Cannibalistic-looking Gondolas Snaking their Way into the Inferno
"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I
will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right
hand." (Isa 41:10 NIV)
The term "phobia" may be relatively unknown to most young people, but it becomes
a reality of life as you grow older. The word is derived from the Greek word
φόβος,
which literally means "fear".
Some phobias are quite renown. Take Claustrophobia for instance: Fear of
confined spaces. Then there's pedophobia, which is the fear of children (Most
parents are in that category!). We also have snakephobia or Ophidiophobia: Fear
of snakes (Especially if you mistake them for shoelaces!); and Acrophobia: Fear
of heights (This phobia seems to especially strike middle-aged candidates like
myself!).
There are other phobias, some that are not as well known:
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia: Fear of the number 666 (Does that have anything
to do with some kind of a beast?);
Dystychiphobia: Fear of accidents (Especially when you have a two-year old who enjoys experimenting with electrical outlets!);
Alektorophobia: Fear of chickens (Not the human kind!);
Dentophobia: Fear of dentists (I guess we all are guilty of that one!);
Chrometophobia: Fear of money (Good thing we can use plastic nowadays!);
Panophobia: Fear of everything
including this outgoing list of phobias…
As for myself, once I reached the forty mark, I found myself cursed with
acrophobia. Mostly I survived by staying away from heights in general, but after
spending the past four days in Banff, surrounded by the beautiful Rocky
Mountains, I was now brought face to face with my worst fear of all:
Cannibalistic-looking Gondolas Snaking their Way into the Inferno!
I had enjoyed my climb up Tunnel mountain with my kids that morning (though I
made sure to stay well away from the edge of cliffs!), but now they wanted to
climb Sulfur Mountain, a mountain of staggering heights (2291 metres), which was
WAY higher (609 metres) than Tunnel Mountain had been.
For some reason I had a problem with this, and it wasn't just my fear of
heights. It seemed that climbing my first mountain of the day had drained me of
my entire daily energy allotment. I just couldn't face another climb, especially
one that took us even HIGHER! Luckily my wife was with us, as her conference had
finally come to an end two hours earlier. Ever the active one, she had been
forced to sit in a conference room for the past 3½ days, and she was teeming
with energy.
But what about me? If I coped out, I would definitely miss the opportunity to
share a fantastic view with my family. My only option was the gondolas that
snaked up the side of the mountain. But they hovered so far up in the air! Why,
even the tiniest breeze made those tiny cars shake violently!
There was a long line of people who seemed impatient to be devoured by these
Cannibalistic-looking Gondolas, and I was sure that their remains were
transported way up to the infernal higher peaks of our surroundings. This
definitely was NOT for me!
But did I have a choice?
I prayed fervently as I watched my family began their trek. I wasn't praying for
them however, I was praying for myself! And it worked. Naturally. Peace soon
flooded my heart. My choice had been made. I would brave the gondolas!
Despite the line, I knew it would take my family longer to reach the summit than
it would take me, so I settled into the van to read for awhile. It was hard to
concentrate however, and I eventually realized that I could no longer escape the
inevitable. I would have to be engulfed by those frightening cannibals at one
time or another, and I joined the long line of waiting people.
I found myself in line behind a retired couple from Wisconsin. As we began to
chat, I learned that we had a lot in common. They were Rvers, like ourselves,
and they had also been on the road for a long time. In fact, they had been away
from home even longer than we had. Their trip had begun three months earlier,
and they had been to Alaska and the Yukon. Now, like us, they were visiting
Alberta, and just to top it all off, there seemed to be one other thing we
shared: Acrophobia! The lady shared my fear of heights, as well as my
uncertainty about entering those gondolas!
We chatted in line for more than an hour, and it didn't take long for thoughts
of those scary gondolas to be pushed away. In fact, when it came time to enter
one of the monsters, the lady fearlessly climbed in beside her husband. She
seemed to be encouraged by the fact that another acrophobic was defying his fear
with her!
And up we went, rocking not-so-gently from left to right.
All of a sudden she tensed: "We're going to hit that pole!"
But as we continued our casual talk, her fear evaporated into nothingness.
We reached the top, miraculously still in one piece, where I awaited the arrival
of my adventuresome family. The view was, indeed, spectacular, but what was more
amazing was that on my way back down, I actually allowed myself to look out the
window. As I admired the cliffs, I was even able to ignore the fact that the
upcoming traffic seemed to be heading straight to us. What happened to my
acrophobia?
I learned an important lesson that day. No matter what fears you are plagued
with, if you rely on Jesus, He will give you the victory. I couldn't have
planned it any better. God provided me with the opportunity to share my gondola
with a nice couple, and we were an encouragement to one another on the way up.
In the end, the phobia disappeared all together. For that day, anyway!
"Does this mean you will come with us to climb Mount Everest, papa?"
"Guys, all good things have their limits!"
Rob Chaffart
A phobia (from the Greek
φόβος
"fear"), is a strong, persistent fear of situations, objects, activities, or
persons. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive, unreasonable desire
to avoid the feared subject.