I’ve Decided That A Bicycle Might Be More My Speed.

 It’s summer time and I can’t help but let my mind wonder to the year that we spent three glorious days in the beautiful Ozark mountains of Branson, Missouri.

 Part of that time was spent riding roller coasters.

But I’ve decided that a bicycle might be more my speed.

 When I first step onto a roller coaster the anticipation is high for the thrill of the ride.um…sorta… 

 Can I just say, I DO NOT LIKE roller coasters?  I do not like them.  To say I don’t like them, should not be confused with saying
 I’m scared to ride them.

I’m not scared. I just don’t necessarily see any sane reason to have my hair flying through space and my head banging and my neck jerking and feeling my body be lifted off the seat as I plummet head long into the next upside down turn. 

However, when my kids want me to ride, I ride!

And I tell myself to shut my eyes, don’t anticipate the turns or falls and just enjoy the ride,  feel the exhilaration, sense the wind on my face, feel the air pulling my brown curly hair, listen to the sounds,

mostly screams,

and then the laughter

and sighing and more giddy laughter

as the coaster slides to a quick and abrupt halt. 

In about two minutes and 45 seconds, it’s all over and I step across the barrier to the exit.

I can look back at that point and see the five times I was hanging upside down.

The times I was going up and coming down, and I  may even gasp and say, “I did that!”

I can walk through the gift shop and get a t-shirt describing the thrill of my ride on a steel track, 

rising to heights of 155 feet, 

reaching top speeds of 66 mph, 

and dropping down yet again 155 feet,

all while coiling through Cobra Rolls and Full Loops. 

No I’m not scared.

I just don’t like the uncertainty, the “out of controllness” of it all. 

At times I’ve heard people say life is like a roller coaster.  

I’ve said it too. Because in the ride of life we aren’t in control.  

Do you agree? 

When I step off the coaster  and look back at all I just did as I rode that piece of machinery, putting my life in the trust of the designing engineer

and surveyors who marked the positions of the support beams

and  the controller sitting at the desk, 

and computers and chains that keep it going, 

I think, “what was I doing?’

 When you stop and think about it, life really is like that. 

We can’t see the whole track, the path of life that we will journey.  We don’t know the heights we will climb, and the depths to which we will drop, the upside down helplessness and the G force of pain or peril.  

We don’t know the times we will reach a tip top peak and sense the wonder of the view from way up there.   So I guess, in reality, we all just get on, with anticipation, and know that we just have to trust the Maker,
the Master Designer.

If we could see the whole track
of life
at one time
before we ever got started
or got on
maybe we couldn’t endure~
maybe we couldn’t
bear
the ride. We have to trust our Maker, for the whole journey, not just parts of it, no matter how bad you or I may want off,

there’s no gettin’ off.   

When my life is done,
 if I am allowed to look back
 and see the twists and turns,
the exhilaration and despair,
 the whole track of life
 that I travelled,
 I know I will say it was all worth it.
I might even sigh and say,
“I did that!” 

But I’ve decided that a bicycle might be more my speed.

I sure hope I take time to stop and smell the roses.

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Tell me please…do you like roller coasters? Asking for a friend…

*sigh*