The Multi-Vine

Both feet planted firmly on the ground, I was only too happy to take pictures. But, please don’t ask me if I’d like to try it.

One student after another donned helmets and harnesses to face the Multi-Vine at camp last week. With safety checks complete, they’d climb the ladder and then lay hold of the grips that have been inserted into the tall pine tree to make their way up, up, up to the challenge. A thin cable stretched from one tree to another, some 40 feet away, at a height of 40 feet in the air. Overhead, just out of reach, was a similar cable… from this one dangled lengths of rope at intervals. These sections of rope were the only means campers had to convey themselves from one tree — across the cable — to the other.

These challenge course elements, at heights that terrify me, are an intentional faith metaphor in Christian camping. Despite my desire to stay on land (even the helmet-cam footage made me nauseous), the lessons were still obvious through my camera lens.

Not at the end of my rope

As I watched multiple students tackle this challenge, I saw a consistent trend in the way they’d transition from one dangling ‘vine’ to the next. They’d reach conservatively in hopes of grasping it easily from the (so-called) comfort of their current position. Unsuccessful, they’d lean a little farther and inch a little closer. Rarely, however, were they at the limits of how far their current vine would take them. Quite simply, they just didn’t realize how much rope they still had to get them there. They’d just keep reaching, never taking advantage of the remaining inches until prodded by our voices below that they had plenty of rope to stretch to the next.

We operate similarly in our lives, don’t we? I’d always prefer to move from one station in my life to the next with the feeling of safety, comfort and margin — never pushed to my limits. But faith is built at the limits — where our comfort ends and God’s sovereignty is all the more apparent. [Tweet this.] I, for one, would like to move more courageously through life, willing to stretch forward and lean into whatever God has for me, trusting that He’ll supply exactly the length of rope I need… instead of ‘saving rope’ for my own comfort.

On the wire but in the Vine

I loved that this challenge was called the Multi-Vine for the multiple, varying lengths of rope with which to traverse the expanse. Its name immediately called John 15 to mind, where Jesus tells His disciples how vital their connection to Him is to fruitfulness in life and ministry.

 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
John 15:5-8 NIV

The safety and livelihood of the campers was dependent on their connection to the sections of rope — the ‘vines’, if you will. Though they were on belay, their grip on the vine was essential to both their lives and their task. In our day-to-day doings, the necessity of our connection to the Vine may be less apparent to us (as we’re not standing on a cable 40 feet above ground), but it is no less essential.

I am afraid. Afraid of living at the edge of myself — on the wire and at the end of my rope. But I believe He is good and faithful, the source of all I need. As I trust and remain in Him, I will be increasingly able to lean forward into His designs on my life.

And then, perhaps, I’ll have the delight of seeing Him work through me.