Roller Coaster

This week of Vacation Bible School has had an emphasis on roller coasters. The theme is Colossal Coaster World, and we were able to have roller coaster tracks going across our stage.

All this talk about roller coasters made me think about how they can be a microcosm of life. Sometimes we are upside down. Humans are meant to stand on our feet, and when we go upside down on a roller coaster it is a foreign feeling to us.

We go through times in life where we feel upside down—when nothing makes sense and we feel disoriented.

But there are also parts of the ride where everything is downhill. After hitting a high point the roller coaster begins to accelerate back down, causing a major rush.

Life is full of ups and downs. After being upside down for a while we end up going downhill again and life calms down.

But the thing about roller coasters that stands out to me the most is the unknown. My favorite ride was always Space Mountain at Disney. This is such a fun ride because it is totally dark and no one can see what is going to happen next. There is nothing to do except hold on and enjoy the ride.

And that is the best way to live life. We don’t know what is up ahead, but instead of being afraid of it, we can hold on and trust God. On a roller coaster nothing happens that wasn’t thought out by the designer, and in life nothing happens that wasn’t planned by our Designer.

So instead of spending (or wasting) your life being afraid, just hold on and trust God. Remember, that fear didn’t come from God, but from our enemy. Let me leave you with our VBS theme verse, 2 Timothy 1:7:

“For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

VBS

Tonight is the last night of our Vacation Bible School, and we have had a great time at Saddle Ridge Ranch! We had surprise visits from Tiger and Cocky (I’m still a little sad that Albert the Alligator wasn’t here), a missionary to the Philippines, and we also got to meet an interesting bunch of characters.

Haas and Hattie Jo Bornagain were on a journey from Saddle Ridge Ranch to Mustang Mountain, but they had a few scary encounters. Cool Hand Lucifer came and robbed them one night, and Chief Wannakeeya and his squaw Wannascalpya tried to kill them another night. Then there were the two ladies on the path of destruction that tried to lure the Bornagains away; they were Gi Gi Singsmore, the aspiring singer, and Texas Alexis, the aspiring silent film star. Fortunately there was The Sheriff there to help the Bornagains along the way.

John 10:10 teaches us that the devil only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. When the enemy steals from us, it doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love us; Jesus promised that we would go through hard times in this life, and that only reminds us that we aren’t home yet. Jesus also told us to love the ones who hate us and try to kill us, and He commands that we tell other people about Him.

Because the Bornagains obeyed all those teachings from The Sheriff, they showed love to the Indians, and we saw the Indians change their names to Chief Wannahugya and Wannacookforya. They also were able to convince the ladies that there was only one way to the mountain, and they needed to obey The Sheriff if they wanted to get there.

I always love our skits at VBS because they are fun, but more importantly, because of these powerful biblical truths we can learn. Let’s all look for ways to show love to people that hate us, and let’s look for someone we can tell about Jesus today.