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5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Prov 3:5-6 NIV Recently I was climbing a route on the Greenbelt that I have done before, but it had been awhile. It just seemed harder than it should have. I pumped out near the top and lowered down before I finished. My climbing partner gave me one look, and I already knew what he was going to say; “You’re over-gripping.” Yep. In climbing it’s important to keep the right amount of tension at all times. If you grip too hard you overwork your forearms and fingers, and the dreaded pump tends to hit sooner than it should. Hold on too lightly and you’ll slip right off. When on a difficult route you’re unfamiliar with, it’s easy to forget this and just try to hang on for dear life. The same is true with life. I for one struggle with control. I tend to want to be in control of everything, and if I feel like things are getting out of control I usually want to just grasp more and more tightly. God has to remind me time and time again that He is the one in control and I just need to loosen my grip and trust Him. The call of Christ is a call to completely and unequivocally trust Him. The human tendency is to lean on our own understanding, pull ourselves up by our own boot straps, and only rely on God when everything seems to be falling apart. But Jesus wants us to trust Him first, to completely abandon ourselves in the pursuit of Him. We must loosen our grip on this world so that we can cling desperately to Him. Only then do we realize that control was an illusion all along and that He is lovingly holding us up with His mighty arm. May you find the confidence in Jesus to stop over-gripping and truly trust Him fully. May you rest in the knowledge that come what may, if you are in Christ, His grace covers and protects you to very core. You are free to loosen your grip and climb to the heights unafraid and unashamed.