Hope in the Highlands – Part 4 – Flying High

David Scott Fields II, Senior Writer • July 11, 2022

Following my first Sunday at Ciudad de Dios, the Sheets family had a week of adventures planned for me – adventures that served both to show me their beautiful city of Arequipa and allowed me the chance to meet more missionaries involved in sharing the Gospel in Peru.

Monday began with a question – “Have you ever been zip-lining?” I had but only once before during a school trip to Georgia. I had reasonably good memories of that experience, despite having to scale an artificial rock wall just to reach the zip line, so I agreed to give Peruvian zip lines a try. And, of course, the Sheets kids encouraged me saying, “It’s easy! You just walk to the edge of a cliff and step off!”

Despite these soothing words, the morning of Monday, June 20, 2022, I found myself on the Carmen Alto Viewpoint overlooking the Chili River in a lush and green gorge, far – far – below! Jason joked with me as I was fitted into my harness, “You’ll notice they don’t ask you to sign any kind of safety waver!” Those words weren’t exactly reassuring, but a few minutes later I was zipping across the valley. (After I let the Sheets go first, of course. One must not forget to be polite!)

As I coursed over the river, I was reminded that the local churches often used it to baptize new believers, and I wondered what it would be like to witness the very first baptisms at Ciudad de Dios, scheduled to happen later that week. The experience also turned my mind back to Jason’s sermon and the paramount importance of faith. Flying over the vast valley you quickly get the idea of how small you really are, and your very life hangs on the security of a single wire. No doubt there are countless individuals who would leap at the chance of the adventure of a zip line, putting their full faith in the integrity of that wire. Yet they would never dream of entrusting themselves to the true God who literally holds the Universe in His hands.

In a way, it was humbling flying over that valley, for even a true believer can quickly put his trust in earthly things and yet waver when it comes to trusting the Lord. Probably without even realizing it, the Sheets gave me that powerful reminder. For as the scriptures say, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6 – ESV).

References

Scripture quotations are from The ESV ® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.