In December 1999, an extreme sports fanatic scaled the 120-foot statue of Christ the Redeemer on Brazil's Corcovado mountain and jumped from its outstretched arms.

For the first ever such leap, Felix Baumgartner, 30, an Austrian, smuggled his parachute on board the little train that takes dozens of tourists up the 2,000-foot mountain to visit the statue. Once at the base of the Christ, he scaled the gray-stone figure, climbed on to one of its fingers, and jumped. Baumgartner's parachute worked, and he walked away in one piece from the stunt.

How many people approach life like this daredevil. Rather than turn to the one who invites all who are weary to come to him and find rest, many prefer to jump from the safety of his hands. Unlike this thrill seeker, theirs will be a far different end, for there are no spiritual parachutes if we spurn Christ.