Descriptive words of an amusement park roller coaster ride? Yes, but actually more like my life in the past few months. It started out with health issues. I honestly will admit when these symptoms come, fear rages and I hear, “The cancer is back!” The first dog I ever owned personally, “Jackson” died after getting routine vaccinations. The pastor of the church we attend was let go. I went back to work after 14 months. After three emergency room visits, a pacemaker and two stays in a convalescent hospital, Bill an 89 year old man we adopted, was moved to assisted living and we rented out his home.
Following the pastor leaving, our Small Group leader moves to Arizona. My other dog blew out her knee and needs surgery in the tune of $3700.00. One daughter relapses, the other is laid off work who has three young daughters. A friend needs drastic help, while another is getting a divorce. My sister has surgery, my brother in law has an enormous mass removed requiring 160 stitches from ear to chin, and my mother is hospitalized for 4 days. My daughter decides to move to Florida, but days before leaving, a school chum dies. My son and girlfriend are reared ended in a car accident that totaled the other car. Yet, the most frightening spiraling free fall was the severing of my husband’s relationship with his business partner.
The good things were my son graduated from college, nobody has cancer, and we have a new puppy named Hank. My husband has a brand new company with a whole new outlook and fresh start. I attended my first writer’s conference with positive results. Interestingly just when I sense calm and the ride is coming to an end the bottom falls out from underneath me and plummets once again.
Personally, I feel that it is indicative of our remaining days. That sounds daunting so let me explain. The Bible so clearly lays out the times. “Watch out that no one deceives you…….You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains…..Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24: 4, 6-8, 12, 13.
As chaos escalates and poverty increases, people are in panic mode. Depression has hit an all time high. Desperate to feed their family some have resorted to stealing. The death rate climbs as people have lost sensitivity to mankind by either killing each other or killing themselves. The economy has caught so many unprepared. People are losing houses, losing jobs and living on the street. Fear causes us to pull back and instead of giving and helping others we hoard what we have for the “what if’s.” Could this be the beginning of the end? I feel it could, yet the sad part……..it’s just the beginning of the end.
Jesus is coming back, have you forgotten? Has the world tainted you so much that you are enmeshed in the garbage? Have you given up or your love grown cold? At times I have to admit I want to quit. It just gets too hard. I can’t see light at the end of my dark tunnel. Buckle up my friend because this is way beyond Montezuma’s Revenge, Xcelerator, Revolution or Stratosphere.
I don’t see the future but I KNOW THE ONE who holds my future. I KNOW THE ONE who loves me. What keeps me going……is that I know when I get to the end of this ride it will be Jesus helping me unhook the harness and putting out his hand to help me stand. With love in his eyes and a smile on his face, He will say, “Great ride Dana, you did good and endured to the end, but wait till you encounter this next ride with me!”