Roller Coasters and Trusting God

In my last post I wrote about my first time riding on a looping roller coaster but that wasn't my first roller coaster ride. My first was the Screamin' Eagle at Six Flags, St. Louis. Back then it was called Six Flags, Mid-America and the Screamin' Eagle was a Guinness World Record holder when it opened in 1976 due to its 110 foot climb. I didn't think about it at the time, but by riding I was putting a lot of trust in a lot of people starting with John Allen, the designer of the awe inspiring wooden coaster. I didn’t know him but I am glad he knew what he was doing when he designed his awe inspiring coaster.

In fact, whenever you or I get on a coaster we are putting our trust in a lot of people. There are the designers and their computer simulations. (Yes I know the simulations don't count as people but we trust them all the same.) We trust the builders, hoping they followed the designs to a "T". We trust the maintenance workers and the inspectors whose jobs are to keep the ride safe.  We even trust the teenagers who spend their summers trying to earn a buck while watching others have fun. We wouldn't trust them with our cars but we trust them with our safety on a roller coaster. (Ok, let’s try not to think about that.) The point is we trust a lot of people to keep us safe on a roller coaster even though we really don't think about or even know them.

The same can be said when we drive a car or when we enter a building. We put our trust in the engineers and architects. We trust the mechanics and repairmen to do a good job and to keep us safe. We find ourselves trusting in the workmanship, ability and integrity of people we often have never met. We simply use their products without taking even one moment to think about whether or not they've done enough to keep us safe. We simply trust.

So, is God on that list of people you trust? What about when God asks you to step out of your comfort zone? Do you trust God when He asks you to weather the storm or when He asks you to wait? Do you trust Him enough to be still when every ounce of your being says it's time to move? We call our religion the Christian faith. Faith is all about trust even when our own understanding says otherwise. That is part of the call: that we trust God even when it's uncomfortable to do so. We are called to have faith without any limits on how far we trust Him.

So, even when it's difficult, even in the storms, even when life is like a roller coaster, do you trust God?