Day 33 (October 31, 2009)

I don’t like roller coasters. Or for that matter, I don’t like anything where I’m in something on a track going down quickly. It’s not a fear. It’s not an “I’m feeling sick.” It’s just an extreme dislike.

Oddly, I absolutely love water slides. Going down at a high rate of speed either on an inner tube or on tubeless slide is a great delight of the summer. I can’t get enough of them.

So what’s with that?

Well, I can’t explain the psychology of it all. I think it’s a matter of faith and control.

In a roller coaster, I’m strapped into someone else’s contraption. I’m under someone else control. I’m on someone else’s plan. How I feel is irrelevant to the machine that contains me. I’m always bracing myself against the machine to prepare for the next curve, descent, or swoop.

On a water slide, however, I’m not strapped into anything. The key to its enjoyment is relaxing my body and trusting in the laws of physics. In that I find a freedom. The more I can relax and trust, the more enjoyable and freeing it is. Every curve, descent, and swoop brings its own special and unique sensation and delight.

The last few weeks we’ve been trying to find the right place for Bryce to go to high school. It has truly been a roller coaster experience. I feel strapped within the convoluted system of high school admissions, public and private, in Baltimore. I feel totally at the mercy of forces throwing me up against the side of the car and am at a constant search for the barf bag.

And that’s how it often is in the World. I sometimes feel like much of life is spent in search of the barf bag. However, the Kingdom calls for my water slide outlook: Just as many twists and turns and drops but no seatbelts. It may seem less safe and secure at first glance and feel riskier with the lack of seatbelts and fear of drowning. But, the Way through the Kingdom says, “Relax. Trust Me.” He said it another way when he said, “I give you peace, the kind of peace that only I can give. It isn't like the peace that this world can give. So don't be worried or afraid.” (John 14:27)

So, my question for myself is: How do I remember the Kingdom to which I pledge my allegiance and remember that I’m on a water slide despite the roller coaster the world tries to strap me in? When I can do this we can go through anything in Joy and Hope and Peace.


Thanks for reading.

Jeff