My children love roller coasters. They didn't get it from me. When my dad took me on the big "thrills and chills" coaster at our city amusement park, I needed counseling for years to come!
Of course, you don't have to buy a ticket these days to get a wild ride. Just invest in the stock market. Talk about ups and downs! And Wall Street's wild rides are only a mirror of a world that seems to be off-the-charts financially. Questions about America's credit rating aren't helping - especially when our future rating may depend on how well Washington budget negotiations go in the next few months. Hang on tight.
Even without all the mayhem in the economy, life still gets crazy. Sudden drops from a change in your family, your job, your health. We're always one email, one text, one call, one doctor visit, one conversation away from the bottom dropping out. I've been there when the "Code Blue" was someone close to me...when the baby with "problems" was one of ours...when the income suddenly went away...when the phone call changed everything.
But when the roller coaster was twisting and dropping violently, one fact kept me safe. The coaster was attached to the track. And the track wasn't moving.
Years ago, I chose to go out of the business of running my own life. I've been trying to let Jesus drive ever since. After all, I was "created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). He's the "track" my crazy roller-coaster car is attached to.
Or, in the reassuring words of God's Book, we have in Jesus "an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Hebrews 6:19). I know that my "daily bread" comes from a God whose stock never drops and whose resources are always infinite. I live in total security - hand-to-mouth. His hand to my mouth. I know that "my times are in His hands" (Psalm 31:15) - not in the hands of a doctor or a disease. I don't need to fear for the people I love because "I know Whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what (or who) I have committed to Him..." (2 Timothy 1:12).
You can survive the ride if your soul is anchored. And Jesus is that anchor - because He is "the same yesterday, today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). He loves you today as much as He did the day He bled for you on a cross. He's as powerful today as He was the day He blew away death at His now-empty tomb. And "nothing will ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39).
You can't slow down the roller coaster. But you can make sure you're attached to the track.