A faith lesson from a rollercoaster ride
When I was younger, I loved the thrill and excitement of a roller coaster ride. The feeling of no fear as the amusement ride attendant buckled me in was awesome. Fast forward to today… you couldn’t drag me on a rollercoaster. I’m deathly afraid of the twists, turns and hanging upside down with nowhere to land my feet.
My husband, on the other hand, at the age of 54 absolutely loves the ride. Last summer, he went on every ride with our youth group from church when we took them to an amusement park. He even allowed himself to be buckled into a giant bungee cord that whipped him high in the air about 100 feet. He was all smiles and loved every exciting moment of the thrill, while I stood down below trying to capture it on camera, but the fear in me to even watch was more than I could stand. As he was thrust in the air, swinging back and forth, I squeezed my eyes closed and screamed in disbelief. My heart was pumping just as hard as his, if not more, and my feet never left the ground.
Do you know what the difference is between me and my husband at the amusement park? He is a risk taker and trusts the restraints to hold him in place, while I do not.
Taking a stand for Christ is similar, often times, defending our faith can be just as scary as riding a floorless rollercoaster. We trust God, but we wonder how we can convince the scaredy cats on the ground to take a leap of faith and enjoy the ride with us and God.
Look at how Elijah handled something similar…
“Then call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God!” -1 Kings 18:24
Elijah challenged a bunch of people who didn’t believe in God to prove that his God was real. You could say that Elijah was a risk taker when it came to taking a stand for God but he was also confident that God would come through for him and not leave him dangling. In fact, Elijah was not willing that anyone would be skeptical, so he poured tons of water on his wood, so it would be obvious that his God was a big God.
Some of us are like those looking towards the wet wood, skeptical in our faith. But, just as we can trust the restraints on a roller coaster ride to keep us intact and safe, we can trust God that He will keep us safe and land us on our feet if we would just take a risk on Him.
When is the last time you took a risk and took a bold, fearless stand for Christ?
PRAYER: Dear Lord, help me to be a risk taker for You! Ease my fear and give me a boldness to stand firm in my faith, to share with others that there is nothing too wet for you to light. Light my wood God, let it burn bright.” AMEN
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My nature is not to be a risk taker, but I pray that my spiritual nature will be a risk taker for Jesus, very good post, blessings Gloria
Laurie,
Thank you for this challenging word! It is my prayer that I will have enough Holy Spirit gumption to take risks where he leads!
Amen to that, Laurie. My His light shine through me!