RAY BLANKENSHIP

"Jump, and you will find out how to unfold your wings as you fall." - Ray Bradbury

Muhammad Ali, who once said of himself, "I am the greatest" no doubt had his own fears. He said, "He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life."

One summer morning as Ray Blankenship was preparing his breakfast, he gazed out the window, and saw a small girl being swept along in the rain-flooded drainage ditch beside his home. Blankenship knew that farther downstream, the ditch disappeared into. He dashed out, and raced along the ditch, trying to get ahead of the foundering child. Then he hurled himself into the deep, churning water. Ray surfaced and was able to grab the child's arm. They tumbled end over end. Within about three feet of the yawning culvert, Ray's free hand felt something--possibly a rock-- protruding from one bank. He clung desperately, but the tremendous force of the water tried to tear him and the child away.

JUMP!

"Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe." - Saint Augustine

'Faith', is primarily putting your trust in a person. Looking at it in this light, it has more semblance to love. Every loving relationship involve some degree of trust. Faith basically, is trust in God that transforms all of your other relationships in one way, or another.

During World War II, in the terrible days of the Blitz, a father, holding his small son by the hand, ran from a building that had been struck by a bomb. In the front yard was a shell hole. Seeking shelter as quickly as possible, the father jumped into the hole and held up his arms for his son to follow. Terrified, yet hearing his father's voice telling him to jump, the boy replied, 'I can't see you!' The father called to the silhouette of his son, 'But I can see you. Jump!' The boy jumped, because he trusted his father. In other words, he loved him, he believed in him, he trusted him and he