Big Words, Little Actions

There is the old saying “Say what you mean, mean what you say.” It is easy to say you’re going to do something, but it’s a lot tougher to actually carry through and do it. A few years ago, Jennifer and I took a Caribbean cruise. One of the stops was in Belize. One of the great things about cruises is the excursions. Feeling adventurous, we went on the excursion that included rafting in an underwater river, swimming in a “bottomless” cenote, and then capped off with zipline over the jungle. We’re not talking just a little skip over the ground. We climbed up through the canopy of the jungle, putting us a couple of hundred feet above the jungle floor. I was all bravado on the way up, but when we reached the top platform and I looked down, let’s just say I wasn’t as fearless as I thought. I could have walked back down. And to be honest I was ready to, except for two reasons. First Jennifer was fully prepared to do it. I couldn’t have very well wimped-out while she went down. But even at that, I was scared enough to still turn around and tell her “See ya at the bottom.” But nope. There was another reason I pressed forward: there were three teen girls (who were on our ship) that were all giggly and ready to go…standing right behind me. How could I, with any sense of dignity and manhood, shirk away from the challenge of the zipline. I put on the harness and stepped off the platform. I can still hear the “whizzzz” of my descent, while looking down at the jungle below. A few minutes later I reached the end. It was indeed exhilarating, and there was bit of a “high” afterward, and my manhood was intact. In this case my big words were met with big actions. But that is not always the case. I can identify with Peter. In these passages, he asks Jesus where he was going, to which Jesus said “…you cannot follow now.” Peter’s response was big words. “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus’ response was something in that moment Peter could not and would not accept. That he would betray Jesus not once but three times. And we know the rest of the story. Our big words can strengthen us to big actions. But they can also reveal our weakness and fear. To proclaim Christ are the biggest words we as Christians can speak. But these words also demand the action to go with them. Peter ultimately was martyred for the Gospel. His big words were met with the ultimate big action. Christ tells us to fear not. Our words yield and require action which is built up the rock that is Christ.    
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