Editor … Spring 2019

Have you ever ridden a roller coaster? For years I avoided them after a terrifying introduction to them through Space Mountain on a school trip. I couldn’t see, and I could feel the apex just to plunge down in the darkness and be jerked side to side.

Life can kinda feel like a roller coaster too. You have all the hype as you climb, you feel the excitement, the love, the faith surrounding you as you reach the apex at convention.

Then it is time to leave. You sometimes feel like you are floating home, steadily getting lower and lower.

Something happens and brings you into a tunnel and the twists and turns change the path you thought you had as you left the convention center.

You might feel vulnerable, weary, cheated of the high you had that was taken you thought too soon.

Life has a way of bringing us down real quick. The kids won’t sleep, a report is due, you are called in for overtime when you just want to sleep…you start feeling overwhelmed again.

Breathe. Remember the grains of sand that made up the sand painting. Each one, carefully placed. Your feelings are valid.

As Steve said Saturday morning, remember that in the middle of your mess, God is with you.

Breathe. Close your eyes. Think back to a point where you felt that room full of faith, being Upheld to God.

Feel it, continuing breathing.

Slowly open your eyes and look at the world around you.

Your circumstances might not have changed, but you have. You remembered that you are being Upheld by God and despite the roller coaster beneath you, God is with you every step of the way.