If you happen to be skydiving in the Phoenix area and your shoot does not open or a black anvil pops out or silverware crescendos like confetti all about...you are not dead...yet. If you can air-swim your way through the blue sky towards downtown you will be happy and elated to know they are ready for you. With taxpayer money and a simple idea they have constructed this very fine quality multi-colored net 50 feet wide and held together with the finest steel cables. Oh wait there is one catch (pardon the pun)...it has a hole in the center. SO as you have managed to navigate the skies, control your "I am not dead yet" emotions upon sighting this grand savior, and aiming your little toes into the safety bet...you will enter and land in Phoenix with one question on your mind; "Who builds a million dollar net with a friggin hole in the middle?"
We do.
Staring up at this net(because that is all I could do) I kept thinking that there was a deeper meaning like world peace, an advertisement for the internet, or a very kind and ineffective butterfly net...and so of course those would all be great reasons to build it. Then an old man came by muttering to me, "Pretty nice huh? THat cost the city a few million dollars and they finally just finished it...boy you should see it at night when it is all lit up...I thought we were in a recession but I guess not." I thought about exploring with him all the great possibilities for this net so he would not be so sad, embarrassed, or confused...but then the meter on my ability to bullshit ran out and I let him pass. So I massaged the back of my neck, took a few more photos with my iphone, and thought about all the cool things I could use that net for if it was in my backyard. WHo wishes for an extra large net with a hole in it?
SOmetimes...I do. (Especially when I play basketball!)
Introspection time...are you ready? We all posses nets with holes in them. SOme of us have paid a good shiney penny for them, some are good ol' hand-me-down's, and still others we have worked to patch all of our lives. Trains, planes, and automobiles...jobs, large bank accounts, and 401K's... even governments and institutions can all be nets we hope will catch us someday. We are befuddled when everything we hope will be caught in them...somehow comes crashing down. Real nets cannot be manufactured and erected in cities, they must be grown and tended to. Our relationships with God and each other are hard going sometimes, distant and confusing sometimes, but loving and being loved is worth the risk...worth the jump...worth the net.
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