Roller Coaster Analogy

Our walk with God can have ups and downs but in the end the adventure and the thrill is always worth it. If we can say in our seats when the ride is over we will have received understanding of Who God is and our faith will be strengthen. Don't let the enemy keep you from enjoy the roller coaster with the fear of uncertainity. The ride of faith leads us to places that soar above our limitations. Below an analogy of the roller coaster. You are at the park why not enjoy the rides while you are here. "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." I Timothy 6:12God bless you.

ANALOGY OF A ROLLER COASTER

Natural Experience Spiritual Experience

No matter how many times we have been on a roller coaster (the vehicle that leads us to our promised land), there is nothing like the thrill of riding a new roller coaster (nothing like the excitement of a new experience in God). When we see a new roller coaster it seems so exciting, (we only see how fulfilling the experience will be), and we are eager to experience the thrill of the ride (we are eager to see another side of God through the journey). Before we ride the roller coaster we have to prepare ourselves. We don’t eat or drink anything until after the ride (we empty ourselves of our carnal desires). If we get on the ride full from a meal, we will risk upsetting our stomachs and getting sick on the ride or even immediately after the ride (if we are full of the cares of this world we can not endure the twist and turns that our journey will takes us on and we will suffer). Doing this, will prevent us from riding other roller coasters (through our suffering we will try to avoid any experience that will invoke the same kind of pain). We wait in line for hours for our turn to ride the roller coaster (we patiently wait for our opportunity to journey to our promised land). As we approach the front of the line, we are overjoyed with pure excitement (We praise God because we can see we are about to walk into our promised land). We sit down in our seats, put our seatbelts on, and our excitement becomes mixed with a little nervousness (When we were waiting we could still change our minds from taking the journey but once we sit down we let go of control and we are vulnerable). Unfortunately, there is no turning back now (Even if we wanted to change our minds we have go through the journey); we are not able to change our minds, though we ponder where this ride will take us (we see the magnitude of our decision to take this journey and consider what we are about to go through to obtain our promise). We slowly move closer to the highest point of the ride and our nerves reach their boiling point (we are consumed with uncertainty). We see the whole ride and wonder if we made the right choice (we see we are about to experience things that we naturally can not handle and feel that we made a mistake). We smile, while trying to hide our fears from the ongoing riders, and we boast about how we are ready for whatever the ride has to offer (our pride will not allow anyone to see that we are scared, so we act like we can take anything that the experience brings). At the top, there is complete silence as we brace ourselves for the big drop (stillness consumes us as we hold on for our life). As we begin to fall at a rapid speed, the only thing that is keeping us in our seats is our seatbelts (as our lives fall apart the only thing that keeps us from giving up is our faith in God). Our stomachs feel like it is in our throats and the only relief from the pressure is to scream (as our fears and insecurities begin to surface our only option for relief is to shout unto God). When we scream, the pressure is released, and we are able to enjoy the ride (when we shout and praise God in the midst of our afflictions, we are able to rest in the peace of God). We travel so fast through the ride that we are never up, down, or upside down for a long period of time (we go through our journey so quickly that we never stuck in place but rather constantly moving forward to our promised land). Anytime we feel the pressure of our stomachs moving up into our throats, we scream and it frees us to appreciate the ride (anytime the pressures of life began to surface we praise God and it liberates us to enjoy our journey). When the ride is over, we are so happy that we experienced the new ride, and we begin to look for the next roller coaster to ride (when the journey is over, we testify and are excited about our experience, and are ready for the next journey that God has for us).