Injured But Not Destroyed

It was shaping up to be a memorable day. The car was packed with kids and adults. The sun was shining. Anticipation was high for the exciting day at the Breckenridge Fun Park. Last year it had been dubbed "The Best Day Ever." Would this one be able to meet or even exceed the expectation?

First stop would be the Alpine Slide. It is a fiberglass track where you have a plastic sled which takes you down the mountain through a series of twists and turns.

My grandson, Will tends to be a bit competitive to say the least. He wants to be the first, the best, the biggest...you've got the picture, so riding the chairlift to the top, he devised a plan. We would race down the track and in order to win he would need my help, actually my weight. Aunt LaLa and Molly would ride on one sled and he and I would be on the other. Weight alone would allow us to win in his mind. He was able to persuade me to go along with his plan even though I really didn't think it was a very good idea--we were simply too big to ride together on one sled.

As fate would have it, we weren't able to race against our family members, but Will still wanted to go full throttle down the mountain and since he was the "driver" he did just that until....

We were in the home stretch when our speed caught up with us and threw us into a turn too high and my knee hit the track, leaving a good portion of it behind. That maneuver catapulted us out of the sled and onto the track, causing other carnage. Sprawled in the middle of the track I realized that the danger had not passed so I yelled for Will to get up and off of the track to avoid being hit from behind.

I then saw that our sled could cause harm to others and told Will to jump back on it and ride it the rest of the way down. There was no way I was getting back on that thing, so I hobbled down. The attendants were horrified at the sight of our multiple injuries and insisted that we go straight to the First Aid station for treatment.

Before we made it to the infirmary Will informed me that even though we had crashed and burned and then returned to finish the course, he had still beaten the girl who took off at the same time that we had. Does that tell you how fast we were actually going?

We fly through life taking chances and risks in order to win. We don't seek the Father’s wise counsel and direction for our lives. And then we wonder why we crash and burn; we suffer injuries and have pain for weeks or months or years because of our decisions. If only we would slow down and ask God for guidance and wait before taking things into our own hands and messing them up. If only we would listen to the friends who offer godly advise. If only we would realize that it's not always about winning, but finishing well.

Take my advice and slow down; don’t rush through life without really enjoying it. Learn to wait on the Lord and go at His pace.

Psalm 5:3 In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly

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