We were watching “Pickers” one night when on came a segment about Bushkill
Park, in Easton, Pennsylvania. “Hey, I used to go there as a kid with my
grandparents,” and the door to the memory vault was opened. Most of my memories
were of Friday nights under the lights, swatting bugs while waiting our turn in
line. The one ride I ever had on the roller coaster that was supposed to cure
me, really only made me want more. The “Bar’l of Fun” was my favorite, one
place had rollers for floor for stpes and you had to hang on going up or down.
A giant barrel of six feet in diameter kept rotating, while you tired to hang on
and go around with it. Wobbly steps you walked up to go down a wooden slide,
being stopped at the bottom by huge canvas bags. A ride taken over and over,
the quickest way to go down one flight. The Whip which I was told was for older
kids, yanked you around and tried to make you sick, kids loved it, adults
barfed. The Tunnel of Love, gondolas going into the dark tunnel, accompanied by
girls screaming and giggling, then a splash ending! Most was free, some rides
cost a dime, maybe a lot to this ten year old in 1964, but what a night of fun.
Something about the night lights, the smell of popcorn, and running from ride to
ride just added to it. Maybe only a few hours, but a night that would last for
months. But I’m saving the best for last...
The Dodgems! Car powered electrically, controlled by you right foot, and
designed to be slammed into each other. You all started going the same way, and
ended in chaos, ramming all you could at a top speed of walking, but crashing
and enjoying it. Always with my Grandpa at my side, until I was old enough to
get my own, they we crashed into each other. Fun, safe, cheap, and all without
all the rules we have today to prevent ourselves from hurting ourselves and
having fun. But Bushkill Park went away, and after three years of floods,
wasn’t worth saving anymore, and is gone. But being resurrected by a man who
remembers it as I do, and wants the fun to begin again. To take us back to when
small parks meant fun, unlike the parks of today, waiting inline an hour or more
for a two minute ride. Take me back to wind in my face, to being unbalanced and
challenged on steps, to slide all I want, to defy gravity in the barrel, and
find true love in the tunnel. I wonder if these old bones could endure one more
ride on the Whip, but I am sure willing to give it a try. Oh the fun we used to
have, hours of enjoyment and anticipation, for what good is fun if we don’t
enjoy it?
The same may be asked about Christianity, what good is it if we don’t enjoy
it? We get heaven with Jesus, no matter how miserable or legalistic we are on
earth. But he promises heaven on earth, and if we think we will enjoy heaven, I
ask “why wait?” So what are you waiting for? What’s your excuse? Did you give
up your freedom to choose after you chose Jesus? When will you take that first
ride trusting him without him holding your hand? That hand may not be holding
you back, but you afraid to let go and trust.
Much has been said about “working out your own salvation daily by fear and
trembling.” Maybe solutions is a better word, applying what you have been
taught to everyday life. Knowing Jesus well enough you don’t have to ask WWJD,
because you know. When you quit studying to find an out for your sin, when the
Bible is fun to read, not required. God shows us often times an idea, then we
try to figure it out and dictate how to do it ourselves, neglecting the spirit.
As if we have to do it without his guidance, when we should be able to do it
with him guiding, and then letting go and going out and doing it. Yet many are
scared like on that first roller coater ride, or trying to walk in the barrel.
“What if I fall?” What if you don’t? As Christians we should enjoy life more
than anyone on the planet. We know where we are going, we should make the best
of our time still here. Too many spend all their lives planning and never do,
maybe if we did more doing and less planning we would trust more? What are the
signs that God is at work in your life? At play?
Faith without works is dead, the best definition of faith I ever heard was
trusting God when there is no evidence of him. Suppose you were on an island,
no Bible, no study group, no music or worship, how would this affect your
relationship with Jesus? Church, take the money out of your services, how would
this affect your ministry? Yet we take Jesus out of our walk and try to go it
alone. Doing what we think he expects of us, rather than seeking and finding.
Maybe one ride into the tunnel of love is what we need one time spent with him,
to just enjoy the time with him. Are you so stoic and religious that you have
forgotten how to have fun? Does not the word blessings mean happinesses? Is
there a whole side to Jesus that religion has stolen from you, to enjoy life and
love God? Read Ecclesiastes, Solomon finally figured it out. Love god and
enjoy life. ENJOY! and watch your witness increase, as don’t we have enough
trouble in the world without making a sullen God part of it? We may think we
ride alone, but God is always with us. Even in the Dodgems.
Stop studying and start doing. It is time for Christians to get out and
live, to live what we learned, I hope the way you live is not all you learned.
To grow in Christ we need to apply the things of Christ, and one thing is
enjoying life in him. Life may be a roller coaster, try another ride. That
slide looks so big until you go down it, and wonder why you waited. Have fun
running into others in Dodgems, get rid of some hostility and laugh. Ride the
Whip instead of being hit with one. Life can be a Bar’l of Fun when Jesus is in
it, take the time to recreate, so we can live a life in him that others would
desire. And what better place to pray than going up that first incline on the
roller coaster? At the end of each ride, do you say “that was fun, let’s do it
again?” Do you say the same abut time spent with Jesus?
God is at work in you so you can work, and also play. We are to come as
children, and kids like to play, I still do. Maybe that is why I enjoy Jesus so
much, I trust and know he is always with me. Get out and live. Jesus is the
secret to life. Get out and show him off today. Oh, the fun you’re gonna
have....or you can be still waiting in line....wondering why...
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com