What I Learned from my 1st Zipline Ride

My thirst for adventures have always made me crave to try ziplines but such in the city are not very adventure-satisfying. I want my first Z experience to be traversing trees and waters. So when I knew I was going to Ilocos Sur this Christmas break, and upon finding out that the longest Z in that province lies somewhere near my lodging, i knew in my mind I would finally have my first Z. :)

Dec 25, 2014 in Narvacan Tourism Complex, Ilocos Sur. I was about to try 520m long and 280m high zipline. 100% confident that nothing bad will happen, that I would finish the line unharmed just as any liners did. With the tour guide leading me, I crossed a miniforest and climbed up a rocky hill to get to the starting point of the line. The crew locked me up with the harness in a darna position and was about to release me when I asked this question: "San ako kakapit?," and got answered "wala po." Then I got out-of-my-mind kind of nervousness that it took me around 3 minutes to finally be ready to be released.

Awtsu. I've always been brave trying out exhilarating stuff such as extreme rides... name it and i think can ride it! But I realized that my courage comes from the fact that my hands can grip upon something i think is safe. It felt so different with this Zipline ride... I was a little hesitant and unsure because instead of me holding to something, I was just being held up by a harness I couldn't even see because of my orientation. Although i know it's the same harness that has sent hundreds of others through the same line, I couldn't stop my heart from pumping fear.

Me in the zipline harness.

Right then when I was traversing the 1 minute zipline, a lesson was prompted into my heart, and I believe it was from God. Sometimes in life, there's no safety bar you can hold onto. No one beside you going the same challenge as you are. But Jesus, like the harness, is holding you up connecting you the the rope.. taking you from Point A to Point B. Most of the time you would not see him, but at one point you will just realize that you've already reached the end of the challenge, alive... and the only participation you had was actually "going through it." You did not do the "holding up" yourself.

That's a hard but assuring revelation that I know was meant for me as I enter the year. It's gonna be a challenging journey from starting to finishing point but I just have to enjoy the view, express my amazement in screams and heart-pumps and be in faith that my harness, who is Jesus will get me there. :)