Have you ever been down a water slide? As a kid I LOVED going down water slides and taking our annual trip to Noah’s Ark in the Dells. I was never a big fan of roller coasters, but water slides were a different story! First of all, I didn’t get nauseous on the water slides like I do on roller coasters, and with most water slides the best part is crashing into the water at the end!
 
This last February, we took the KNIGHTS, our 4th and 5th grade student leaders, to Metropolis Resort for a retreat. We went to Chaos Waterpark, Action City, had time with God, studied the Word and laughed all night! It was a great retreat! But as we were in the water park I began to look around. We took my 18 month old daughter with us and this was her first real experience in a water park. After a brief attempt at Fairfax pool last summer, she was not much for anything bigger than her kiddie pool or the bathtub. So there my husband and I stood with our daughter, screaming her lungs out at the idea she would have to get her feet wet. Finally, after what seemed like FOREVER, she was happily playing in the shallow water content just to splash around and stay very close to the edge of the pool…just in case. We had just begun enjoying our time as our daughter played when I heard the sound of a very loud wave crash behind me. I turned to see a man coming out of a wave he created by going down a water slide called “The Bailout”. If you have never been to Chaos, this water slide is a one person, open slide that drops you straight down 40 feet. You could tell by the look on his face that this was one of those moments he was glad that the slide was engineered correctly, or his fun ride would have ended tragically. The next 10 minutes was spent with my husband and I trying to convince each other to go down the slide and both of us had our “legitimate” excuses as to why we could NOT take the plunge.
 
I began to look around at all the attractions this indoor water park had to offer. My daughter was perfectly content splashing in the pool, some people were in the hot tub, others on the lazy river, some were on other smaller water slides and then there were those who never even left dry land. As I looked around, I began to think how much this scene resembles our Christian walk. The journey of following Christ has so much to offer. It can be as exciting or as boring as you make it. I can guarantee the guy who went down the waterslide is going to have a very different impression of that water park than the person who never even got in the water at all. One will say the experience was thrilling, while the other may say it was boring and even a waste of time. How often do we forget that our journey of faith can be directly related to what we put into it? God always intended us to be participators in our faith, not mere observers. He wants us all to be at the place where we trust Him completely and take the most thrilling ride of our lives! Yet most of us are content to sit on the side of the pool and watch someone else experience what God intends for us all.
 
So where are you in the water park of faith?? Are you stuck on the lazy river waiting for the next best thing to happen to you? Well maybe you need to get out of the river and ask God to challenge your faith! This could mean praying with that guy who sits next you at work, or sharing Christ with that neighbor you just KNOW God has been laying on your heart. Or maybe, you haven’t even gotten in the water yet. Its time to get your feet wet! Join a life group, turn off the TV and pick up your Bible instead, begin the steps towards the thrilling journey that God has for you!