The music began. The energy rose. The room echoed.
As I was sitting across from someone near and dear to my heart, I watched her fingers quiver with nervousness and excitement to share her story.
What a story indeed, very similar to mine – a young girl that was lost in a world of mess had found a new joy and had experienced a new dawning.
She shared her mistakes with us, pronounced them to be dead, and then declared her commitment to her faith in God.
I was challenged once again. Do I really believe?
Think about the law of the pendulum.
It is proven when a pendulum is released it never swings as high as its swing before. It sways back and forth, each time reversing a bit lower until it reaches perfect zero and stops centered to the ground.
I watched as George, the presenter, shared this phenomenon as an example of faith.
He set up a life-size pendulum and asked a professor who proclaimed his belief in this law to sit on a chair at one end of the pendulum. George pulled the rope tight securing the weights toward the professor’s face just brushing his nose. As he let go George asked, “Do you still believe?”
The pendulum swung in rage to the other side then turned back to face its match, staring down the professor. The professor’s eyes widened as he was forced to make a fast decision. Do I stay in this seat knowing my claim is being tested? Or do I jump off and give in despite? He jumped.
Over the years I too have leaped off the chair of faith. Many times my belief has been tested and many times I have failed. The glory of failure is that I have a choice to get back up and sit back in the chair of faith. Failure does not mean defeat. It just means we have another chance and have learned a bit more.
How secure is your faith?
What would you do if you were sitting where the professor sat? You might be scared out of your mind, but with the strength of God and commitment to faith, you can stay in that seat.
You, too, can have a new dawning.
Republished and modified January 2020.
Originally written March 21, 2011
