“Light, space, zest—that’s God! So, with him on my side I’m fearless, afraid of no one and nothing.” (Psalm 27:1 MSG)
On the west side of Indianapolis there was once an amusement park that featured a variety of fascinating rides. Not until a protest, a justified and peaceful protest, was held in 1963 by the NAACP Youth Council did the park drop its segregating admission policy that denied Non-Whites to be admitted in 1964. From my kindergarten years until the fifth grade I lived no more than three blocks from the park. The only day, or should I say partial day, of the year that minorities were admitted was in the middle of a hot summer when the sun seemed to have reached its maximum heat output. That’s when the local newspaper sponsored a day outing for newspaper carriers and on that day, there was no segregated admission policy observed on those days. Today, being a day where we observe the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday, it would be fitting to frame the story part of this meditation about civil rights, the courageous council of youth mentioned above, or the cultural phenomena where young children prohibited from many societal offerings were not bothered very much. Blind to injustice, many kids thought that was just the way things were. The latter focus could have been central in this introductory segment of today’s meditation and used to influence adults to teach their children that all God’s people are precious in His sight and to make their offspring cognizant about what’s going on in our country, and also train them, regardless of their racial, social, economic, national origin, or ethnic background about such things as fairness, fair treatment, and to be fair – the failures we have seen lately as the enemy has fueled new hatred and awakened hate that was, in some cases, merely suppressed. Yes, there were many options. But that was not what the Spirit put on my heart to write about. He put the illustration of one particular ride at that park in my mind. No, it was not the wooden roller coaster that went around the park and overlooked a flowing canal that was weaving its way through the city to the old factory section near the center of downtown. It was a ride I remember as being named “The Wild Mouse.” Oh yes, I did attend on newspaper carrier day.
The Wild Mouse traveled at a fast speed, raced in one direction so fast that it seemed to the wide-eyed rider that it was going to go off track. And then suddenly it would turn sharply, at a ninety degree angle. It would continue repeating such maneuvers until the ride came to an end. During all the ups and downs and twist and turns and what looked like doom and disaster, riders held on tight. I’m sure that when I got off the ride, the bar that riders held on to was left with an irreparable imprint of my childhood grip. Yes, I held on tight and made it through it all; all the way to peaceful end.
Let’s not kid ourselves. There will be all kinds of rides that we will experience in this life! We will experience economic rides, emotional rides, relationship rides that will have ups and downs, rides that test our faith, rides where Satan will tempt us in hopes that we will give up on our faith, and rides where everything seems terrific, as well as rides that seem terrifying for one reason or the other. We will take a seat on the rides of gain, grief; great loss, love or what we think is genuine love. We will experience rides where suffering only last for a nighttime, but joy comes in the morning. Knowing this I need to share what I learned to do on The Wild Mouse ride! Hold on tight and don’t let go! “Hold on to what,” you may be asking. Let the words of Jennie B. Wilson’s, composed in 1906 and written below answer your question. Be blessed!
“Time is filled with swift transition; naught of earth unmoved can stand. Build your hopes on things eternal. Hold to God’s unchanging hand.”
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King