According to Wikipedia, Jean Francois Gravelet AKA Charles Blondin was born on 28th February, 1824 and was renowned as a tightrope walker and an acrobat.
He toured the USA and was known for crossing the 340m Niagara Gorge on a tightrope often wheeling a barrow.
Apparently he crossed the raging divide from the Canadian side quite a few times with differing theatrical variations to his feat. Once blindfolded, and as mentioned trundling a wheelbarrow, on stilts and carrying his manager on his back.
He even sat down half way while he cooked and ate an omelette and believe it or not stood on a balanced chair with only one leg on the rope.
A story is told (not sure how true it is) of how he trundled his barrow across the divide from the Canadian side of the falls full of bricks approximately weighing the average weight of an adult male.
When he got to the US side he was met by a crowd of well-wishers all applauding his great accomplishment. Among the crowd, so the story goes, was the Lord Mayor who promptly congratulated him.
Blondin asked the mayor did he believe that He could carry him safely over to the Canadian side. The Lord Mayor said that he truly believed than Blondin could do just that. "Well hop into the wheelbarrow" said Blondin. I really feel it would have made headlines if the Lord Mayor had indeed climbed in but I'm guessing if that story is true he wouldn't have (and I can't blame him).
When I heard this story I thought of what is the difference between TRUSTING God and BELIEVING in God? In other words I really feel we all have to TRUST enough in God to JUMP IN THE WHEELBARROW.
Believing about or believing in something is fine and good and just - like I believe when I am climbing a mountain that my safety harness will hold - I also TRUST in my safety harness that it will hold me if I fall.
When I go swimming I believe that my swimming ability will keep me afloat - that I am safe with what I believe that my swimming instructors have told me that is true and will keep my from drowning - I not only have faith in what I have learned but I trust in my ability to carry it through.
Believing in and about something is certainly not the same as trusting and having faith in that something - In James chapter 2 it says in the New Living Translation:-
"You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and tremble in terror".
A long time ago I met the girl of my dreams - I reckon it definitely was love at first sight - I was struck by her piercing blue eyes and her strawberry blond hair. Did I want to marry her? YOU BET I DID!! As I said it was love at first sight - Did I know her? NO I DIDN'T (not at that stage anyway), but I trusted her and I had faith in her that she felt the same about me as I did about her
It was the same when I became a follower of Jesus - I believed about Him and I believe that when I made a decision to follow Him I believed IN Him and I reckon it was a faith, small as it may have been at that time, that allowed me to put my trust in Him.
Over the years I have come to a pretty awesome conclusion and that is the Great God that I first put my trust in through the faith that he gave me originally, wants us all to know Him better and better and the more we get to know Him the bigger and better our trust through faith in Him will grow in us.
When SueAnn and I were first dating and newly engaged I tried all ways to make her think and feel that I was way and above anyone else she'd ever met - bracelets and flowers, perfume and all things pretty - I went above and beyond to prove myself to this amazing girl of my dreams that I loved her and she was the world to me.
We now don't need 'things' to show each other our love although it is nice to celebrate it when the time comes around
God loves us with an everlasting love and He wants us to love Him that way too - He doesn't want all of our "pretties" he doesn't want our good works to make us love Him - he doesn't need the incense and the candles nor even our money. What he does want is our trust fuelled by our faith and surprisingly when that is in our lives we do want to show His love by the works we do - so in lots of ways one stirs the other and we can live our lives to show his love.
So how are you in trusting Jesus? Are you still in the believing about Him stage, but haven't come to the realisation that you don't really KNOW Him at all? God wants us all to know, trust and love Him more and more and all it takes is a simple prayer - simple but from the heart - similar to this one:-
God, Creator of the universe, You made me - You love and you want me to know you better. Thank you for sending Jesus to take my sins away - Forgive me for my brokenness which has been brought about by my own sin. I don't just want to believe ABOUT you, I really want you to transform my life so that I can trust you by the faith you have planted inside of my soul.
If you have prayed that prayer from your very heart, why not contact me through this blog or through www.InspirationalChristanBlogs.com and we can chat about our commitments in more depth.
So like the Lord Mayor - it's no use just 'saying' you believe he can get us to the other side - it really is time to trust through faith and jump in the wheelbarrow. Make a stand today - God can change your life for the better and even better.
God bless you this week as you consider the difference between believing ABOUT God to trusting IN God through faith.
He toured the USA and was known for crossing the 340m Niagara Gorge on a tightrope often wheeling a barrow.
Apparently he crossed the raging divide from the Canadian side quite a few times with differing theatrical variations to his feat. Once blindfolded, and as mentioned trundling a wheelbarrow, on stilts and carrying his manager on his back.
He even sat down half way while he cooked and ate an omelette and believe it or not stood on a balanced chair with only one leg on the rope.
A story is told (not sure how true it is) of how he trundled his barrow across the divide from the Canadian side of the falls full of bricks approximately weighing the average weight of an adult male.
When he got to the US side he was met by a crowd of well-wishers all applauding his great accomplishment. Among the crowd, so the story goes, was the Lord Mayor who promptly congratulated him.
Blondin asked the mayor did he believe that He could carry him safely over to the Canadian side. The Lord Mayor said that he truly believed than Blondin could do just that. "Well hop into the wheelbarrow" said Blondin. I really feel it would have made headlines if the Lord Mayor had indeed climbed in but I'm guessing if that story is true he wouldn't have (and I can't blame him).When I heard this story I thought of what is the difference between TRUSTING God and BELIEVING in God? In other words I really feel we all have to TRUST enough in God to JUMP IN THE WHEELBARROW.
Believing about or believing in something is fine and good and just - like I believe when I am climbing a mountain that my safety harness will hold - I also TRUST in my safety harness that it will hold me if I fall.
When I go swimming I believe that my swimming ability will keep me afloat - that I am safe with what I believe that my swimming instructors have told me that is true and will keep my from drowning - I not only have faith in what I have learned but I trust in my ability to carry it through.
Believing in and about something is certainly not the same as trusting and having faith in that something - In James chapter 2 it says in the New Living Translation:-
"You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and tremble in terror".
A long time ago I met the girl of my dreams - I reckon it definitely was love at first sight - I was struck by her piercing blue eyes and her strawberry blond hair. Did I want to marry her? YOU BET I DID!! As I said it was love at first sight - Did I know her? NO I DIDN'T (not at that stage anyway), but I trusted her and I had faith in her that she felt the same about me as I did about her
It was the same when I became a follower of Jesus - I believed about Him and I believe that when I made a decision to follow Him I believed IN Him and I reckon it was a faith, small as it may have been at that time, that allowed me to put my trust in Him.
Over the years I have come to a pretty awesome conclusion and that is the Great God that I first put my trust in through the faith that he gave me originally, wants us all to know Him better and better and the more we get to know Him the bigger and better our trust through faith in Him will grow in us.
When SueAnn and I were first dating and newly engaged I tried all ways to make her think and feel that I was way and above anyone else she'd ever met - bracelets and flowers, perfume and all things pretty - I went above and beyond to prove myself to this amazing girl of my dreams that I loved her and she was the world to me.
We now don't need 'things' to show each other our love although it is nice to celebrate it when the time comes around
God loves us with an everlasting love and He wants us to love Him that way too - He doesn't want all of our "pretties" he doesn't want our good works to make us love Him - he doesn't need the incense and the candles nor even our money. What he does want is our trust fuelled by our faith and surprisingly when that is in our lives we do want to show His love by the works we do - so in lots of ways one stirs the other and we can live our lives to show his love.
So how are you in trusting Jesus? Are you still in the believing about Him stage, but haven't come to the realisation that you don't really KNOW Him at all? God wants us all to know, trust and love Him more and more and all it takes is a simple prayer - simple but from the heart - similar to this one:-
God, Creator of the universe, You made me - You love and you want me to know you better. Thank you for sending Jesus to take my sins away - Forgive me for my brokenness which has been brought about by my own sin. I don't just want to believe ABOUT you, I really want you to transform my life so that I can trust you by the faith you have planted inside of my soul.
If you have prayed that prayer from your very heart, why not contact me through this blog or through www.InspirationalChristanBlogs.com and we can chat about our commitments in more depth.
So like the Lord Mayor - it's no use just 'saying' you believe he can get us to the other side - it really is time to trust through faith and jump in the wheelbarrow. Make a stand today - God can change your life for the better and even better.
God bless you this week as you consider the difference between believing ABOUT God to trusting IN God through faith.
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