Can I Get a Volunteer?

I love a story I read recently about a famous French tightrope walker who went by the name Charles Brodin.

The year was 1855 when he gathered before a large crowd to attempt the impossible: walking across a wire stretched 1,100 feet over Niagara Falls. As the crowd gathered and Brodin took to the beginning of the tightrope, he looked out to the crowd and said the following: “I’m about to walk across the wire crossing Niagara Falls. Do you want to see me do this?” The crowd cheered. “Do you think I can do this?” The crowd cheered louder. And then? Brodin began the walk, walking successfully from one side to the other and back to the beginning. The crowd went crazy. But wait, Brodin wasn’t done.

He then had an assistant bring a wheelbarrow up to him which he balanced on the wire. He told the crowd watching in amazement, “I am about to wheel this wheelbarrow across the tightrope from this side to the other and back again. Do you want to see this?” The crowd exploded in cheers and applause. “Do you think it can be done?” Again, the crowd clapped and shouted. And Brodin began his walk across the wire, successfully making it from one side to the other and back again.

And here comes my favorite part.

Brodin then looked out in the crowd and said, “I now want to do this same trick but, this time, with someone sitting in the wheelbarrow. Who wants to watch this spectacle take place?” The crowd cheered and shouted louder than any of the previous times. “Who thinks I can do this?” Again, the crowd erupted in applause. Then, looking out among the crowd, Brodin said, “Now, I just need a volunteer.”

At this point, the only roar heard was that of the water spilling over Niagara Falls. No one in the crowd dared say a word. Who wants to volunteer for that?!

I loved this story in relation to the message I preached in Harvest last Sunday. The lesson here is this: the crowd claimed they trusted Brodin, but when it came to that faith being tested by action, it failed. True faith must be followed by obedience. True faith? It means volunteering to get in the wheelbarrow.

Here’s the good news, friends. Jesus has us, every step of the way. He just needs us to keep our eyes on Him.

Missed last Sunday’s word? Catch it here.