Recently my husband Toby and I went skydiving to celebrate my 80^th birthday.  I thought turning 80 was a big deal; God had let me live all those years and I wanted to celebrate, and who better to celebrate with me than my husband of nearly 60 years.  We made plans to go and part of our family and some of my friends planned to be with us, and it was a wonderful adventure.  The skydiving was a beautiful experience, and we were tandem diving so an experienced instructor had our back during the whole time. We weren’t alone.

When we jumped out of the plane we were free-falling at 130 miles per hour and feeling the gravity pulling and the speed propelling us along until my tandem partner opened the chute.  And the period of floating after the chute opened gave me a chance to really see the overview of the country below.  We were right in front of Longs Peak in Longmont, Colorado, and there were houses and buildings below that looked so small, and also many small lakes and ponds and trees to see all around all the buildings.  

I thought about the view we had, and then thought about the view God has from high above the clouds, the overview He has of each of our lives, and the beauty around us that we sometimes miss along the way.  Do the people in those houses see the beauty around them or are they so caught up in problems and a busy daily life that they can’t see outside of the walls of their home?

My instructor let me handle the controls for a while and I was able to do some turns and spins which was fun, but I enjoyed having him strapped to me during the whole flight. I never had an ounce of fear during any of the experience.  I had complete confidence that I was well cared for from beginning to end.

The end of the dive was also interesting, as the instructor began slowing down our flight and heading us in the right direction for the landing area.  As we came closer to it we got lower and lower and when we reached the landing spot we just simply sat down so softly there wasn’t even a small jolt. It was a soft landing, and my family and friends were cheering and clapping and welcoming me back.

Toby and I started talking one morning after the jump about the experience and about the life we’ve had together and all the ups and downs we’ve experienced along the way.  The thing we always could count on during all of our many years together is that we were always a team and worked together during good times and bad and had each other’s back.  Life wasn’t always easy and we made lots of mistakes along the way, but we always pulled together when the going got tough and stayed together to work things out together.  

There were lots of lessons to learn through some of the trials we experienced, and even during the good times there were things to work out.  There were many times I had to  remember our wedding vows, “Till death do us part;”  that was a commitment we made to each other and it’s one we honored all the years we’ve been together.  When the going got tough we got busy working our way out of it together.  We were life partners.

When I think of how God has worked in my life I am amazed.  In each of our really difficult experiences in life, God was having me learn new things that helped me later in life.  He gave me friends that taught me valuable lessons along the way, and provided work for me to do that kept me busy and helped us along.  He also helped me see the beauty around us in the life we were in the midst of.  He gave me the strength I needed every day.  I made lots of mistakes along the way over the years, but He also saved me from making mistakes that would have everlasting consequences.  He could see where I was headed and would change my direction, just as my instructor had. 

God has the overview of my life and my welfare in mind to guide me along the way.  He can always see the end from the beginning, and that causes me to trust Him even more because “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28) He taught me things over the years that came in handy just when I needed them later in life.  He prepared me in advance to deal with circumstances that happened in my life.  He gave me confidence to carry out the plans He had for me and I could have no fear because I knew He had my back, He had already prepared the way and prepared me to walk in it.  There is nothing more reassuring than to know that God has prepared the way and will work through us to the end.  

I have always loved the verses in Jeremiah 29:11-13 “For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”  His plans for me and my life were exceedingly more and better that I ever would have imagined.  To be allowed to be His child and to serve Him is the greatest honor I could ever imagine.  

When Toby and I said our wedding vows back in 1962, we never could have imagined the life we were embarking on together.  It’s been quite an adventure, and we still plan on being together” till death do us part.”  We will trust God with our lives till the end.  We are still a team, working together for the good of our marriage and our family.  

And the most important part of our lives is that we are tightly strapped to God for our continued guidance and directions.  Our confidence is in Him, and He is trustworthy to guide us to that soft landing at the end of our time here on earth. Jesus paid the price for our entrance by taking our sin upon Himself and dying for our sin to reconcile us to God. Then we will have that grand welcome in heaven, where our family and friends who are already there are waiting to welcome us to our new eternal home high above everything we have experienced or ever imagined. Hallelujah.