BY HUNTER GREENE
Many see life as a highway, but I have always seen it more as a roller coaster. Unfortunately, I am the type of person that can’t simply get on a ride and enjoy it. I have to analyze the rails, the carts, the seat belts, and the thousands of different moving parts that make it all work. I worry about all the logistics and what could potentially make it stop working properly. When I get in my cart, I always check my seatbelt at least five times before the attendant even comes to check it. Much like with life, it is much harder for me to enjoy the ride when all I can focus on is what could go wrong.
This past Saturday I had the chance to put these worries to the test at Dollywood. On each ride, I pondered what would actually stop imminent death if the coaster were to derail at 60 mph. I thought about how the only thing keeping me in place on each ride was a bar tightly locked in front of me. As the day went on, I found myself being able to trust this metal bar more and more. While I tightly held on to the bar for dear life on my first ride, I finally convinced myself to throw both arms up and enjoy myself by our last ride of the day. I came to realize that this is what true faith feels like. Still enjoying God’s presence and plan even when I don’t have a clue of where I am going.
Hebrews 10:36-11:1 reads, “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Another way of defining faith is this: believing that God keeps His promises. God has promised that He is redeeming and reconciling all things unto Himself. It is no secret that we live in a broken world that is full of mountains and valleys. Life is much like a roller coaster in that we often take a nose dive into circumstances we can’t control, and then we proceed to be jerked around by turn after turn. Yet, it is within this chaotic ride that we call life that we can find some of God’s deepest blessings.
On Saturday, I didn’t really enjoy the ride until I let go. I had to let go of what could happen and embrace the joy that came from being in the moment. While you struggle through life, you also need to let go of what could happen and embrace God’s beauty and majesty right now. It is easy to take your eyes off Christ and place them on the crashing waves and rocking boat. However, we fight our battles by placing our faith and trust in the author and finisher of our faith.
Jesus Christ began a work in you that He intends to complete. You have to hold on to that promise and anchor your life into His love when things seem dark and dreary. Life may take you through loops, corkscrews, nose dives, and violent turns, but Jesus Christ is still greater than any mountain or any valley.
You may not always see, hear, or feel Him moving in your life, but I promise that God is faithful. He will finish what He has started. Take your hands off your life. Quit worrying about tomorrow. And although you can’t see God right now, He is there. When you stop worrying about what could be or what might happen, you are enabled to enjoy God for all His beauty and goodness. Rest in His faithfulness. Rest in His promises. You are going to make it.
(The Solution Column is provided by Pastor Brandon Young at Harmony Free Will Baptist Church, Hampton, and his associate, Hunter Greene.)