Anthony Mathenia

I was recently at a busi­ness func­tion at a local swim­ming pool; the same that I used to swim in as a child. While there I took notice of the div­ing boards that I remem­bered jump­ing off of. There are two div­ing boards, a low one and a high one. Back then the “high dive” absolutely ter­ri­fied me. I dis­tinctly remem­ber the fear I used to have jump­ing off of that div­ing board; so much so that I prayed to God each time I climbed that lad­der and walked to the edge of the board. “Please,” I asked, “see me through this.”

While I still have issues with heights I have to admit look­ing at that “high” div­ing board at present didn’t nec­es­sar­ily impress me all that much. Inside I shook my head in dis­be­lief at the child who thought it was so big a deal that his very sur­vival depended on pray­ing each time.

In our per­sonal lives some­times Jesus brings us to the cross road. The place where we need to change course and walk in faith. I’m going through that right now and I can admit that it can be scary. I have been pray­ing, “Please, see me through this.”

I’ve been think­ing about that div­ing board and feel­ing that, twenty-five years from now, I’ll look back and shake my head at the man I am now and say, “why were you so wor­ried over some­thing as lit­tle as that?”