Travel Like Tarzan

When I was a boy I loved watching Tarzan movies. There has never been a Tarzan to measure up to Johnny Weissmuller, who was the original and also a 5-time Olympic gold-medalist swimmer. I used to love to watch him call the animals, swim across the river in fast speed, and fly through the jungle as he swung from vine to vine. No one could get through the jungle faster than Tarzan. 

Back in the day, way before they built the new high school in Olive Branch, there used to be some vines around a creek on that land. We would go over there as kids and swing from one side of the creek to the other. Of course I would yell the Tarzan yell until my sister would threaten to beat me up if I didn't shut up. It was so much fun for us and we even got our Mom to swing across once, talk about funny. I loved swinging on those vines and it didn't matter that we didn't really go very far, it felt like I was flying.

The difference was that I would always swing across the creek and land on the ground. I never was able to swing from one vine to the next and keep going. Tarzan... Now Tarzan was the man! He would grab a vine from high up in the tree and swing to the next and to the next and so on until he landed where he needed to be. Maybe Johnny, in the '30s and '40s couldn't do flips like the cartoon Tarzan, but he was really impressive  in his travels through the jungle. Always arriving just in time, at just the right place, to save the day. 

In Philippians 3:13-14, Paul says, "Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

I was reminded last night that in order to move forward to where you want and need to be, you have to let go of the past. Had Tarzan not let go of one vine as he grabbed the next he would have come to a sudden, and probably painful, stop. If he had held on to the first vine without reaching out to the next, he would have simply returned to a place behind him and eventually stopped in mid-air with no where to go and no way to get moving again other than falling to the ground. It was very important that he grab the next vine as well as let go of the vine that had so faithfully gotten him this far. Any other act would end in disappointment or even catastrophe. 

Trying new things is not a problem for me. Starting a new adventure is fun and exciting. The only thing that holds me back from moving on from one adventure to the next is simply funding and the love I have for my family that requires me to actually make an income and provide food and other needs. I love traveling. I love experiencing new locations, peoples, foods and cultures. I love taking on new tasks that seem difficult. The excitement of the new is motivating and exhilarating to me. But I have realized that as much as I love going into something new, I have problems letting go of certain things in the past. I don't have it all figured out yet, but I am learning that some things that we want to hold on to are really holding us back, keeping us from becoming what we should be or from going where we need to go. 

This morning Beth Moore tweeted, "If God has pulled us from something recently - something we wanted & thought was good - He may have plucked us from a net. Trust & thank Him" That spoke to me in a big way. Sometimes even the good things of the past can hold us back. Sometimes what we view as good is actually a hindrance to what is best. I know for me, I must to let go of the vine that brought me here, regardless of how comfortable it is or how much I want to hold on to it, and grab hold of the vine that is before me that will take me to the destination where I am most needed; the place I need most. Reaching out to the next vine is scary, but once the journey is complete, it will have been worth it all. It's time to Travel like Tarzan!!