right direction. It felt like I was on the losing side of a battle that I never had to fight in the first place. Not too far from the point where we'd launched ourselves blindly into Poseidon's playground from fifteen feet in the air - there was a gentler decline with better access to our magical unexplored beach. The climb would have been rough, but we didn't have to jump from a cliff and get battered by a fussy ocean. We could have avoided all the jellyfish.

Image: "Puerto Galera" GuideToThePhilippines.ph

Jeremiah reminds us that we do, in fact, have a Guide. When we are faced with crossroads or with a big leap that takes our breath away, God will lead us in the direction that avoids the sea louse or the jagged coral. Even if we find ourselves fighting fierce waves that leave us disoriented, if we call out to Him and keep our eyes on His direction, He will get us back to the Beach.

God doesn't promise smooth rivers. But He does promise to keep our feet from stumbling if we follow the trail He created for us.