Ouachita Stories

When I was a child, I learned a valuable lesson about placing my trust in appropriate things. My older brother and I had tossed some tennis balls onto our roof. So we did what any responsible kids would do: we decided to climb up on the roof and retrieve them. I was just three years old, but my brother was a big kid. He was five.

I ascended the ladder with no trouble. We tossed a few tennis balls back down, and we surveyed the neighborhood from new heights. Unfortunately, when we tried to descend, I couldn’t do it. On the way up, I could see where to grab. On the way down, I couldn’t see where to put my feet, and I became scared. So, my big brother had a great idea. He said, “Don’t worry, Bryan. Let’s find the lowest part of the roof and you can just jump and I’ll catch you.” So, we did. And I jumped. And he didn’t catch me. Thud. The fall dazed me, but thankfully there were no significant injuries. Ironically, the lowest part of the roof was just above our kitchen sink window. My mother happened to be in the kitchen at the time and watched her 3 year old son sky-diving off her house!

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

1 John 4:16

After catching my breath, my first words were: “You said you’d catch me and you didn’t.” I learned that day that I can’t put my faith in people. As great as they are, they’ll eventually let me down. But God won’t. The Bible promises us that we can rely on the love God has for us. As you go through this week, I pray that you will know and rely on the love God has for you. He is love, and his love is more than sufficient to meet your needs.

 

By Bryan McKinney, Dean of the Hickingbotham School of Business