Roller Coaster Ride

When I was growing up, we lived within driving distance to an amusement park. I remember when I was old enough to go there with friends....without parents.....how much fun we would have. My friends and I would spend a lot of our summers there using our season's passes. Back then I could get on any roller coaster without taking an obscene amount of Dramamine (like I have to now). My friends and I would wait in long lines in the sweltering heat to get on the biggest and fastest ride in the park. We'd wait there without complaining. When we got closer to getting on the ride, we'd split up two by two in the turnstiles, our anxiety expressed in giddy laughter. If one of us would start to have second thoughts, the rest of us would encourage our friend to continue. If they just couldn't, one of us would stay behind with her and skip the ride. The best part of the ride for me was the beginning and the end. I loved getting in the seat and hearing the teenager at the control announce "keep your hands and legs in the ride at all times. Stay seated as the safety bar comes down". My heart would start pounding as the bar came down and locked into place. My friends and I would look at each other smiling as we raised our hands in the air after hearing the brakes give way. Off we went! There would be screams of fear and laughter as we flew through the ride, and it was over almost as quickly as it had begun. As we'd pull into the station and stopped, the safety bar would come up and we would tumble out , our knees weak from excitement and we'd laugh out loud all the way down the exit ramp. How much my life resembles that roller coaster of my childhood. The excitement of trying something new, the ups and downs of life that send my stomach to my throat, the sheer joy of being worried about something I was getting into, only to see it come to an end and be thankful I accomplished it. And through it all is that safety bar. The thing that keeps me from falling off the ride; secures me in place and makes me feel safe. Jesus parallels the safety bar in my life. I feel him tightening his arms around me when I am anxious or afraid at the beginning of something big; I grab onto him when the ride of life gets to be too much and I feel like I'm falling off, and when the ride comes to an end I can look back and see how much he kept me. Thank you Jesus for being my safety bar. Thank you for keeping me secure even when I don't feel you some days, much less acknowledge you. Thank you for sending people around me to encourage me to get on the ride and laugh with me through it. And thank you for all the ups and downs of this roller coaster we call life.