One of the jobs I have had in my life was working with a traveling carnival (more than one actually). During one of these tours, I found myself in charge of a kids ride called "Raiders". Now if you are not familiar with this, it is more of a fun house than a ride per se. It consisted of a short ramp leading up, then through a number of inflated 'punching bags' that you get to walk through. Then up a few stairs, up a short rope net and onto two rope bridges that stretched from tower to tower. At the end is a long slide leading down to an inflated bag at the bottom. Sounds fun doesn't it?
While many a child did find it fun, there were always some in each place that did not find it so amusing. Typically, there were three places that caused some concern as they went through this. The rope net, the bridges and finally, that long slide.
Now I have seen some people running similar rides at other times and when a child got stuck or scared in one of these parts, they would yell at them to come down and out or send a parent in to get them if they could not do so on their own. This was not how I did things.
When I ran it, if a child got nervous while climbing the net, I would typically move in close behind them - so they knew I was there - then step onto the bottom rung and push down. This would stiffen the net to a more ladder like feel. For some, I would even put my hands beside them so they knew they could not fall far. Not many would get stuck there though. The normal place to freeze was up on the rope bridges.
More than one child has gone flying through the course only to get partially onto the top bridge and freeze solid. Cannot blame them really. It is unnerving a bit - standing there, swaying slightly in the wind, bridge rattling and shaking slightly at around 3 stories in the air. Personally speaking, have never liked heights much so could relate pretty easily. So what happened when one would get up there, see the height and feel the wind and freeze up solid?
As I said before this is my own experience and actions here and know others do things differently.
I would see them freeze up. I would then make my way up to them, taking a short cut or two on the way. After reaching them, I would walk slowly out to them, talking to them the entire way. When I was to where they stood, we would talk a bit more then I would take their hands in mine and put my feet by theirs. Then moving as one, we would make our way across the bridge to the other side. If they were still nervous as they looked down the slide to the ground, I would sit down, put them either between my legs or on them (their preference), brace my feet slightly on the sides (since my 250 pound frame tended to fly down it a fair bit faster than the standard 70 pound child did) and down we would come.
I can honestly say that I believe I only had to do this with the same child twice. Afterward, they would be flying through the course over and over and over again, all by themselves.
As a believer, I can so easily relate to those kids.
The world around is full of scary things. Full of pain, struggles, failures and just lots of other not so pleasant things. While we can struggle and run through many things on our own, sometimes, sometimes things are just too much - too overwhelming. Like the disciples in the boat during the storm, we see the wind and waves, we feel their power against our flesh, and we panic.
Isaiah 41:13 "I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.".
Thankfully, even in the midst of it all, our God is faithful. When we freeze up and know (or think) that we cannot go another step, He rushes to our aid. Taking our hands in His own He walks us through it - all the way through, never leaving for even a moment. Sure He could just lift us out of there (and sometimes, He does) but many times He leads us through it, so that we will learn and remember that He is there for us - that we do not have to be afraid.
Sometimes we go through the same thing again or something similar. That is okay though. We know that when we can no longer move forward, that He will be there. He never grows tired of the rescue - of being there for His own children.
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