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Wings

     If the fog hadn't cleared in time, Lucy might have stepped over the edge.  The path dropped away beneath her feet, leaving her on the edge of a precipice.
     "Why do you stop, Lucy?" Peter asked, sounding both curious and annoyed.
     "Well, hullo!" Edmund stepped to her side, suddenly seeing what she did.  "We're on a cliff, Peter."
     Peter and Susan joined their younger siblings on the edge.  The clouds below them parted somewhat and they could see the sheer cliff -- smooth and straight -- and the bottom several thousand feet below them.
     "It makes me dizzy." Lucy said, reaching for Edmund's hand.
     "Well, there's no way across here.  We'll have to go back and look for another way." Susan sighed.
     "We can't."  Edmund stared into the depths in front of him.
     "Edmund's right.  Aslan told us that we could not turn back from this path for any reason."  Peter shook his head.  It just didn't make sense.  To step forward would be certain death.  "What do you want us to do, Aslan?" Peter murmured, not expecting a response.
     A wind gusted by, and Susan had the most preposterous idea to step forward.  She clenched her jaw and resisted it.
     "I heard him!" Lucy shouted.  "Aslan!  He said to jump!"
     Edmund squared his shoulders and faced the others.  "I heard him, too."
     "As did I, but it doesn't make sense."  Peter frowned.  "Why would Aslan tell us to jump?"
     "Because he said he has given us wings."  Lucy's face was alight.
     Peter scratched his forehead skeptically.  "I didn't hear that part, Lu."
     "And I don't see any wings on any of us," Susan added.
     "Maybe they are invisible," Lucy argued.
     "Well, if Aslan says to jump, that's what I'm going to do.  Are you coming or not?" Edmund faced the edge, took a deep breath...and jumped.

*   *   *

     It's a scary place.  To stand at a cliff.  To take a step forward into the impossible, trusting that God will give you the power to do what He has called you to do.  But that is what I am being urged to do, and I don't think I am the only one.
     It seems like every preacher I have heard lately has been talking about it.  About not trading God's best for the world's substitutes.  About obeying Him in everything.  About walking as Jesus walked.  About going into all the world and preaching the gospel like they did in Acts.  About letting His power work in you and through you to reach others.
      And I feel a little bit like I'm standing on a cliff with a promise of wings.


[P.S. This is not a C.S.Lewis story.  I stole his characters because they were best able to present how I feel at the moment.  I hope you don't mind, Mr. Lewis]

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