Where You Shouldn't Be

Earlier this year, in May, when I was busy getting contractors lined up for the rebuilding of my North Carolina home, I had to venture down to Atlanta for some training at Chick-fil-A's home office. I had my wife drive up and meet me after my training, and we stayed in Atlanta for one extra day. We had some comp tickets to go to Six Flags as a perk for selling Coca-Cola at Chick-fil-A. We really needed a day to get away from the insurance stuff and the rebuilding stuff, and Six Flags hit the spot. ALL of my kids had a great time. In fact, Candace got to ride a roller coaster for the first time. She went on the tallest one there...FIRST. I was so proud of her (Jordan, too...Brady will have to wait a few more years, but I'm sure he would have done it given the opportunity).

In Gotham City, they have a roller coaster adequately named "The Batman Roller Coaster." We all, minus Brady, went on it. I distinctly remember telling Candace while in line, "Nobody gets hurt on roller coasters." It's easy to remember because of the way we were making our way around the park, she chickened out of going on the next roller coaster cause it had two loops. She got in the seat and freaked out (Ever see Final Destination 3...just like that). So Jordan took her place and she watched. The next roller coaster was next door, and it was the Batman one. Liz and I calmed her down, let her get her bearings, and let her watch a few times as the Batman coaster completed its ride cycles. "See, no body's dying. No body's getting hurt." She kept watching the coaster as it completed its ride cycles as we moved through the line. She said, "Every body's fine daddy." I said, "Sure they are, they do everything they can to protect us so it's fun."

All that said, yesterday, a teenager dropped something while on the ride, jumped a fence to retrieve it, and lost his life as he was decapitated. What went wrong? Lawyers will jump in and probably say that the TWO 6 foot fences were not enough to keep people out of restricted areas, and collect money; all the while, we should look to the terrible mistake of a young man not obeying the rules and posted signs. As awful a tragedy as this is, and the tragic end to a life that could have showed so much promise for the world, fingers will be pointed and it won't solve anything.

When fault lies with you, accept it, learn from it and GROW. So many times in life, we end up in places we shouldn't be in, because we didn't obey life's warning signs. Speeding Tickets Piling up? WARNING SIGN...how about the sign posting the speed limit. In Debt? WARNING SIGN...credit card and its statement or how about gambling when you need the money for other things (it gets even worse when you gamble in an attempt to pay back debts, whew, what a nightmare situation). Marriage Falling Apart? WARNING SIGN...hanging out with other ladies or men. Addictions? WARNING SIGN...Can't get through one day without one fix. So many signs, yet we go right by them cause we believe WE know better when in fact we don't know better; That's the reason for life's signs.

Pray for this boy's family. Pray that through this awful tragedy, some will come to know the Lord.

Church was awesome this week as more and more people are visiting. Our new Worship pastor starts this week, and we will be building a new worship center soon. David Schorejs will be preaching this next week and he's always a wonderful teacher of life's lesson's and warning signs. Obey the signs of life this week and stay safe (especially when lighting those firecrackers this upcoming 4th of July). I'll be in North Carolina finishing up the repairs this weekend, so I'll miss you this Sunday, but there's a whole lot of other people would love to see you in church THIS Sunday.