By Kelly Carr

“I thought she said ‘back flip,’ so I moved out of the way. But she actually said ‘trust fall’ and then fell, but I didn’t catch her!”

That was a story from a young girl about church camp. The the child who trusted was OK, so the story made me giggle. Ah, youth group antics. Glad we start early to teach kids the basics of trust—even when it fails to fully stick the first time around.

Though the trust fall is a well-used demonstration and seems obvious, maybe even silly, it’s actually a great metaphor. When you are the one standing with your back to your friend or team, it is truly intimidating to allow yourself to be vulnerable in their hands.

Even more—how intimidating does it feel to make ourselves vulnerable in the hands of an unseen God, trying to trust that he sees the bigger picture, knows far and above all that we can know, and wants the best for each of us? When a child faces life or death surgery, when you don’t know where the next paycheck is coming from, when you struggle to determine if life is worth it any longer—that’s a whole different level of vulnerability.

It’s OK to admit that it’s difficult at times to trust God. (It even takes trust to admit our lack of trust.) God made us inside and out, so he knows the trepidation we have. We see all kinds of biblical people who question, who wonder what God is up to. Yet we also see all kinds of ways that God has been trustworthy.

So we can let ourselves be vulnerable. We can stand still, close our eyes, and fall back into his arms. He’s never failed to make the catch.