Roller Coaster Ride

Life can sure be a roller coaster ride, can't it?  You hear it all the time from people.  You experience it yourself frequently.  And while at times it can be like a kiddie ride, at other points in life it's an all-out record-breaking thrill ride. 

 







  p
U   and d
             o
               w       p
                  n.  U   and d
                                    o
                                     w
                                        n. 

Whew, it's exhausting.

Lately I've been feeling like my life is quite the roller coaster.  Various reasons have pooled together to give me the up and down experience.  So when my pastor preached a sermon called "Ride the Rollercoaster, Trust the Designer" I knew I was in for it.  Sure enough, by the end of the sermon I found myself in one of the sweetest moments of my faith with face tear-covered and burdens handed over to God.

One of the neatest points that my pastor made was that when we are trusting God on our roller coaster ride our roller coaster itself actually changes form.  Suddenly are highs aren't so high because we're not jumping to false states of bliss.  Our lows aren't so low because we have hope and joy in God.  We trust Him with our roller coaster; and He then starts to even it out.

I read a similar thing in my devotional book, One Year With Jesus:

   ~"When our lives are intertwined with His, He will help us to walk through adversity without sinking into debilitating lows and to manage prosperity without moving into deceptive highs.  The joy of living with Jesus daily will keep us level-headed, no matter how high or low our circumstances."

Tim Tebow seems to be grasping this concept as well.  When asked in a press conferece how his faith affects his game he says, "It's never as good as it seems and it's never as bad as it seems.  And at the end of the day, it's just a game. That's the perspecive my faith gives me."

It's just a game.  Funny how God giving us perspective changes our roller coaster ride.