As a boy, Philippe Petit was obsessed with climbing heights. When he first heard plans for New York’s Twin Towers, he determined that he would walk a cable stretched between them. He trained for this feat most of his childhood and early adult life, practicing on rigged wire in the French countryside where he was raised. On August 7, 1974 he "pulled it off," prancing on the illegally stretched cable for more than 45 minutes, while anxious policemen tried to coax him from his precipitous perch. When he finally gave up "the show," he was arrested and taken in for psychological examination. When it was determined that he really was quite sane, he was jailed for "disturbing the peace," and later released with the promise of a legal and lower attitude performance for the children of New York.

Then there are those two brother bullfighters in Spain. Both have been gored several times, and their father died from wounds sustained by a bull. Twice the elder brother risked his life by jumping into the ring, confronting the maddened bulls with his bare hands to save his younger brother from sure death. Yet the brothers cannot stay away from the ring.

For what will we give our lives? It is a truth we cannot deny: we are created for glory. Should we walk on a cable, however fantastic that is? (Christ walked on water!) Should we beat up a bull? (Christ was surrounded and gored to death by the bulls of Bashan, yet now He lives! See Mark 15:34, Psalm 22: verses 1-22).

For what should we give our lives? In Romans 10, Paul writes that many of his fellow Jews are zealous for God, but it is not based on true knowledge and insight. They don’t seem to understand what God has done to put them right with Himself. Too many people are trying to earn their way into heaven, whatever they imagine it to be, instead of depending on what God has already done for them. The sacrifice of Christ-- when studied with a heart of sincere purpose to know the meaning of life, and to know how to obtain that glory that we all feel called to--should make it abundantly evident that salvation from the human condition (of needing glory), comes from Christ alone. It is by faith (faith being the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1) that we come to Christ and are justified. So we live for God, not in order to be saved, but because we are saved. As the Scriptures say, "Anyone who believes in Him will never be disappointed."

But how can a person call on God if he doesn’t believe He exists? How can a person hear about Christ if no one tells him?

Now, we go to Calhoun County, WV, or wherever, you, dear reader, reside. Is your life telling for Christ? Is He your only answer? He is the answer for all the tightrope walkers, bullfighters, and contenders for the Olympic crown. He is the answer for the housewife who cannot get her house clean enough or her children obedient enough. He is the answer for the teenager, who cannot get enough peer prestige, the businessman who cannot sell enough, and the grandma who can’t send enough birthday, graduation and anniversary cards. He is the answer for all the mothers Theresa who will never be able to help enough starving, homeless, abused humanity. He is the answer for all the Columbine killers, the 9-11ners, the Andreas who drown their children in bathtubs. He is also the answer for the miserable proud Pharisee, and the pitiful penitent publican present in every church. He is enough. He is "I AM."

"It is finished," rang out in clear, trumpet-like tones from the pit of the hellish cross. That voice calls us to glory, His completed glory. He did it all. There is nothing we can do, EXCEPT respond. For this reason, we are given the gifts we possess. If our gifts (talents) are not glorifying the Great Giver, making Him and His salvation known, then they are being misapplied. Is our life witness to the truth that there is nothing we can do to "save ourselves?" If not, we’re going to fall off that wire sooner or later.