Fire Breathing Dragons & Joy

Do you remember your first extreme rollercoaster ride? You know, not the standard stroll through the park coaster, but gut aching, fear drenching, adrenaline rushing ride of terror. I remember my first ride on an extreme coaster called the Colossus-The Fire Breathing Dragon at Lagoon Amusement Park in Utah. I was so excited to see this new coaster that towered above all the other rides and you could hear the roar of the train and the screams throughout the park. As I walked up to it for the first time, I hoped I would be tall enough to ride the awesome Colossus and conquer the Fire Breathing Dragon.

Getting through the first gate and while standing on my toes I passed the height requirement, but now waiting in line I watched the terror on adult faces zoom by me, and the deafening roar of the Colossus. Fear began to creep up and push out my initial excitement. The closer I got to the boarding platform the greater my fear, anxiety and hesitation grew. When it came time to board the Colossus, all I wanted to do was run, and I would have if the guy behind me didn’t push me into the seat. While sitting there immobilized by fear the safety harness came down locking me in and the pimple faced ride operator gave encouraging instructions to “keep your legs and arms inside the ride at all times or you will DIE…do not spit…or you will DIE…secure your sunglasses, toupees and keys or you will DIE”. Actually I didn’t even hear a word he said, I just remember thinking I am going to DIE. The Colossus is going to chew me up, spit me out, and then barbecue me with his fiery breath.

Swoosh the hydraulics shot us up the back of the mighty Colossus and the anticipation during the climb made my heart race. I felt Closter phobic, trapped, and I earnestly prayed “Dear Jesus…save me.” This was not fun anymore. The train seemed suspended for a moment at the top of the first drop then with lightning speed it sped straight down then up toward the double loops, spirals, and curves. My whole body became one muscle, tensed, rigid. I gripped my harness with all my strength and I let out a high pitched scream that would have made Pavarotti envious till all the air in my body had been expelled. As the train came to a swooshing stop, the harness released and I got out. My legs wobbled, dried tear streaks went back to my ears, my heart felt as if it would beat right out of my chest, and I looked at my friend and muttered breathlessly “Let’s do it AGAIN!”

It was an exhilarating joy that I experienced. In the face of terror with fear, anxiety and trepidation I conquered the Dragon. When I think of joy I think of that day. One phrase we have heard from Nehemiah 8:10 is “the joy of the Lord is my strength”. As I remember my Colossus experience I see Christ’s presence, strength, encouragement, and security as that safety harness that pinned me to my seat. Without that harness, the ride truly would have been a ride of terror and death. Like the ride the dangers of life, the breathless fear and anxiety we face in marriage, raising children, finances, finding work, running a business, health issues, addictions, etc. can be threatening, intimidating, and hopeless. With Christ as our safety harness that fear is replaced by joy. It is a joy of security and confidence in Christ.

When you have a dragon in your life that needs to be conquered remember the phrase “the joy of the Lord is my strength”.

"Gently"

What are some things that you would handle gently? Things like your Grandmother’s china, kittens, sleeping babies, your Broncos John Elway Super Bowl jersey, or maybe even your sleek 2010 Ford Mustang. Those things we tend to treat with gentle loving care are those of high value, are precious, fragile or even vulnerable. We will often meticulously care for, watch over, protect, and even fret about those things, people and pets that fall into our “gentle loving care” category. What or who do you treat gently?

One of our family ministry experiences was serving as the chapel speaker for a Special Touch Ministries Get Away, a five day Christian camp for people with mental and physical disabilities in the Rocky Mountains in Northern Colorado. The two years we were at this camp were some of those most precious moments in ministry our family has ever experienced. With very little previous experience working with adults with mental disabilities, I was a little hesitant in what to expect from the camp. After the first day, the love, joy, innocence, vulnerability, and the openness we saw and felt from the campers was like peering into the heart of a young child. As I write this the memories of my disabled friends some 60+ of age, who accepted and loved our family unconditionally without any barriers or walls from day one stir in my heart and move me as I remember their faces. The short time with my disabled friends heightened all of my feelings. I felt their joy as we played games, sang songs or laughed at corny jokes, and it was a healing joy in my soul. I felt their pain, as some came from homes or care places with little friendship, love or care given to them, and you could see their stories as you gazed deep into their eyes when they shared about life at home. I witnessed true friendship and love for a brief moment from those excluded from mainstream life. Even though they probably don’t remember me, I will always remember them. When I think of something that I want to handle gently…I think of my Special Touch friends.

What do we truly value, consider precious, and treat with gentle loving care? Most things can be replaced, but a life, created in the image of God, is what God holds dear to his heart. We handle our infants gently, we care for our elderly with gentleness, but do we express gentleness to our spouses during an argument, to our children when they are disobeying, to a brother or sister who has offended us, or even the stranger that has just ticked us off? The life lesson my Special Touch friends taught me, was how precious each of us are, even the outcast and neglected in society, and that the love of God is expressed in our gentleness to one another.

But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. – James 3:17 ( NLT)

A prayer of blessing upon my Special Touch friends and Special Touch Heroes (those who make the camps possible) lifted to Heaven’s Court today.

When it rains...

My head was resting on the cool pillow and my body began to relax in my sleeping bag with the lullaby of the river and the staccato drops of rain on the tent. I began to drift off to the wonderful world of dreamland when I was suddenly awakened by my fellow camper’s alarming news. “Hey, I think we have a leak in the tent.” With flashlights the four of us (Dad, Asher, Bryce and myself), pulled up sleeping bags and searched the tent of why we had puddles of water forming on the floor. As we pressed on the tent floor, I noticed it jiggled and bounced just like a water bed, and the reality hit, our tent was now pitched over a large puddle and we were beginning to sink. With a shovel and a couple of flashlights we tried to drain the small lake under our tent, but with little success, and as we shivered in the midnight rain, soaking wet, the choices were to either sleep in the car or go home. The boys and I chose to go home leaving my poor father to defend the camp through the downpour.


In our wet camping experience I learned a few things…sometimes when weathermen say it will rain in Oregon, it actually does, and I now have a literal experience to back up the idiom, “When it rains it pours”. This idiom means that after a long pause, or season with little or no rain (or whatever it may be), then it will happen in large amounts all at once. After a long stretch for us (60+ days with no rain), the heavens opened up and we were blessed with a record setting day of rain on Tues., Sept. 7th, our one full day of camping. We initially thought it was a miracle that we nearly had the entire campground to ourselves, but we soon realized, the others were simply smarter, wiser and certainly dryer.

Life lessons can help prepare us for our next adventure down the road, whether it may be camping, raising a family, running a business, paying bills, losing weight, etc., but we do have a weatherman who can give us vital information of what action we should take, or caution we should be aware of. We have a forecast of our present circumstance that will guide us to be better prepared, avoid unnecessary hardship and pain, and see what may lie ahead on our life journey. This life weatherman is the Holy Spirit who is our guide, our counselor, our teacher and who leads us to the Truth. He points us first of all to Jesus, our hope and the foundation of our faith, and also to the practical Biblical Truths of how we are to live, interact with others, and submit to becoming more Christlike in who we are.

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” – Isaiah 30:21

As we experienced camping, ignoring the weatherman and deciding to go with the forecast of rain, lead to a soaked, near Noah experience as our canvas Ark began to float, then sink. “When it rains, it pours”, and unfortunately in life we find ourselves flooded with disappointment, hardship and pain by our decisions and actions, because we failed to either prepare for, or listen to the caution of what will come. Tune in to the one voice behind you, saying “This is the way; walk in it.”