Rollercoaster Challenge Day 5 - A roller coaster you have never been on but do not want to.

 Roller Soaker, Hershey Park

So far the two most difficult ones to pick were on consecutive days. I would ride any roller coaster, but I'll put this as one I'm not excited about getting on soon. It’s a slow roller coaster (20 mph top speed) where you get soaking wet while riding because of various water dumps and geysers along the way. Spectators are also able to drench the riders with sprayers. Probably the only cool thing about this ride is that the riders also have the ability to retaliate by dropping water on the people in line as long as their four-gallon supply lasts.

It was designed to be an interactive water fight, but combining the two concepts of slowness and getting wet was a terrible idea.  It’s not even particularly hot in Pennsylvania, so most days it’s not an immensely popular coaster.

Psalm 71: 1-5, 19-24

Have you ever been attacked? Have you been falsely accused of something or completely misunderstood? How does it feel? The first impulse we all have is to protest and to fight back. After all, we are not deserving of that indignity or disrespect.  The slower you go and the longer you stay on the track, the worse it gets. How unfair is that! It’s definitely payback time.

We need to come to the place where we leave the fighting up to the Lord. In Psalm 71:2, 24 the psalmist cries out: Save me and rescue me, for you do what is right. Turn your ear to listen to me, and set me free.… I will tell about your righteous deeds all day long, for everyone who tried to hurt me has been shamed and humiliated.

God is our hope of being rescued. It is so much better to start trusting Him early in battles rather than waiting until we are beaten down and seeking revenge on our own. When we allow Him to be our strength and protection (verse 7) we are giving others the opportunity to see God and be an example of how a follower of Jesus handles such things as hurts, lies, and disgrace heaped on them by others.

We do not know why God allows us to suffer much hardship. We only know that He is the one who lifts us out of the depths and restores us to life (20). Our response: praise.