Letters from Roscoe

I know I’ve already written to you once today, but when God is speaking to you, you do what he says.

Picture this.

You’re riding the roller coaster at an amusement park.  It’s been an awesome ride!  Your car comes bounding over the last peak and begins its descent down into the station where you will disembark.  Your heartbeat is beginning to slow, your breathing starting to even out.  As your car glides into the station you look left to see the faces of the next riders waiting for their experience to begin.

Some of the faces that you see show excitement, some show fear and some faces are painted green with nausea as they consider the ride that they are fixing to endure.  Some of the faces even show boredom.

I am gob smacked by the vision that is before me.  Am I looking at the cycle of our lives being played out in this scene from an Amusement Park?

Am I seeing the young with their whole lives ahead of them, showing excitement, anticipation and courage?  Their path is laid out before them in a series of rises, falls, twists and turns.  Some of them are nervous and scared.  They will be the ones to take the middle cars.  The bravest will take the front and the thrill seekers will fight amongst each other for the last car.  The thought occurs to me; “Is this the way that they will go through and live their lives?”

My car comes to a sudden stop as the hook grabs the braking mechanism.  A loud noise then accompanies the release of the restraint bar that has held me in during my ride.  I stand and then step up onto the platform.  I look at my fellow riders and see the old ambling down the exit ramp.  But rather than proceed out of the station and bring the experience to its inevitable end, I tarry for a moment off to the side.  I look back and watch the new riders enter the cars of their choice.  They prepare themselves and then sit back to await their fate.  The restraint bars are pulled back tight against their bellies and then with a loud ‘clank!’ the brake that was holding their lives in abeyance releases and the cars begin to slide silently downwards out of the station.  As I watch, they pass through the archway and out of sight onto the ride of their lives.

I wonder.  When these riders get to the end of their ride and as they coast into this station, the next set of riders will look upon them and what will they see?

Will they see someone like me?  And what will be the expression upon his face?

Will they see a man at peace with his life?  Will the man have a smile upon his face as he comes victoriously into the station at the end of his journey?  Or will he be in tears with his head hung down in shame and remorse?

I believe that they will see a man with a smile sharing his car with the Lord.

Your friend,
Roscoe, Christian in Training