What a great day! They don’t call the world (or land) o’ Disney the happiest place on earth for nothing, let me just say. One of the things I love best about these days is all the hand-holding and loving-on I get to do. Right now, I’m about the best thing since either Elmo or Justin Bieber (don’t get me started), depending on who you’re talking to, and I plan to sop it up like a biscuit in gravy until that gravy train dries up, or they both get to be about 21, whichever comes first!

This trip, I loaded some classic Disney read-along stories/activities on my iPad for Lilli. She took a particular shine to Dumbo, so I knew we would be headed to spend some time in the new section of Fantasy Land called Storybook Circus. It’s darling back there, and its current centerpiece is a recreation of the vintage Dumbo ride from Disney Land. They’ve decided to try something new with the waiting queue for this ride, and it funnels you into a big top, filled with those ginormous climbing tubes/ropes/slide contraptions for kids to play in until their buzzer (think waiting for a restaurant table) goes off. Then you turn it in and they take you for the ride.

Now, this is pretty cool if your kid is a big kid. Mine, of course, is not. She desperately wanted to get in there, but even she saw the size of some of the bigger kids clambering up inside those giant tubes, and she just wasn’t sure. I finally found a place where I thought she could climb up a couple of platforms and come down a slide without incident. I let her go, and up she went, completely passing the level of the slide and going on to where you had to go across a rope net (like a tight rope walker’s safety net, but very kid safe) to connect to another tube. I was panicked because she was up higher and there were some big kids up there, and she was panicked because she could see ground underneath that net and no other way of escape. Of course, “MIMMIE!!!!” started ringing clear and loud over the din.

Throwing my super-hero cape over my shoulder, I tried not to step on any tiny people in my ascent up that tube. A tube not really built for people over about 5 feet, in case you were wondering. I was up there in a flash, which in itself is impressive, but not as impressive as the single motion leap that propelled a 2 year old from the platform on which she stood, directly into my arms.

There we stood looking at that rope net, me trying to calm her, and figure out how I was going to get us both down, and her clinging to me like a tick on a dog. Her little body was literally trembling, and I could feel her little heart about to burst through her shirt. Just as I was turning away from the net, deciding that going back the way I came was the best course, she said something that blew me away.

No, Mimmie. Go on the ropes.

Seriously?

Yes, seriously.

She was scared out of her mind, folks. Trembling there in my arms, but wanting to walk across that rope bridge so badly she’d called me up there to help her do it. So we did. The almost-50 year old grandmother, turned Caped Crusader, and the little two year old granddaughter who was, as it turned out, the bravest one of the two. Why? Because she didn’t turn back. She called the one she knew would come and help her conquer her fear and realize a dream.

That little gal continually teaches me things, but this hit me like a blow to the head. Or heart, really. That place where fear keeps me bound more often than I care to admit. I face that elusive rope bridge all. the. time. Maybe you do, too. How is it that I forget, so easily, the fact that a Savior who can walk on water, can very likely take on a rope bridge with little effort, even if I’m clinging to Him with everything I’ve got. Especially if I am. I just have to know He can do it, and believe it without question.

I just have to cry out.

Facing down a rope bridge today? Cry out…then get ready to hang on. The One who shows up to help may not be wearing a cape, but He’s bearing some hard-earned scars on His hands and feet. Really, you can’t miss Him, and the best part is that He’s not afraid of heights.

Thankfully, He’s not afraid of anything.

“…be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 NLT

“Be not afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 1:8 NIV

“They had rowed three or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified,  but he called out to them, “Don’t be afraid. I am here!” John 6:19-20 NLT

“Jesus told him, “   Don’t be afraid; just believe.” Mark 5:36 NIV