Like this moment. On a ride with some friends at Disneyland. The Tower of Terror. It drops you what seems like a million stories. Then it shoots you back up to the top story. Then plummets you back down. Then back up. You get the drift.
At some point during the near-death experience, they have the nerve to snap your picture. You never know when that picture's gonna happen. All you know is that you're going to look ridiculous in said picture, no matter when it's taken.
Lily Kate? She didn't know about the picture. All she knew was that she was going to love the ride. And she threw her hands in the air with NO FEAR. She threw caution to the wind. Literally. I was freaking out and nervously laughing at stun-volume (to hide my total freaked-outness), while she jumped into the moment with full force. Check her out:
That's Lily Kate. That's the way she lives. She's going to use that God-given tenacity to take in every moment. Sometimes that tenacity wears me out. But mostly it makes me love her so much it hurts.
I want to live like that. I want to trust God in every moment...and trust that He will keep me on track even when I feel like I'm going to go flying off of this ride. And trust that even when the force of my circumstances dare me to think that I might go plummeting down so hard that He can't catch me, He, in fact, will.
And when I look back at the snap shots of my life, I may be holding on tightly sometimes. A lot of times. And that will be ok. But I hope there will be a few moments frozen in time where I have thrown my hands into the sky, thrown my head back, and with a smile a mile wide on my face, said to the One I trust the most -
I TRUST YOU! BRING IT ON!
I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.
John 10:10 (The Message)
God is our refuge and strength. Our very present help in trouble.
Therefore, we will not fear.
Psalm 46:1-2 (NIV)
WE WILL NOT FEAR.