The wind whistled past Maison's ear as he reached up to find his next rung of support a full arm's length above his head. Feeling the chilly air pick up speed all around him, he found that next grip quickly but carefully, and pulled himself up to meet it face to face before settling firmly into a stabilizing position: feet planted wide apart, knees steady but not locked, shoulders squared with the rest of his body. In this position, perched atop a skyscraper hundreds of feet above the ground, Maison took a moment to self-assess, body and mind.
His fingers were sore. Not horribly so but enough to be noticeable. Realizing this, Maison chuckled to himself. He'd never get used to it. Even after years in this extreme sport, repeatedly exercising the muscles in his hands to cling to small edges for extended periods of time, his hands still cramped at the halfway point of these long ascents, leaving him with a reminder of his own limitations. Limitations he was constantly pushing because he couldn't be satisfied staying stagnant. Logically, Maison knew he would one day reach the end of his ability - a place or skill he just couldn't move past - but he quietly hoped that end would come slowly and only after years of work. After all, he had so much more he wanted to do that just couldn't happen on the ground. Not that any of that mattered now. Maison never liked thinking about the limits of what he could do and up here, at the top of the world, there was no time to dwell on it. Not with his most recent goal so close at hand.
Banishing dread and the feeling of burning muscles from his mind, Maison looked straight up to see endless blue sky and big fluffy clouds sailing by in the buffeting wind. Another hand hold, identical to the one he now clung to, was almost within reach, as was the next one, and the one after that. "Less than half way to go," he thought. With a final push he would be at the top, his goal would be reached, and a woman would get the help she so desperately needed. But it all relied on his ability to make it all the way up.
Steadying himself for the final leg of the journey, Maison chanced a glance down. He wasn't afraid of heights (his task would be physically impossible if he was), but it never ceased to amaze him just how high up his was every time he made a climb. Pedestrians (hundreds of yards below) looked like ants, fire trucks and police cars (all here for him) sat miniature-sized with their flashing lights resembling tiny battery-operated Christmas toys, and even sky scrapers that matched the one he hung from looked small as he watched their floors climb into the sky alongside the identical ones next to him.
Up here, in a place only birds and planes could fly and only God could walk, all of it was so small, unimportant. It struck Maison just how miniscule the whole world seemed when compared to his reason for being up here. Maison smiled to himself as he turned his gaze from the ground to look up at the sky once more. That reason was bigger than anything going on on the ground and it was bigger than him. He was just a tiny part of a bigger cause, doing what he could with what he had been given but, as Maison reached up to grab his next hand hold in pursuit of his goal, he couldn't help but be a little proud of the unique part he had been given to play in God's bigger picture.
Maison DesChamps, aka Pro-Life Spiderman (first covered by Heartbeat Press for the In the News section of our March 2024 Edition), has been professionally free climbing for years but only began applying his talent to his Pro-Life beliefs in 2023. He's a hero to some and an agitator to others, but one thing is certain: he has wholeheartedly taken up the calling that God has put on his life, as well as the courage of his superhero namesake.
Routinely climbing incredibly tall structures, including the Salesforce Tower, the Ritz-Carlton, and the Las Vegas Sphere, to raise the public's awareness of Pro-Life work, DesChamps also performs his stunts to raise money for expectant mothers in need through the Pro-Life charity Let Them Live. He's never fallen, has plans to climb again, and has been arrested several times. But even that has not caused DesChamps to waver in his mission because he recognizes that he has been given a powerful calling and a unique position from which to proclaim the simple truth that, Life is Precious And Worth Protecting.
Despite his superhero status, DesChamps has never failed to give glory to God (most notably while live streaming from the top of the Las Vegas Sphere during Superbowl weekend), demonstrating that saving life is a mission that goes far beyond a group or one man's ability. It's God's prerogative that we have all been graciously gifted a part in. We just need to be brave enough to take up the task, be it on the ground, in the air, or somewhere in-between.
Sources: NPR.org, YouTube.com
Photo Credit: Alex Ross (Screenrant.com)
Original Article
See Also: July 2024 Edition Other News and The Blacklist (Olivia Rodrigo)