Flying Down the Waterslide

            When I was a kid we would typically travel down to Florida from Ohio once a summer to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins.  One of these trips when I was probably around the age of 10 we visited the water park Buccaneer Bay in Tampa.  They had advertised for the newest, tallest, and fastest waterslide.  I have always been a bit of a ‘dare devil’. Call me fearless. I thrive on these kinds of things and was very excited when my uncle volunteered to take my cousin and me to go on the slide.  I don’t remember what the slide is called but I do remember it was tall, and was a close to vertical drop straight down. 

            I remember waiting in line for what seemed to be forever, so when we finally arrived on the top of the platform we were all ready to jump in the slide.  When the lifeguard told me that it was my turn I jumped into the slide with gusto took my turn.  I didn’t realize I needed to stop and listen for instructions.  I just went.  It was fun.  It never occurred to me that I was probably in danger, and the laws of physics were violated in my descent. 

            I was later told that my uncle and the lifeguard just about had a heart attack as I flew down the slide.  I was supposed to have lain down and crossed my arms.  In my excitement I went down the slide sitting up on my behind.  There is no reason according the laws of gravity that I didn’t fall face first and seriously injury myself.  Whoops.  Grin.  In fact when I went to go on the slide again the life guard flipped out a bit on me and made sure I was lying down before I could go.  It wasn’t nearly as fun the second time.  LOL!

            Life can be a lot like this.  There are two sides to this:  Sometimes people jump at things too quick without listening to instructions, and sometimes people sit at the top of the adventures in life and wait too long thinking about them.  There has to be a balance.

            I love the verse of Isaiah 30:21 “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it’, Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.”  People often can hear God’s direction and then not wait for the timing.  Ecc 3:1 says, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”  Matt 16 Jesus instructs us to discern the times and seasons.  Meaning, you do have to do what God is calling you to….but use wisdom to do it when He calls you to do it.  In my case regarding the water slide perhaps waiting long enough to get instructions before sliding down would have been the wise thing.  God will always give us instructions and vision when He speaks to us.  He doesn’t just tell people to do things and think we’ll understand.  Eventually the fullness of what He says will make sense, but sometimes we have to wait to get the bigger picture.  Sometimes we have to sit in what feels like the top of the water slide and wait for the rest of His instructions.

            Remember God has awesome plans for your life.  Get excited.

*Please continue to keep us in prayer.  We have a couple of big days ahead of us, and we are believing for divine interventions.