There is just a subtle difference between the way I am afraid of heights and our friend Dave Dugas is afraid of heights. In a sense, it's shades of degrees. (Very, very CLOSE degrees!)

I think everyone is afraid of heights a little. Don't think so? Ok smart guy, let's go visit a tall radio tower and see you climb it to the top. I'll wait right down here for you! Yeah, didn't think so!

The thing is, as long as I have something around me (like being inside a plane, or an enclosed ski lift) I can press my face to the glass and feel perfectly fine. It's when what I am standing on sways around that I get really, really nervous. When I went to the Sears Tower in Chicago, even the elevator ride on the way up made me feel sort of uneasy but when we got to the top and the tour guide said "the tower sways as much as 4 feet in high winds" (and sure enough the windy city was windy that day), THAT was one of those "I am so outta here!" moments. The space needle in Seattle, though. didn't bother me at all. It was solid, there was no swaying going on, etc.

I respect Dave, because it's not a weakness on his part although we often make fun of people who are afraid of heights. So far as I know he's never fallen off of something tall, his good sense has kept him out of trouble. Where as I hear all the time of people falling from things and being hurt. Myself, I was on a job site once where someone carrying something walked right out of a building and fell on some rebar and died. I wasn't there that day or I would never have gone back up into the building, the trauma would have really magnified my normal fear.

And there we hit upon something interesting about phobias in general. We learn them. I mean, babies will crawl over a sheet of glass to get to their moms, because they trust mom and even though they don't see anything there to hold them up they go for it. It's when you fall down a couple times that you start to grasp this gravity thing isn't always your friend, and the realization that when you throw a frog way, way up in the air and it splats on the ground that there's not much difference between you falling a long way or that frog. So we get an inkling of the danger, and either our good sense kicks in and we do whatever it takes to avoid it or we suppress the danger and become a thrill seeker (what, are you nuts?)

Sin is a danger like that falling business. Some folks get as close to sin as they can, like walking up to the edge of the Grand Canyon (which, I need to mention, people fall into EVERY YEAR because they are STUPID) and think they can get really, really close to that crumbling edge and not fall down. Often times they make it safely back, where they look and say "wow if I had fallen I would have been dead!" but instead of learning from it they get bolder, and edge just a little bit closer. Does anyone intend to fall a couple hundred feet and go splat? No, but please, don't tell me it's some accident! It's dumb luck without the luck part.

And sin is just like that. It can be thrilling and exciting to get close to it. The problem is by the time you realized you've gone too far, you're in the air. Waaaaaay too late.

So we put up guard rails and fences, to keep people safe. But people slip around them, don't they? For that one "perfect shot" of the camera, or that quick thrill. I mean fences and guide ropes are for sissies, like Dave and me. You know, scaredy cats (who have managed to live a long time without falling off anything!) Yeah, that 20 year old kid all splattered down the rock face sure looks like he's having fun. He looks all "broken up" that none of his friends came with him.

At Fort Knox? in Maine, Deniese and Dave my son and I once stopped on a dark, rainy day on our way back from a trip to Bah Hahbah. No one was there and we had the grounds to ourselves. I was chasing Dave around and we almost jumped over a wall that was about a foot high - on our side. On the other side it went down 30-40 feet! There was no warning, no railing, nothing. And sometimes sin can be like that too. Deceptively safe looking until you plunge into it, by accident or carelessness. And regardless if you land on a granite walkway or that nice, soft grass (which never is, from that height!) there's gonna be consequences!

So yes, there is a shade difference between Dave Dugas and myself in regards to heights. He has more sense than I do! You might say he and I are boring, not thrill seekers. I say smart and safe. But don't worry - if you fall I'll be here to dial 911 (prayer!) for ya!

Randy