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Good morning. To get to the village of Kitchowi, in North West Cameroon, you must cross a bridge, but not just any bridge: a precarious-looking one made of vines strung across a valley with a raging torrent beneath it. I can still remember the feeling in the pit of my stomach as I looked at it for the first time. I’d already trekked for several hours to get this far and my destination was close, except that bridge was in the way.
I was working as a priest in Cameroon at the time and Kitchowi was a remote village in my parish that I hadn’t yet visited. As I looked in trepidation at the bridge I could see that one vine was stretched across the chasm like a tightrope and there were two others at shoulder height. 
As I stood there, contemplating, a man started crossing from the other side with a bicycle balanced on his head! He walked effortlessly as the vines bounced and swayed beneath him. No sooner had he crossed then two school children appeared from behind me and skipped across as well.
It’s then I realised how surprisingly powerful a motivator pride can be, besides, there really was no other way: I had to cross. I wouldn’t say I took a leap of faith, it was more like a nervous shuffle, but, holding on for dear life, I made my way gingerly across praying as I went: ‘God, if I fall, you’d better catch me!’
The bridge at Kitchowi reminds me that sometimes we really do have to take a step of faith, despite how frightening or hard that may be. As a Christian, it also reminds me that we have God with us every step of the way, especially when we’re worried we might fall.
Holy God, may we feel your loving presence with us this day, especially when things are hard, and we have difficult decisions to make. Catch us when we fall and, in your mercy, set us on the path that leads to you, who live and reign for ever. Amen.