Climbing and Lowering

"Have you tried out the new climbing wall?" one of my student workers asked one afternoon.

"No, I haven't. It sounds pretty nice though. I'll have to check it out sometime," I said, with little intent to actually follow through in the near future.

"We're going next Tuesday night. You should come!"

"Oh, uh...I don't know...it's been a long time...I might be busy..."

"I'm signing you up! You're coming!" And once she came back for my ID number, I knew she was serious. I love my student workers, so I figured it was worth facing my vague fear of humiliation.

Tuesday rolled around, and I rolled into the parking lot at the same time as my student worker and her boyfriend. That solved one of my fears that I didn't want to admit: I don't really enjoy showing up to large buildings full of masked people trying to spot a few people I know. So that was taken care of, thankfully.

The giant climbing wall was beautiful. And inspiring. But it had indeed been a long time since I'd worked with ropes and belaying and all of that, mostly on a ropes course. In fact, I actually counted how many years, and it was about 10. Everyone in the room would have been in 5th or 6th grade, but now they were the pros and I was definitely not.

I wondered how long I could last trying to play it cool. I picked out my gear in the lockers, signed the rules sheet...then looked at the information I was supposed to be "tested" on before being allowed to climb. My 38-year-old brain was already tired by this point in the evening, and I was starting to realize that "playing it cool" was not going to last long. I could feel confession drawing near.

I graciously allowed my student worker and her boyfriend go first on the skills test. It had been a long time for them too, they said--two years. Which is kind of long, but they still seemed to remember the basics pretty well. Even so, they didn't quite pass the test this time, and were told they could go through a "refresher" and try again later for the test.

I think it was considered "cheating" with how close I was standing to watch their skills test, but it didn't matter. I wasn't even about to act like I knew what I was doing. 

"Um...I am pretty sure I need a refresher too."

One of the rock wall attendants kindly took me aside and went through the figure 8, the safety checks, the belaying commands. She even let me do a little climb, where I re-discovered my serious lack of upper-body strength and endurance. I also thought a lot about Alex Honnold on that epic 5-minute extremely easy climb, and what a crazy, super-human guy he is. I'm guessing it was some of those thoughts that slowed me down.

Afterward I chatted a little more with the student attendant, and let her know how much I appreciated her. She was happy to help, and they told me how rare it is that staff or faculty show up. Which is what I think I enjoyed the most. The opportunity to interact with students in a way that did not put me at the top of the academic or social hierarchy with my age, degree, or position as staff. Instead, it put me at the bottom, a great place to learn and to connect in a new way. Was it uncomfortable or awkward? Sure. Did I wish I could just walk in there and blow them all away with my mad climbing skills, even in my upper-30s? Absolutely. But at the end of the day, being at the bottom is good for me. And a lot can be done here.

Reversing the hierarchy is something Jesus loved to do, and something I love about Him. That's what I want to do. To show up with an attitude to learn, listen, encourage, and empower. This kind of influencing and teaching happens best at the bottom. When we do get to the top, it's because we got there together.

P.S. That being said, no promises on when I'll get back to that skills test.