I'll Ride the Roller Coaster, But Not Right Now

My nine-year-old grandson wanted to ride the new "Steel Hawg" roller coaster when we went to the Indiana Beach amusement park this summer. The Steel Hawg twists and turns upside down and in spirals, smooth steel ride, quite impressive and intimidating. Observing the Steel Hawg from the ground, I was sure the riders are going to get their heads knocked off as the cars passed under the adjacent tracks.


On our first stroll by, we offered to wait for our grandson to ride with his older sister and friends. He replied that he'd ride it before we left, but not right now. He thought he'd ride a different roller coaster first, maybe something less intense. Same story all day, until it was time to go and he was upset because he hadn't ridden any roller coasters at all.

The next morning, I gently teased him by asking if he was going to be brave enough to ride a roller coaster next summer. He grinned and said, “We just have to face our fears, don’t we, Grandma?” I laughed and agreed. He told us that he was afraid of heights, something we weren’t aware of, and I assured him that many people shared that fear.

How often do we miss our chance to fulfill our desires by not facing our fears? How many thrilling moments have we lost because we told ourselves we’d deal with our fear later? God does not intend for us to lead timid lives! We must step up in faith boldly to face whatever fears are holding us back from a rewarding life that honors Him and brings unlimited blessings.

Fears of darkness, falling, abandonment, death, intimacy, rejection and failure are common to every man. Dealing with our fears becomes difficult when we allow ourselves to believe that we aren’t worthy, that we aren’t capable, and that moving out of our comfort zone is just too risky. Satan rejoices when we give into his attempts to convince us that taking risks isn’t worth the effort; that we’re better off staying in the same old rut where things are safe and comfortable.

Are you unwilling to accept a promotion at your job because you doubt your own skills and are afraid you won’t live up to your employer’s expectations? Hesitant to speak up for what is right because you’ll have to defend your position? Do you allow loved ones to take advantage of you because you’re afraid they’ll stop loving you if you don’t do everything they ask? Whatever our issues are, we only make gains when we are bold enough to go forward in faith that we will succeed.

Of course, we don’t always get what we want. Our Father knows that what we desire isn’t always in our best interests. We may indulge in careless risk-taking without asking His advice, and then blame Him when things don’t work out the way we had hoped and planned.

When we follow His will for our lives, asking for his guidance, we have nothing to fear. He gives us the power to overcome the world and defeat our enemies. An abundant life is ours when we know that we are His children and that Satan has no claim to us.

Throughout the Bible, God promises us freedom from fear:

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7 NIV

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 NIV

“But whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.” Proverbs 1:33 NIV

“Peace I live with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John14:27 NIV

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” Isaiah 43:2 NIV

So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” Hebrews 13:6 NIV

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:26 NIV

The Story of Caedmon

The feasting was over, singing and merriment about to begin. As the monks tuned their lyres and harps, Caedmon felt ashamed that he didn’t know the words to the songs that would be sung. As the instruments were passed, each man was expected to sing in turn. Before the harp came his way, the layman snuck away to find solace among his charges, the animals he cared for that belonged to the monastery. Full of good wine, cheeses and other delectable foods, he drifted off to sleep in the stable.

As he began to dream, a being appeared to Caedmon and asked him to sing of "the beginning of all created things." At first unwilling to sing in for the angel in his dream, he at last relented and composed a lyric praising God.

When he awoke, Caedmon remembered his dream and the words to the poem he had composed. He told his foreman of his dream, and the foreman took him at once to see the abbess of the monastery. After questioning and testing him, members of the religious order were soon convinced that Caedmon’s dream was a vision and that his poem was a gift from God.

The abbess of the monastery ordered that Caedmon join the monastery as a monk and receive lessons in scripture, doctrine, and religious history. His divine gift allowed him to create beautiful and inspiring songs after each day’s lesson. Unfortunately, only a few lines of his first poem are known, and rest of his work has been lost to history.

Caedmon’s Hymn (modern-day translation)
"Now we must honour
the guardian of heaven,
the might of the architect,
and his purpose,
the work of the father of glory
–as he, the eternal lord,
established
the beginning of wonders.
He, the holy creator,
first created heaven as a roof
for the children of mankind.
Then the guardian of mankind,
the eternal lord,
the lord almighty
afterwards appointed
the middle earth,
the lands, for men......"

Caedmon lived during the 7th Century and is one of earliest recorded English poets. He served as a herdsman for what is now known as Whitby Abbey, located on the coast of northern England. Although Caedmon had lived a secular life until an advanced age, he became a pious monk who used his Gift to bring glory to God with inspiring words that were unmatched by his contemporaries.

Praise God For Small Favors!

We recently had our gas service disconnected when we failed a credit agreement. I had delayed getting the gas turned back on because our gas-fired water heater is in horrible shape. I’m surprised it hasn’t flooded the basement or even blown us sky high by now, from the looks of it. A new one just wasn’t in our extremely limited budget right now. We’ve been heating water on the stove for bathing and dish washing, which has been somewhat inconvenient, but we’ve been getting by.

So yesterday our daughter’s boyfriend asked if we wanted a secondhand electric water heater from a rental home he was salvaging. The house had burned, and the landlord (Sam's dad) decided to tear it down and told Sam that he could take whatever he wanted that was left. The electric water heater was untouched by the fire, and is only about a year old or so. It looks like new. It’s sitting in our basement now, waiting for Sam to come over this weekend and install it for us.

God has been so good to us over the years. So many bad things that happened could have been so much worse. Like a couple of weeks ago when our truck lost a brake line and the alternator belt–at the same time! I had decided to take the truck out to gas it up, since it had been sitting on empty. We don’t use the truck much except for auctions, but I like to keep some gas in there in case we need to use it for an emergency. I noticed the brake and alternator lights weren’t going off, so I thought I’d better play it safe and headed back home. The brakes held until I pulled back into the alley. Hubby replaced the brake line and alternator belt, and as he was moving the truck back into its usual spot, a front brake line blew out!

Now, what are the odds of all this happening right in our own driveway, instead of miles away at an auction? There are other times our vehicles could have killed us, and didn’t. I can only believe that each of our vehicles has a guardian angel riding along!

So many people would brush off all these types of things as "good luck" or "coincidence," but I know it goes deeper than that. Too bad more folks don’t realize a blessing in disguise when they see one!

Image credit: Cornelia Kopp @ wikimedia commons (Creative Commons Attributes ShareAlike 2.0 license)

He Is Risen!

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices so that they might go to annoint Jesus' body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?"

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, "He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you."

Mark 16:1-7 (NIV)