Several years ago, I spent the weekend at a very good friend’s house. It was very relaxing and very beneficial. After church, we went to her mother’s house for lunch. After we’d eaten, Esther and I took her brother’s two daughters to a nearby playground. During the course of our play, the girls, whose ages were possibly 6 and 4, decided to crawl up the enclosed slide. After this activity’s novelty wore off, they began to slide down backward. The younger went down and Esther caught her to make sure she didn’t hit her head. The elder didn’t slide down backward yet, she was more absorbed elsewhere so Miss Esther and I sat nearby.

About five minutes later, without warning, Esther got up and walked to the end of the slide. She had noticed, because she is amazing, that the elder had now decided to go down backwards. As the child was sliding down the slide she called out, “Esther, catch me!”

Esther replied simply, “I’m here…”

I’ve admired Miss Esther for a long time. She is one of those people who will never cease to amaze me. This weekend, she, of course, amazed me even further. But this simple story about a playground makes me think about how amazing God truly is.

How often am I that child who jumps head first down a slide, then midway into my ride to I shout, “God, catch me!” I often make decisions in my life, everyone does. I decide what clothes to wear, what food to eat, what classes to actually attend. I decide bigger things occasionally as well, like what college to attend, how I should spend my money, and other things. How often do I make these decisions of my own will then halfway into it shout out to make sure God is there to catch me? Though what the elder girl did was not exactly full of wisdom, she exhibited great faith in her aunt when she slid down the slide. She knew that Esther would be there to catch her. Do I have that trust? Do I have that faith?

That’s the convicting part of the story. There’s an even cooler part.

Esther anticipated the foolish decision on her neice’s part. And she was there waiting at the bottom, anticipating her neice’s need of someone to catch her before she hit her head on the ground. God, who is all-knowing, anticipates my stupid decisions and mistakes and even though I forget to ask him in advance, He’s already there, like Esther at the bottom of the slide, waiting to catch me and make sure I don’t hit my head on the ground.

To close, Esther is pretty much amazing. But the God that Esther and I share as Lord and Savior is even more amazing. I know she would tell you so too.