My brothers and I begged my parents for a trampoline one Christmas. They weren’t quite ready for us to have one, so they bought us pogo sticks instead. I look back on that now and think that is hilarious. But I loved jumping on that pogo stick. We would compete against each other to see who could jump the longest and who could jump the highest.
The next Christmas we finally got the trampoline. (Yeah! Persistence pays off!)
We spent more time than we should have on that trampoline. Again, we would compete with each other to see who could jump the highest or who could bounce the other one off of the trampoline. Once, we pushed the trampoline up next to the house and climbed on the roof to jump onto it from the roof. We did this until our neighbor called our father and told us. (Tattle tale)
We became very comfortable on the trampoline. Jumping, flipping, fighting and more. Neither I, nor my brothers were ever seriously injured on this ‘bouncing mat.’ But way too often someone would come visit and jump for the first time and fall off and break an arm, chip a tooth or sprain an ankle. The problem was, they did not know how to stay vertical. They would end up going horizontal into the yard or into the fence. In order to stay safe on a trampoline you must stay vertical.
Vertical is the word of the day. In order to stay safe spiritually, you must stay vertical. Keep looking up. Keep your eyes on Jesus, not man or the problems of this world. Keep Vertical.
Psalm 121:1-2 “I look up to the mountains—does my help come from there? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!