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A wild ride! That is the most accurate description I can come up with for life. Have you ever gone to an amusement park and waited to get on a ride thinking, yea this will be pretty cool? I’m kind of tired of walking around the park. I can sit back, relax and enjoy this ride. Then you get in, strap your seatbelt and within 30 seconds you are flipped upside down at an accelerated speed that you did not expect. Suddenly, your mind is racing at the same speed as the ride. You find yourself thinking what is going on here?! How did I get here? This isn’t what I signed up for.
When you find yourself in this situation, I have found that you can respond in a few different ways. First, you can close your eyes and pray for it to be over fast, and that you come out of the situation unharmed. When you respond this way, there is little if any enjoyment. You are too busy worrying and waiting for it to be over that that you miss out of a lot of things. The view-things that God may want to show you. The excitement-a new adventure with new lessons to be learned. Just to name a few.
Another response can be to gauge your reaction based on those around you. A couple of years ago I went to Disney. We were at Hollywood Studios and my friend Misty and I rode the Tower of Terror. I was feeling okay about this situation until the ride shot us up in the air and held us suspended for a bit. All of the sudden a guy from the back says something along the lines of, “forgive me everyone but I am going to scream like a baby here.” All of the sudden terror sets in. I’m like what does he know that don’t?! What have I gotten myself into here? Suddenly my hand starts to flail looking for anything to hold on to. Suddenly, my friend grabs my hand and the shaft drops and we fall. When life throws us up in the air, we can allow others to instill fear or we can grab hold of the hands of our friends and ride it out together.
Finally, we can accept it for what it is and enjoy the ride. Yea, it may not be what I expected, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be good. It may be a little faster and crazier than I expected but then again if I had that foreknowledge I would have probably opted out and missed out on the adventure.
I have decided that I am going to enjoy the ride.