Pole-vaulting: a Perfect Principle of Godly Power | In God We Trust
Trust requires practice, again, and again, and again, always and all ways.
My son is a pole vaulter.
If you have ever watched a spouse, son, daughter or very close friend attempt to execute extreme physical challenges, you will already intrinsically know part of what I am going to say.
It is heart stopping.
It is hope.
It is faith.
It is belief in the near impossible.
It is the trying.
The failing and trying again.
And again. And again. And again. Again.
You can hear the coach —
“Again.”
“No … again.”
“Better, now adjust your footing. Now, again!”
In the case of pole vaulting. It is 1000 agains in addition to, “You have to fully trust and use the pole.” And then it is 10,000 more “Agains” to perfect the upward trajectory and pitch.
If you are a high school student new to pole vaulting, like my son was a few years ago, you are looking at a 10 foot to 13 1/2 foot long smooth fiberglass cylinder that looks like it will snap in half over the crack of your knee. If you fully trust it to do its job, this slender object is going to propel you completely upside down and over a bar ten or more feet off the ground. To do this you have to figure out how to run with it holding it in an exacting way, plant it perfectly and use your arms in such a specific way as to place your entire body weight with it and allow yourself to be suspended fully upside down, toes to the sky, trusting it to bend nearly in half gaining its potential energy to kinetically fling your 130+ pound body up and over a 10-foot, 12-foot, or even higher bar (the US high school record for pole vault is more than 19 feet).
As you get more accustomed to the pole, like Mondo Duplantis,1 the world’s greatest pole vaulter ever seen, you have mastered the trust and are now fiddling minutely with longer and stronger poles. The trust is there so the mechanism can be harder to bend and more lethal in its launch.
“I am always trying to use stiffer and stronger poles. If I can put more energy into a stiffer pole it is going to fling me up higher. It’s going to catapult me up there. I’m always trying to improve that aspect and to use different poles.”
He trusts his seventeen foot poles to such a degree that he is digging deeper into what they can accomplish in ways that no one has ever seen executed before … if he exercises the muscle and can control the force emanating from it. 2
Trusting God
Learning to trust God is not unlike mastering the pole vault. It is a process that requires countless attempts, adjustments, and an unyielding determination to keep trying. Just as my son had to trust that pole — as foreign and intimidating as it might have seemed at first — we, too, must trust in something greater than ourselves.
Trusting God often feels like stepping into the unknown, like running full-speed toward a challenge with no guarantee except the promise that He will guide us, catch us, and provide what we need to rise.
The Bible is full of stories of people who learned to trust God through repeated “Agains.”
Abraham had to trust God’s promise for decades before Isaac was born.
Moses had to trust God to provide a way through the Red Sea.
Peter had to trust Jesus when He said, “Come,” and step out onto the water.
These acts of trust were not instant but rather developed over time, through moments of doubt, adjustment, learning and doing.
Scripture and wise mentors act like the coach on the sidelines, calling out, “Again.” “Adjust your footing.” “Better now, try again!” They guide us to refine our approach, reminding us to place our trust fully in God and His principles. Each attempt may not clear the bar, but with each “Again,” we grow stronger, more confident, and better aligned with His purpose.
Trusting God doesn’t mean everything will always go smoothly or as we envision. There are times when the pole breaks or we miss the plant entirely. In those moments, it is easy to doubt whether the pole — or God — is truly trustworthy. But just as the pole is designed to bend, absorb, and return energy, God’s plans are made to transform our weaknesses into strength. The more we lean into Him, the more we discover His faithfulness and the immense potential He has placed within us.
Like Mondo Duplantis experimenting with stronger poles to reach higher heights, our trust in God allows us to take on greater challenges and step further into His purpose for our lives. The stronger our faith, the higher He can lift us. The journey is not about perfection but perseverance.
Trust requires practice—again, and again, and again, always and all ways.
So, I’ll continue to watch my son, cheering him on with every vault, marveling at his courage to trust that pole and fling himself into the sky.
And in those moments, I’m reminded to do the same — to run my race, plant my faith, and trust in God’s ability to carry me higher than I ever thought possible.
Each step, each attempt, and each leap is another opportunity to trust and to rise.3
In God We Trust! 4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armand_Duplantis — Armand "Mondo" Duplantis is a Swedish-American pole vaulter. Regarded as the greatest pole vaulter of all time, Duplantis is the current world outdoor and indoor record holder [6.26 m and 6.22 m respectively].
Duplantis was named Athlete of the Year by World Athletics. It appears he loves his sport, and his mentors. In a recorded message played at the Theatre Princess Grace when his latest award was announced, Duplantis – who was training in the United States – paid tribute to his mother Helena, a former heptathlete and volleyball player, and his father Greg, a former pole vaulter with a best of 5.80m. “This is always special and hard to wrap my head around,” he said. “I am very appreciative. There is nothing more important than an Olympic year for us athletes, so I’m grateful things worked out the way they did and I performed the way I did. I can’t give enough thanks to my family who are my team – my mum and dad are my trainer and technical coach. I couldn’t be in the situation I’m in today without them, fighting for world and Olympic gold medals and doing other things I’ve dreamed of since I was a little kid. Right now I’m back here in the United States working for next year. Thanks so much – this award truly means so much to me and my family.”
See Mondo Duplantis set another world record.
