Base Jumper

              I came into the building expecting to see a few friends. I lead worship at Springs Rescue mission about every third week or so and I have come to know several of the regulars that go there for a warm meal. I looked around the room and noticed that it was a new crowd that night. I took a seat next to a man named John Agnos. He was wearing an old baseball cap, he hadn’t shaved in a few days, and he walked with a limp. I introduce myself and I started to ask him about his day to day life. He lives in the springs in a small apartment, survives off his disability checks, and does work for a roofing company when they need an extra guy. I asked why he was on disability. John Agnos used to be a base jumper. He jumped off a casino in Vegas and broke his foot and injured his back severely when he was 40. I did some research online and found out that he had done two jumps after his recovery as well. He did a jump off of a rock in Garden of the Gods that ended poorly, and the last one he did was off a 2000 foot cell phone tower that almost ended his life. His parachute got caught on a wire about 200 feet off the ground. I found the 911 call he made while he was dangling on the wire and listened as he told the person on the other line that he was going to die and that he wanted her to call his parents.  While on the phone I heard John say a prayer under his breath. “God I don’t want to die, please not today.” That day was his birthday. A few hours later, Fireman John Clark got him down and saved his life.

                While I was talking to John at Springs Rescue, he told me about his relationship with God. He struggled with drugs and alcohol his entire life and doesn’t know why God let him live because why would God let him survive only to barely make rent, barely get money enough to buy food and live off a disability check that barely arrives on time. His back and feet have gotten worse with age and he said that he had lost everything. His wife of 16 years, his well paying career, and his passion (base jumping). I think he lost something entirely different though. His greatest loss wasn’t his career. John is reaching his late forties and he still doesn’t know why he's alive.

                In the course of his career John had done over 1500 jumps. Was it the three jumps he failed that caused him to lose it all? Or was it a loss of hope? When our hope is in ourselves or our performance, and our humanity fails us, our hope is lost. When our hope is in Christ, it means that our hope isn’t dependent upon our circumstances but on the goodness and power of God. If you are reading this and consider yourself a Christian, then congratulations, you carry the hope of the world. When God gave us the Holy Spirit, he gave it with the expectation that we would use it. The hope that lives in us is meant to be shared with the world. My conversation with John was cut short when he went outside for a smoke. I strongly believe God isn’t done with John. God is fighting to be his hope.