Leap of Faith

On this Sunday evening, Carter County’s impressive modern indoor swim facility was closed to the public because First Baptist Church was hosting their annual poorly named, “Wet for Christ” family pool party. The pulsing buzz of the facility’s lights was dampened by refrains of “How Great is our God” pouring out of the sound system. Dry parents talking about their wet children were occasionally interrupted by a “No running,” from either of the soft-faced lifeguards hired for this post-Vacation Bible School event. 

Above, standing at the edge of the diving platform, Keith stretched his arms wide, welcoming the indoor pool's fluorescent lights and the setting sun's rays dancing together awkwardly on his jowly face and hair-covered belly that extended well over the edge of the platform. At the top of the ladder to the cement platform, Grayson, six, was coming to terms with a fear of heights as he anxiously watched his father sway in unison with the soft ripples of the pool water below. For the first time, Grayson would see his father jump from just feet away. He was so close he could see the wispy hairs that clung to his father's back like climbers ascending El Capitan at dawn. 

Keith’s eyes were shut so tightly that the vein in his neck started to bulge. He unclenched his fists and let his hands extend his reach across the platform. With arms spread and eyes closed, Keith scooted forward till his toes felt the very edge of the platform.

“Father in heaven,” Keith prayed silently. “Give me the strength to leap, when so many would stay.”  

At this point, many of the side conversations were settling to a hush as curious onlookers began to draw their attention to Keith. Although Keith was not ordained, nor was the church likely to hire him if he were, Keith had been a deacon for twelve years and was very active in the church’s children ministries. He volunteered his time to organize activities and help Ms. Sherry, the children’s minister, run the very popular Vacation Bible School, a yearly week-long event that blended community outreach with church fellowship. Aside from strengthening his relationship with God, Vacation Bible School gave Keith the opportunity to wear silly costumes, and while he wasn’t allowed to call them sermons, the morning devotion that Keith led the entire VBS at the start of each day was the closest he came to having a congregation of his own. 

The murmuring of the crowd had now evolved to laughs and cheers. 

“Keith’s gonna do it!”

“Let’s go Mr. K!”

“Wow, Mr. Keith is so brave!” 

Keith inhaled and opened his eyes to his adoring fans. In his best Fred the Rooster voice, Keith crowed out, “Coo Ca Choo Ca Choo!” The kids who knew Fred the Rooster from Keith’s morning devotions pointed and cheered with glee. The parents who had heard the legend of Keith’s phenomenal characters beamed at the evidence of his genius. Keith fell forward, his belly jiggling in anticipation as he flapped his Fred the Rooster arms and kicked his Rooster feet. His body, nearly in unison, slapped against the surface of the water. When Keith emerged from the side of the pool he was met by a joyous uproar so impressive that no one seemed to mind the sight of Keith’s butt crack as he pulled himself up the ladder. 

Shaking the water from his body, Keith pulled his pants up. All eyes were on him. The Rec Center had revoked Keith’s privilege of using the mic to their sound system because last year he called the Guatemalan site manager a “hardworking Mexican” and proceeded to ask if she were in the U.S legally. None of his VBSers seemed to be offended, so Keith simply brought his own speaker and karaoke mic to speak this year. His rather thin wife, Julie dragged the speaker over and handed Keith the mic. 

Keith tapped the mic vigorously. “Check, check.” When the volume was reasonable, Keith started the call and response: “One, two, three, eyes on me. One two…”

“Eyes on you!” the chorus of VBS children sang out their response, immediately followed by silence, with the exception of a few murmurs from parents in complete awe of Keith’s control and evident command of respect from their children.  

“Wow. Wow. Wow.” Keith looked at the adoring faces of his audience. “God is good!” Keith prompted.

“All the time!” the crowd responded mostly in unison. 

“All the time…” Keith prompted once more.

“God is good!” the crowd answered.

Keith stood pleased in front of his congregants. “Y’all VBSers already know this: Vacation Bible School is my favorite time of the year.”

The audience cheers.

“And this is my 14th year doing it!”

Louder cheers. 

“Year after year,” Keith began pointing at the high dive, “I climb up that long, long ladder to that high dive. Y’all hear Fred the Rooster crow and then he goes belly floppin’ into the water.” Keith paused for laughter. “But the man who comes out of that water is plain old Keith.”

“We love you Keith!” someone shouted out followed by cheers of agreement. 

“I love you too, brother,” Keith said to the adoring congregant. “But I wanna tell y’all something I’ve never told anyone before.” Keith paused for tension. “I’m afraid of heights.”

The crowd laughed in joy at Keith’s incredible comedic timing. 

Keith smiled in return. “Now, now. C’mon y’all,” he said calming down the masses. “I’m serious. I know it’s hard to believe, but for the last 14 years, I’ve stood at the top of that platform, praying for Christ’s strength. I’d say, Jesus. If you can climb up on the cross, and give your life for me then I can muster the strength to jump down off this platform!”

The crowd burst with amens and cheers of admiration. 

“And each year,” Keith continued as the cheering was softening some, “God answers my prayers through the ‘Go Mr. K,’ and ‘Mr. Keith’s so great,’ shoutouts from our VBS chaperones and kids. So thank you all for that.”

Several parents clapped to show gratitude. 

“But this year is different.”

The congregants waited, thirsting for what Keith had to say.

“As y’all know, I met my smoking hot wife, Julie my first year of leading VBS.” 

As the crowd cheered her, Julie smiled, and regardless of how tightly stretched her skin was around her protruding cheekbones, her face managed to flush red as she pushed her feathered blond hair behind her ears.

“And although he’s been a VBSer since conception, this year, our only child, Grayson got to be a camper! But that’s not the only thing that’s different. This year, Grayson will be jumping from the platform as well!” 

The roaring audience followed Keith’s gaze to the platform momentarily observing Grayson’s body tense as he moved to the back wall of the platform out of the sight of the people below. 

“Grayson! Grayson! Grayson!” they called out. 

“Quiet! Quiet! You might scare him!” 

The congregants laughed and drew their attention back to Keith. 

As Keith proceeded to tell the audience about how difficult it was for Julie to have children, what a strain it was for their marriage, and what a blessing Grayson has been to their lives and the lives of others, Julie made her way up the ladder to the top of the platform. 

“What’s going on sweetie,” Julie asked her son as she rested, her body holding on to the top few rungs of the ladder. 

“I don’t want to do it,” he squeaked out.

“We talked about this honey. You prayed to God and Jesus for strength last night.”

“I’m too scared.” 

“Honey,” coerced Julie as she climbed the last few rungs of the ladder and sat next to her son. “You made a commitment to me and your father yesterday.” 

Grayson shrugged his shoulders and Julie could hear her husband's testimony come to an end. Normally Julie would suggest to Grayson that he hold her hand and jump with her, but if the white VBS t-shirt concealing her bathing suit got wet it would most assuredly reveal that she was wearing a two-piece. Although Julie viewed her flat stomach as her most attractive physical feature, she had agreed with Keith that her body may be a stumbling block for some of the men in attendance. “Heck, even some of the women!” Keith had remarked jokingly. 

Julie walked further out on the platform into plain sight of the onlookers below.

“That’s not Grayson!” someone shouted out to a spattering of laughs. 

“Grayson is just warming up for his leap of faith!” Keith shouted into the mic.

While the audience clapped less enthusiastically than before, Julie gave her husband a look and the slightest shake of her head told him that once again his stubborn son was refusing to perform. 

Thankfully, Keith’s rather thick neck covered up the angry shift of his Adam’s apple so that no one in the audience seemed to notice. Even more so, the audience didn’t seem to notice what Julie saw very clearly: a narrowing of Keith’s eyes that said, “Sort this out. Now.” 

Without hesitation, Julie turned around, walked out of sight, wrapped her bony fingers around her son’s forearm, and yanked him up from the, sending him stumbling wildly towards the pool, careening off of the edge of the platform. 

“Coo Ca Choo Ca Choo!” Keith shouted as his son’s terrified face smashed into the water below. 

Everyone cheered.