#44: Life's Rollercoaster Ride

On episode 44, Tim shares how he took his youth group to an adventure park and then explains how that applies to our walk with Jesus.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome into episode number forty four of Bring Heaven Down.
My name is Tim and I'm the host of this
daily devotional podcast that shows up in your feed Monday
through Friday. Make sure that follow button so this podcast
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people's lives. As a rate and review gives this podcast

(00:23):
more exposure. Also, if you have a question a comment,
email the show Bring Heaven Down number seven at gmail
dot com. I don't care if you disagree with me
or if you agree with me. I don't take it
personally and I don't get offended by anything. So email
the show Bring Heaven Down number seven at gmail dot com.

(00:44):
I love reading your emails and I will get back
to you eventually as the time fits. So thank you.
All right today's show, Yesterday, I went on and adventure
with our youth group, as I am the youth pastor
at Transformed Church in Andover, Minnesota, and I want to

(01:08):
talk about it because I think there's a message in
there of what we did and how that can relate
to life. So grab your favorite drink or a cup
of coffee, and let's bring having a little closer together,

(01:31):
all right. So yesterday the youth group and I, along
with several leaders, we went on an adventure to a
roller coaster park whatever you call those theme parks whatever.

(01:52):
There's some in Minnesota, one particularly called Valley Fair in
Shaka Pie, Minnesota, and we went there for the day.
Got there at ten, left at three point fifteen, and
we went on several roller coasters, one called the wild Thing,
one called the Power Tower, one called Renegade High Roller, Steel, Venom, Delirious,

(02:19):
all these different roller coasters. Personally, I'm afraid of heights,
so I did not go on all of them, and
I stayed back and watched some of the roller coasters
along with some other kids that didn't want to go
home as well. But I went on some of them.
And as I was watching kids, and as I was
experiencing the roller coasters that I went on, I was struck,

(02:48):
not physically but spiritually, and I was like, there's a
message here of God's goodness and God's faithfulness and God's love.
Because life really is a roller coaster. Sometimes there's days

(03:16):
when you feel like you're really climbing up hill and
it takes forever for that day there's days when you're
flying so fast downhill and there's so much adrenaline. Sometimes
life gives you herky jerks where it feels like it's

(03:43):
throwing all kinds of different things at you, where you
get hit here and then you get hit there, and
then you're going upside down. Sometimes life is full of
turns where it's like life is a roller coaster and

(04:04):
life is hard, but on a roller coaster, on any ride,
we are given a harnessed of protection and a seatbelt.
And the question is, as we go through the highs
and lows, the twists and turns of our roller coaster life,

(04:30):
what do we rely on as are harnessed or protection.
Do we rely on the power of God, the power
of Jesus's love? Or do we set our minds on
earthly things? And do we try to rely on the

(04:54):
power of ourselves, the power of our own will and independence,
the power of money, the power of a career, the
power of family. What do we rely on as we

(05:16):
go through life that's very much a roller coaster? Where
do we find our peace? Do we find our peace
in a cellular device? Do we find our peace by
numbing life by having an addiction? To a phone, or money,

(05:40):
or a drug or a drink. In John fourteen twenty seven,
it says, peace, I leave with you my peace I
give you. I do not give to you as the
world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and
do not be afraid. We do not have to be

(06:01):
afraid when we rely on Jesus as our Lord and
savior for our peace, because he does not guarantee that
life will be easy. In fact, he said that you
will have troubles, but take heart, I have overcome the world.

(06:23):
So there is nothing that is going to be easy
about this life. But what he does give, he gives
an anecdote to life's troubles. My peace. I give you peace.
I leave with you. I do not give as the

(06:43):
world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and
do not be afraid. So I want all of us
to remember, and I'm talking to myself as much as
i'm talking to this microphone and as much as you're
hearing this, because I need this reminder as much as anybody.

(07:04):
When life gets tough and we're going uphill and downhill
and they're twisting and turning, our first response should to
be rely on Jesus's love and Jesus's peace to carry

(07:24):
us through and protect us from evil, just like a
roller coaster, just like a harnessed or a seat belt.
We should rely on Jesus's love when we're going through

(07:45):
the thick of it in life, even when we're going
through good times, because we should point up and look
at Jesus and say thank you and have a heart
of gratitude. So that's where my mind and heart was
at today because of the sperience that our youth group
had at Valley Fair. There's about thirty seven of us
that went, and it was a great time. We got soaked,

(08:08):
we went on water rides and it was a blast.
But as I was there, I realized that there's a
message here. As I was riding a roller coaster and
my head was contorting in a ton of different directions,

(08:29):
I'm like, what do we rely on when life throws
us this kind of junk and stuff? Are we relying
on Jesus's love? I hope it was encouraging for you today.
Thank you for choosing Jesus, and I hope you all
have a great day.