Leaning into the jump

Last night I had a dream. A friend and I were skydiving from a plane. With an instructor strapped to me we jumped from the very high height, but I wasn't scared or felt like I was falling at all. Even though we were falling with great speed it felt more like sliding down a slide. The ground was coming closer and the instructor never pulled the chord for the parachute. I had a brief thought of "Huh. I'm pretty sure he needs to pull that chord about now." But I never became afraid. When we came to the ground we simply curled our legs and landed into a gentle backwards roll with hardly any impact. It was like someone was guiding us smoothly to the earth. My friend and I then went off somewhere sharing our thrilling experiences...to which I mentioned I had jumped from a plane twice that day.

Why do i mention this? I have very high respect for dreams and the way that God seems to speak through them. Now I don't consider every dream a message from God. Many are just that...a dream. I don't have a mystical fantasy of them, however I can not deny that God does use dreams from time to time to speak to us. He did it several times in scriptures (take a look at Joseph in Genesis and Joseph in Matthew!), we hear about it in books about missionaries in 3rd world countries and how Jesus comes to non-believers in their dreams, and I believe, that since our God is the same as he was 5,000 years ago, he still uses dreams to communicate to us from time to time.

And so, since I remembered this dream so vividly I decided to investigate it. After a little research and prayer I have come to this conclusion.

Me joining staff with IV was a huge risk in many ways. Will I have support from my family and friends? Financial stability? Is this what God's called me too? Transitions in moving, and etc. When I joined staff, I took a deep breath and jumped off a plane. So far I have never doubted my decision, and the further I go the greater I feel the call to it.

As much as I love what I do, at this present time I am struggling in a few areas that have left me feeling out of control of situations and helpless. There is this moment in time where I am falling and I feel I have no control over the outcome. However, as much as I feel out of control, I ultimately know that my future is in God's hands...my instructor...who will guide me to where I need to be unharmed. He is more reliable than a parachute, and will provide what I need, and I have nothing to fear, but to look forward to that day when I can meet up with my friend and we can share our experiences in the missions God has called us too.

As far as the significance as me stating I jumped out of a plane twice, I can only guess that means I will be given another opportunity to take a risk...but for now, I know my place is with IV. My role in God's plan is to help students on the WVU campus aware of what they are missing out on and offer them a time to choose, train others who have accepted Christ in the ways of scripture, missions, and leadership, and mobilize them to make a difference on their campus, in their jobs, and in this world.

This is my mission, and that dream I believe was God telling me not to worry about what I need, that I need to enjoy the jump and trust in him.

And with that, I am off to a camp out IV is hosting for old and new students, so they can have a good opportunity to meet each other and form a solid community, to become 1 step closer of living out the way the Acts 2 believers had.