Skydiving!

*Some names may have been changed

So, about a year ago, I had the opportunity to go skydiving in Southern Utah, near the Grand Canyon. Me, my brother Drew* and his wife Lindsay and some of their friends had found a great deal on a skydiving trip that we couldn't pass up. So leading up to the day, I didn't feel nervous at all. Actually, I was pretty excited. Now, for those who may know me, I am not much of a thrill seeker so this was kind of a big deal for me. I prepared all week mentally for this adventure.
 On Friday we (Me, Drew, Lindsay and Lindsay's sister, Michelle) drove down and stayed the night in a hotel. The next morning we woke up early and drove to the small airport where the we would take off. My brother and his wife decided that they would skydive first. We got into the hanger where the plane was kept. The skydiving leader uncovered a tiny little plane from the 60's that could only hold 4 people at a time. I stated to get a little bit nervous at this time. My brother and sister-in-law suited up in the colourful jumpsuits and prepared themselves for the jump. The crew started up the rickety plane and the plane was loaded up and began it's 20 minute flight to the 10,000 where Drew and Lindsay and the guides would jump out of the plane. I watched from below as the plane reached its peak and I watched as Drew jumped out first, followed by Lindsay. After about 10 minutes, they landed softly back onto solid ground.

So now the time had come for me to get ready. I was starting to get butterflies but not too nervous. I put on the silly, colourful jumpsuit on and crawled into the tiny plane with my guide and Michelle with her guide and began the ascent. About 10 minutes into the flight it hit me, "Why on earth am I doing this? I'm not an adrenaline junkie!! Why would I pay to jump out of plane with some guy strapped to my back??" So I started to panic a bit. Actually, I was pretty terrified. We finally got to the peak and my guide opened up the plane door and began yelling at me that we needed to jump soon. I looked down at the ground 10,000 feet below me and my heart stopped. I then started to feel the guy pushing me out of the plane. Pushing me! I had nothing to hold onto and before I knew it I was free falling towards the ground. I had to trust completely in the random guy that was strapped to my back, that he would pull the parachute. I had to trust that he wouldn't let me fall all the way to the ground. Needless to say, I made it down alive. Barely. Well now you are wondering, how on earth does this story about skydiving have to do with anything Gospel related? Well, once I was on solid ground I actually thought about how this applies perfectly with life and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Just like skydiving, sometimes in life we may feel like we are jumping out of a plane, afraid of what may happen to us. We may start to have doubts. Even for those who may have recently joined the church, they may feel as if they have jumped out of a plane and are having doubts or don't know what they have gotten themselves into. We may go through this in our lives with all sorts of things. But just like skydiving, we have to put our trust in somebody: that person we are strapped to who actually knows what they are doing. That person we are strapped to is Jesus Christ. He knows what He is doing. He knows what we are going through. He knows our feelings. So we need to completely trust in Him. He'll take care of us. When we feel as if we are jumping out of a plane and we are heading towards the ground, remember that we can trust that Christ will take care of us and pull the parachute.

(quote by Patrick Overton)

Elder Sparks