Flying High

James watched the red kite soaring in the bright sky. His big brother Michael grinned. "Don't you wish we could take off and fly like that?" Michael asked."Yeah!" James grinned back. "But if I were that kite, I wouldn't want the string to hold me down. I'd want to fly away, high above the clouds."Michael laughed. "But if you broke loose, you'd crash to the ground instead of flying away. Without the string, that kite would just fall down."James turned to his father. "Would it, Daddy?""Yep," said Dad. "If that string broke, or if you let go of it, the kite would soon fall.""Oh." James's small hands clutched the spool of string, trying to make sure his kite didn't get away."You know," Dad mused, "in a way, we're something like that kite. Even though the kite dips and swerves in the gusts of air, the string keeps it from falling. It holds the kite steady in the wind so it can fly high. Jesus does the same thing for us. He holds us steady when things happen in our lives that blow against us." "You mean bad things, don't you?" said Michael. "Like when I sprained my ankle last month." Dad nodded. "Or when I lost my job last year.""Or when I had to miss the last day of kindergarten because I got sick," said James. Dad smiled and tousled James's hair. "Yes, things like that. Even though difficult things happen in our lives, we can face them knowing Jesus is holding on to us.""What if Jesus lets us go?" asked James, wide-eyed."He'll never do that, James. If you trust in Jesus as your Savior, He'll never let you go," Dad assured him. "He died for our sins and rose again so we could be God's children, and the Bible says that nothing can ever separate us from His love. When hard things happen in our lives, we don't have to be afraid of falling. Jesus will hold us steady and guide us through life's difficulties so we can soar." -Judith K. Boogaart