“Perhaps there is a better way – we think so. For we are now on a different basis; the basis of trusting and relying upon God. We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves. We are in the world to play the role He assigns. Just to the extent that we do as we think He would have us, and humbly rely on Him, does He enable us to match calamity with serenity” Big Book p.68
This is a really interesting word, the word trust. You know, throughout history there have been cited incidences of alcoholics who turn in a moment of weakness and brokenness towards God and have a transformation. Invariably, not always, but quite often, this transformation wears out after a while. It’s like the shine of the conversion wears out and the ego reasserts itself. Usually, the guy returns to drinking again.
I was at a workshop one time on Step 2 and it had about eighty people in the room. I said, “Can I see the show of hands of the people who had either been saved or had some kind of conversion experience or connected with God and then drank again after that?” I was amazed. Between a third, and a half of the room raised their hands. See, belief just isn’t enough for us alcoholics. We have to have trust.
The Charles Blondin Story
I love using the Charles Blondin story as an illustration of trust. Not only was he a fascinating man, but the story of his pushing a wheelbarrow across Niagara Falls is one in which kids as well as adults can identify the difference between mere belief (head knowledge) and true faith reflected in what our actions show we trust enough to do (belief in action; heart knowledge)
“Faith without works is dead”- Big Book p.88
Can you imagine a tightrope stretched over a quarter of a mile and spanning the breadth of Niagara Falls? The thundering sound of the pounding water drowning out all other sounds as you watch a man step onto the rope and walk across!
This stunning feat made Charles Blondin famous in the summer of 1859. He walked 160 feet above the falls several times back and forth between Canada and the United States as huge crowds on both sides looked on with shock and awe. Once he crossed in a sack, once on stilts, another time on a bicycle, and once he even carried a stove and cooked an omelet!
On July 15, Blondin walked backward across the tightrope to Canada and returned pushing a wheelbarrow.
The Blondin story is told that it was after pushing a wheelbarrow across while blindfolded that Blondin asked for some audience participation. The crowds had watched and “Ooooohed” and “Aaaaahed!” He had proven that he could do it; of that, there was no doubt. But now he was asking for a volunteer to get into the wheelbarrow and take a ride across the Falls with him!
It is said that he asked his audience, “Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?” Of course the crowd shouted that yes, they believed!
It was then that Blondin posed the question – “Who will get in the wheelbarrow?’