TAKE IT TO THE HILT.

"Faith: jumping off a cliff and

being full convinced you will not reach the bottom."

Bungee Jumping.

265 feet off a Costa Rican bridge.

Scariest thing I have ever done. Best thing I have ever done.

On a missions trip to Costa Rica this past July my team spent the free afternoon jumping off of a bridge in the rain forest. Insanity.

I looked down, with my bare toes off that yellow platform, my body literally shaking. It was pretty terrifying. The 12 voices behind me all cried "Don't look down!" Don't think about it!" Look in the distance!" Jump like superman!" "JUMP, JUMP!" but I tend to analyze everything and I didn't do what I was told. I looked down. Standing there I was thinking "this is just a bad idea. I am about to throw myself off a bridge and put my life in the strength of some stretchy rubber."

But you only live once. I knew I would enjoy it, I just had to convince myself to take that initial jump. But I could have stood there all day working on that. I just had to do it. I turned, looked at my team, yelled "TO THE HILT, BABY!" (my life motto) and shortly there after began plummeting towards the dingy Costa Rican river. And I LOVED IT. Falling through the air with some bungee velcro-ed to your ankles is probably the best feeling in the world. Slight rush of blood to the head, and tiny lack of circulation in my feet, but it was so worth it. Let me just tell you, it changed my life...

Fear is crippling. Fear is no fun. I do no have time to be afraid, fear is a total waste. I have one life and I am going to live it as full as I possibly can. I am going to live my life to the hilt.
Sometimes you just have to jump.

*all photographs on this post by Jeffery Crandall, photographer extraordinaire*