On this day in 1981 daredevil Daniel Goodwin scaled Chicago’s Sears Tower in 7 ½ hours wearing a Spiderman costume.

Wearing a Spiderman outfit and equipped with three suction cups, Daniel “Spider Dan” Goodwin of Las Vegas began climbing what was then the world’s tallest building, the Sears Tower in Chicago. Goodwin climbed for six hours while Chicago city police watched the perilous climb. When Goodwin reached the 50^th floor of the skyscraper, he stopped a moment to chat with police, assuring them of his safety. The police agreed to allow Goodwin to continue his climb for another hour until he reached the top, whereupon they promptly arrested him for trespassing!

While the Sears Tower was the first skyscraper that Goodwin scaled as “Spider Dan,” it was certainly not the last. He also scaled the John Hancock Building in Chicago and the two towers of the former World Trade Centers. Goodwin remarked about his feats, “When I walk through a city and see skyscrapers the only thing I can think about is climbing them.”

You may wonder why anyone would take such a dangerous risk like that. Often that answer lies in a person’s desire to achieve fame or notoriety. Sometimes it’s because they dare to be different.

As Christians we are challenged to be different from the rest of the world (Romans 12:1, 2). But that doesn’t mean that we need to don a costume and attempt some incredibly risky stunt. Followers of Christ dare to be different in the way they act toward others, specifically in loving others with the same kind of sacrificial love that Jesus showed us. That means loving the kid at school who calls you names, loving the teacher who piles on the homework, and even loving your brother when he picks on you.

Now that’s really daring to be different!

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:34, 35).

To Do

Dare to be different today! Show Jesus’ radical love to that hard-to-love person in your life.

Also on this day . . .

Today is National Tap Dance Day.

585 BC—The first known prediction of a solar eclipse was made in Greece.

1986—Approximately 7 million Americans participated in “Hands Across America.”

1986—A 95-year-old woman scored a hole-in-one in Florida.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.