When thinking about my greatest leap of faith two opposing concepts come to mind. The first is a common phrase, ‘Look before you leap.’ This simply means that we should gather all the details of a situation or undertaking before actually making the decision to do something. That’s good advice! The second saying is a verse in the Bible. “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). That’s great advice when it comes to living for the Lord. The contrast is clear, in the natural, you make sure you see before you act, in the spiritual we walk and live by faith even though we may not always see the outcome or have all the details.
With that as the backdrop, I immediately think of two times in my life when a faith leap happened. I was coming toward the end of high school (many many years ago). I had already landed on my chosen occupation which was to become a lawyer. I knew what university I was going to attend (the same one as my grandfather, father, cousins and sister). A family friend had already agreed to take me into his practice upon graduation and eventually turn his practice over to me. I was set for life! The looking and planning had happened so it wasn’t a leap, it was more of a small skip and a jump. But then God… but then God called me into ministry and my life and plans were turned upside down. But not just my life and plans were turned upside down, the hopes and dreams of my parents for me were completely upended. I’ll never forget the conversation. ‘Mom and Dad, I’ve got something I need to tell you. I’m not going to go to university to study to be a lawyer. I’m going to go to Bible College to study to become a Pastor.’ ‘You’re what?!!’
The leap of faith was in completely pivoting the future direction of my life. The leap of faith was in not knowing if I’d have my family’s support or if I’d be rejected. But I knew with the certainty of faith that God had called me and I leapt into His will and into His arms. Thankfully, once the shock was over, I had their support and the crystal clear confirmation that God was walking with me.
The second time is a time that Pastor Sandra referred to in her blog. We were well-established, pastoring a church in the GTA. The Lord was blessing and the church was growing. At the same time, we also felt something grow inside our spirits. It was a burden, a calling to go into cross- cultural ministry. It started small and we thought maybe someday when we were older we
could do some short term work overseas. But it kept growing and growing until we were convinced God was calling us as full-time Global Workers. We stepped out, actually, we leapt. We took a significant reduction in income. We went, with our daughter, sight unseen to a nation we’d never ever visited. We left family and friends and the familiar. We couldn’t speak the language. We couldn’t read the writing. I had a title and a business card, but no experience and no idea what to do. The loss was huge but we knew we were trusting and obeying. It was a leap of faith and, in the end, the Lord blessed us in amazing ways.
And here’s what we learned. When you step out in faith, when you take a leap of faith, you aren’t stepping out on to nothing, you’re stepping out on to God’s Word and God’s promise and God’s faithfulness. The One who calls us is faithful. We also learned that God is enough and God is in control.
When we ‘look before we leap’, in some ways we’re in control. We’re guiding the decision, we’re analyzing the situation. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good methodology when it comes to life. However, there are those times (perhaps many times) when we ‘walk by faith, not by sight.’ Times when it may not make sense but you just know that God has called and God has directed, and because He’s called and directed the only option is to take the leap of faith. ‘For we walk by faith, not by sight.’
