Yet Another Roller-Coaster Story (Oct 10th, 2010)

Fear not, for I am with you. – Isaiah 41:10

The Chipmunks and I have talked many times about God taking us on roller-coaster rides throughout our journey to improve our faith. Sometimes it was not pleasant at the time of the ride, but at the end we grew closer and closer to Him. This past Friday night, God has taken me on another of His roller-coaster rides, and this time, physically!

So I have never been on a real roller-coaster - the sudden drops scare me to death, and I could never imagine myself being upside-down during those 360 degree turns - my heart would fall out from my mouth! So, I have pretty much been limiting myself to the nice (AKA kiddie) rides in theme parks. I do not even remember how many people had tried to talk me into trying one roller-coaster ride, with no success – you guys better know by now that I am stubborn! OK one guy did once talk me into riding the pirate boat (it was not even a real roller-coaster) with him at the state fair a few years ago. The result? I ended up crying for the next 30 minutes, and he ranked that as his worst ride in life.

This year, I bought the season pass to Carowinds. Of course, the roller-coasters in Carowinds are off my limits, but I truly enjoyed all the water rides during the summer. There is a new roller-coaster called Intimidator – of course, the scariest new addition at the beginning of this year. I have seen other guys who went with me going white, red, or purple after they got off the ride, so of course I was never going to ever get close to that monster!

Then this past Friday, I went to the Scarowinds (they have it every October for Halloween). A few roller-coasters are open during Scarowind, as “dark fun” for those who are not scared enough by the monster mazes. I went with a guy friend from my earlier school. Then of course, after all the mazes, he asked me to ride the Intimidator with him. The answer was of course “No”. And I even offered to watch his backpack when he was on the ride. So we went in the line for single riders.

But as we were waiting in line, I felt that God had been calling me to try that roller-coaster! Aha, no way, Father! As the calling got stronger and stronger, I told Him: “Fine, if you put us two right next to each other, I will take it as a sign that you want me to trust in you and ride it.” Of course that was not likely going to happen in this single rider line - usually when there is a party of three, they will take a single rider; if there are two seats left with a party of four, they will take the next party of two in the group line. Plus, most people are either in a party of two or a party of four anyway. Finally it was our turn, and I have already gotten the backpack in my hand. All of a sudden, the attendant called, “Next two in the single line please, cart number ten.” WHAT?! Apparently, there happened to be two seats right next to each other, and to make it worse, the next several parties in the group line all happened to be parties of three's! So I took the excuse that I had to hold the backpack, but was told that there is a bin for each passenger’s bags.

All buckled up, I was too scared to even open my eyes. God, I know you enjoy taking me up and down roller-coasters to practice my faith, but this real roller-coaster?! Then the last moment I remembered that little video from the Truth Project, where that little kid hesitated so much on the spring board, and then finally jumped into the swimming pool – of course his parents caught him. There was no danger, but only joy. And that was the definition of faith, acted out in the video. God calls us to follow His direction by faith a lot of times, yet we would always stand there for a while, hesitating – am I going to get killed by doing this? But whenever we take one step forward by faith, He who is faithful will build the road in front of us, so we can keep walking. The first step is the true faith, when we have not seen Him building up a road in front of us...

So I closed my eyes and said my final prayer, as the roller-coaster climbed up the chain. First sudden drop, scream, and more screams. When it finally got to the point where I was upside-down, my heart did not fall out from my mouth as I thought it would – funny enough, it felt like I was flying among the stars in the dark night. It was beautiful. When I got off, yes I was scared, yes I screamed a lot, but it was not closely as scared as I thought it would be. Now I know I can take any roller-coasters in future, because I have survived the worst one.

As I walked away from the Intimidator, I thought about faith again - sometimes we are so stubborn about "Oh I know I cannot do this, there is no way", even when we can clearly feel God's calling. We trust our own fears more than God. The result? We under-estimated our own abilities, and might have missed something interesting for years...

May I be bolder in faith that every time I hear God's calling, I would walk the direction as He points, with no hesitation, even if I do not see a road in front of me. Because as we put my trust in Him and take the first step by faith, He who is always faithful will pave the road as we go. Amen!