Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Facing Your Fears

Every since I was a small child, I have been scared of heights. When I am off the ground, I get this terrible feeling that I am going to fall. The fear then turns into pain, a physical pain that almost inhibits my movements.



That is one reason that I am so scared of roller coasters. I despise them. I hate waiting in lines hearing the screams of the people as they possibly drop to their deaths. I detest the slow incline before the death drop. However, my wife loves them. She could ride roller coasters all day long. In fact, the week that Kat and I first met we went to a theme park called King's Island. All day long, I was riding rides not because I wanted to but because I didn't want to be ridiculed (There is probably a lesson in here somewhere). However, I would not ride a ride with Kat because I didn't want her to know how scared I was. Near the end of the day, I gave up and rode in the same car as Kat on The Son of the Beast. As we started to move, I grabbed Kat's hand. She thought I was being romantic and I was just scared to death and didn't want to die. That is how our relationship started.



I use this story to illustrate the depth of my fear. However, yesterday I had the opportunity to go indoor rock climbing with some of our youth group at Climb Nashville. These walls are anywhere from 20-35 feet off the ground at the highest point. Let's just say that it was high enough to freak me out. Not only is the wall high but you must depend upon someone else to keep your rope tight so that you can climb. You receive a 10 minute lesson on holding the rope called a belay lesson. So here I am scared to death, putting my life in the hands of people that have had a 10 minute lesson on keeping me from falling to my death. It was very reassuring. In the end, I faced my fears and traversed a few of the walls. I was not great but I still was able to climb and have fun. Sometimes I feel that we allow our fears to paralyze of us from being the people that we were created to be. Face your fears in the future and trust that everything will be okay. I say this but I'm still not riding any more roller coasters any time soon.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Road Trip

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go to General Assembly in Orlando, FL. Every four years, the Nazarene church gathers delegates together from all over the United States and World. This was my first opportunity to attend. Since my wife was unable to attend with me, I decided it was best to travel with my boss, Pastor Brian and his family. Brian has four children. One is 17, one is 9 and two are 6. Thus, there were 7 of us traveling in one van from Orlando to Columbia, TN. Previously, I had been around Brian and his family many times and loved his children but I can not lie and say that I didn't have some fear and hesitation about being in a mini-van for 11 hours with 6 other people.

However, the trip was easy. We traveled for 8 hours the first day and stopped in Valdosta, Ga. The kids were great. The next day we finished our trip to Orlando. I had a wonderful time with the whole family.

This trip made me think about our travels with God. Sometimes, I feel that we become so scared of the road ahead that we almost become paralyzed and can't move forward. It's as if we do not want to know what's in store for us. Most people, at least in the church would say that they want to walk with God. However, most people want to tell God where to walk instead of following in his footsteps.

There was a song that came out within the last couple of years called, Jesus Take the Wheel. It is a great song that makes me think that we need to give up the "control" of our lives and let Jesus guide us along the path that we need to be walking.