I’m taking a stroll through old posts and sharing them again.
Originally written July 15, 2010, 5:08 a.m. PDT, Occasionally updated to match new WordPerfect options.
When I was a youngster, there was a place that was pure joy to visit – and, although I remember being there with the family, there came a time when we were dropped off and picked up later in the evening to enjoy as only kids can enjoy without parents.
What was that place? Astroworld!
It was across the freeway from the Astrodome – the home of the Houston Astros and where Astroturf found its first home. Astroworld was a safe place, as I remember it, for kids to be kids. I do not remember anybody getting into trouble. There were no cell phones to keep track of each other. Our method of communication was to say that we would meet at a certain place in the park at a certain time. And you had better follow through or there would be trouble with a capital “T”!
Regardless, you paid your admission price, and every ride was free. Even though Astroworld was in our neck of the woods, Six Flags Over Texas was between Ft Worth and Dallas and was another favorite spot – although we did not go there as often.
Favorites
My favorite rides involved speed, high hills, precipitous drops, and high “G” turns. I do not remember all their names, but there was one called “Runaway Mine Train.” It was designed like an ore car to transport miners and ore from one end to another. Never mind that we had no mines like this around us, but it was a pure delight to get into the car – hopefully in the front car.
In this favorite spot, you would leave the station and begin to enter the mine. The first thing you hear is “clackety, clackety, clackety” as the cars are pulled upwards to the top of the hill. You see, for the most part, the thrill of the roller coaster is the unbridled speed that begins as that last “clackety” ends – Whoosh, you head down the hill and into the turns that bring screams and joy of speed like you can never get on your bicycle.
These names sort of burn into my memory from across the years: Runaway Mine Train, XLR8, Space Mountain, Cannonball Run, and the list seems endless as I try to remember all the keywords that give some the willies to just think about it.
Now, Pause A Moment
Take the theme park out of the picture, take the roller coaster car off the tracks, and put your life into its place.
Suddenly life represents a roller coaster, and great fear will wake you up in the middle of the night just sweating through the challenges presented to you in the daytime.
Life is a challenge and there seem to be times when everything is out of control. Forget that the tracks you are attached to give you a semblance of order, nor that the limits of the design that God has built into the story of your life give you hope of successful completion. You can then realize you do not have to worry about coming off the tracks and flying through the air to certain destruction.
You see, it is Satan’s plan
to make sure you focus on the tragedy and uncertainty
of life and not look to the certainty of your destination.
Satan wants your life to be thrown suddenly off the top of a hill that you have been climbing, hoping that the fall will cause you to flee your relationship with God!
But God knows you are better than the trials of life!
In the Old Testament, the word to Israel comes from the Prophet,
“I know the thoughts that I think toward you.
Thoughts of Peace. Not evil. To give you an EXPECTED end!”
(Jeremiah 29:11)
In the New Testament, Paul writes,
“And we know that all things work together for good
to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
(Romans 8:28)
Consider Job
In my present world, I spend a lot of time thinking and studying Life…
Consider the man Job. Satan did. He saw a man that was seemingly perfect in God’s eyes. He was considered perfect and upright, one who feared God and hated evil. This man was the greatest of all the men of the east! (Job 1:1-3) What a marvelous life he must have lived.
Clackety, Clackety, Clackety – he grows his family and vast holdings. Life is good. Everything is growing and going well. 10 children, 11,000 animals, and a large household. Unbelievable wealth and influence.
Not only did he “own” a lot, but his character was not even called into question – he was PERFECT and UPRIGHT. He Feared God. He rejected evil. He made sacrifices to God in case his sons and daughters had sinned.
When Satan came before God, the Lord asked Satan if he had taken note of His Servant, Job. The stage seemed to be set for failure; Satan is allowed to do ANYTHING to Job except to take his life.
Can you feel it? Life is about at the top of the tracks. The last Clackety sound is fading, and the downward Whoosh is coming. Can you feel gravity take hold of your life? Where you once were on that nice upward climb, the bottom starts to drop out from under you.
Look at what happens to Job: The Sabeans, the Fire of God, the Chaldeans, and a great wind destroys all he has – except for his wife and the four servants who come to report the tragedies. All in one day!
This is one of the worst tragedies recorded in scripture…
it happens fast and without warning.
One blow after the other.
A True Hero
I grow weary of the Super-Hero mindset that doctors the land and our times. Nobody is perfect unless God calls them perfect.
But Job is a hero – he’s perfect, upright, reject evil, and fears God. Isn’t this enough? Perhaps. But when the blows start coming, your life to live becomes something you never thought would happen, nor probably never thought you should prepare for a rainy day threatening to wash you away from it all.
Bring this home and remember how we act when something goes wrong!
Life is often like this roller coaster experience. We leave the station and begin to climb the hill of life. Regardless of how long this growth period is, our life may be easily compared to the stock market. Every day there are challenges that try to bring the market lower and victories that take it higher!
“Some days are diamonds. Some days are stone.”, says John Denver. Some days cause us to spin in a seemingly death-ordained spiral to low points, and we have to Clackety, Clackety, Clackety, climb again to regain lost ground.
Here’s my thought.
Remember Paul’s admonition, “…all things…” work together for Good.
What you are going through may seem like the worst trial, but God knows exactly what you are facing. He knows who you are and understands this is in your wheelhouse of accomplishments! He knows the twists, turns, and drops that are coming fast. He also knows when the next Clackety sound will bring joy to your life.
Keep your focus on the ending. You may wish that life is nothing but moments of sheer delight, but as we have all learned, sheer terror can lurk behind the start of every day. Just keep moving forward! Share on X
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Keep your focus on the ending!!
You may wish that life is nothing but moments of sheer delight, but as we have all learned, sheer terror can lurk behind the start of every day. Just keep moving forward! Don’t lose your Walk with God. Stay Perfect! Upright! Hate Evil! But reverentially fear God and know that He is in control!