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 omelette!
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.
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 yes, they believed.
It was then that Blondin posed the question - "Who will get in the wheelbarrow?'
Of course... none did.
The story of Charles Blondin paints a real life picture of what faith actually is.
The crowd had watched his daring feats. They said they believed, but their actions proved they truly didn't.
It's one thing for us to say we believe in God. It's true faith though when we believe God and put our faith and trust in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Jeremiah 29:13 — “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.”
Hebrews 10:23 — “Let us seize and hold tightly the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is reliable and trustworthy and faithful (to His word).”
John 3:16 — “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
If you want to know more about stepping out in faith with God, visit a local church this weekend.
Contributed by Sandra Whyborn of the Deniliquin Salvation Army, on behalf of the Combined Churches of Deniliquin.
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