Skydiving Adventure

I went skydiving this past weekend. Yes, you read correctly. If you don’t believe me, you can see the full set of pictures on my website. I didn’t tell many people because I didn’t want to hear, “That is so stupid. You are going to die. Why would you jump out of a perfectly good plane?” And so forth.

It was pretty amazing. People ask if I was scared, and I reply, “Not really.” Truthfully, I was not. There were times of fear, but overall it was pretty exhilarating. I was most fearful as the door to the plane opened up, and 2 other guys jumped out on their own. I did not have a parachute on at the time so being 10,000 feet in the air with only about 2 feet between me and a freefall was definitely a scary situation. But they jumped, the door was closed, and I was hooked onto the guy with the parachute.

It was a tandem jump, meaning that I was harnessed to another person who had the parachute on his back. I learned a lot about trust and faith through this experience. Though the guy has had over 2000 jumps, I still didn’t know him from any other stranger. I had to trust him to teach me the correct technique, to pull the rip cord (though there was a backup computer failsafe that would pull the rip cord at 2500 feet), to guide us back to the drop zone, to keep me from breaking my leg on landing. My life was literally in his hands. So, Bob, thanks for delivering me back to the ground safe as can be.

The actual experience was incredible. Free falling was great. That probably took 45 seconds. Then the chute opened, and we gradually fell to the earth for probably 5-10 minutes. I lost track of time as I looked around and admired God’s creation from a completely new and different vantage point. To be honest, it was quit surreal. It didn’t even feel like I was flying since there was little in the way of perspective. Until we were about 500 feet from the ground I didn’t realize how fast we were approaching the earth.

Would I do it again? Definitely, but I think I would like to go on my own. I also think I might enjoy hang gliding as well.
Would I recommend it? Sure. Though putting your life in unneeded danger might be considered foolish, it makes life interesting. I just taught Ecclesiastes to my OT Survey class, and perhaps Qoheleth was right that we should just find enjoyment amidst our toil (Ecclesiastes 2:24).

Finally, on a humorous note, I lost my shoe as we deplaned. As my fellow jumper cleverly put it, “Going skydiving cost you your sole.”