01 July 2010

Instead of a devotional this week, I am giving the promised full report of the Cedar Point trip.

Jason, Nate, and I left on Monday morning, 6:06 a.m. to be exact, for Sandusky, Ohio for the long awaited trip to Cedar Point amusement park to ride Millennium Force. We had talked about this for years and finally decided to go for it. The trip up was wonderful. We solved one minor world problem before we reached North Carolina (details will be released later in the summer). We had a great time. We drove 12 hours and pulled into the Days Inn in Middleburg Heights, Ohio at precisely 6:06 p.m.

Highlights: The beauty of the country is stunning. The forests and mountains of West Virginia, the rolling hills of Virginia and Ohio was all fabulous. Two tunnels in West Virginia were just incredible and the entrance to Ohio over the Ohio river was just too cool. Paint Creek monument, where we had lunch, was nice and quite educational. Jason actually waded in the creek.

Lowlights: We were extremely disappointed in West Virginia in three areas. First, they charged us a total of $6.00 in tolls to drive through the state and the roads were the worst of the trip. Second, all the rest areas were converted to "travel plazas" with fast food and no picnic areas. We had hoped for a lovely spot viewing the mountains, but found only massive parking lots and ugly buildings with Burger King. We were not defeated, however, as Nate caught sight of the aforementioned Paint Creek. Third, Charleston, the capital city of West Virginia just looked awful. Canton, Ohio and the NFL Hall of Fame looked every bit like a 1960's architecture dump. We just passed it as we traveled by, but with all the money the NFL has, we expected a really modern, cool place. Instead, some ugly little cream brick building with what looked like a giant orange juice squeezer coming out of the roof. The stadium had all the appeal of a high school stadium in Macon.

Nevertheless it was a fun, fun day driving and seeing America on I-77.

Tuesday was Cedar Point, the gold standard of amusement parks, on Lake Erie in Sandusky, Ohio. Unbelievable. Incredible. Monumental. Words escape me to describe this park.

Highlights: Millennium Force: 310 feet high, 93 mph looking out over Lake Erie towards Canada. Simply put the best roller coaster in the history of the world. After the first climb to 310 feet, the coaster has not a dull moment. 2 minutes of absolutely perfect fun. Rode it 3 times including once in pitch darkness at 10:30 p.m.

Top Thrill Dragster: 420 feet high, 120 mph. This ride launches to 120 mph in 4 seconds, then goes straight up 420 feet and plummets straight down. Never experienced anything like that in my life. Totally unique, adrenaline rush, wow. Rode it twice!

Magnum XL: 210 feet high, 75 mph. Bigger and better than Goliath at Six Flags Atlanta, but because of Millennium Force it tends to be neglected. Great air time. Rode it 3 times, twice in 20 minutes late in the day.

The whole park was perfect and to get to do this with Nate and Jason was more than I can say. We also rode Disaster Transport, Wicked Twister (Incredible!), Mantis, Gemini, Mean Streak (not very good but who's complaining!), and Maverick. Maverick has a 95 degree drop and at one point launches the train to 70 mph after braking inside a tunnel.

On Wednesday we drove back. Because of our displeasure with West Virginia, we determined to go back home via I-75. Late Tuesday night we drove over to Lima, Ohio where we slept a little. We left Lima at 8:00 a.m. Kentucky was beautiful. We had lunch at the Kentucky/Tennessee border at a lovely rest area. We traveled I-40 over to Waynesville, NC, then down 441 to Athens. We arrived back home at 6:30, tired but excited. The trip back was uneventful, as Jason slept most of the time. We did semi-solve another world problem which will be reveled later.

Highlight: Cincinnati? Yes Cincinnati, at least part of it. I was expecting a run down, rusty and dirty city, but downtown, with the new football stadium and the baseball stadium both on the river, and the fountains in the river was really pretty.

Well, it was a wonderful trip. WE DID IT! We did not just talk and dream. We went and WE RODE MILLENNIUM FORCE!!!

Psalm 40:3

One of the great blessings of the sovereignty of God is the assurance that He is able to use even adversity to accomplish His good purposes (Romans 8:28). Psalm 40:3, David presents a wonderful example of this great truth. In the midst of some type of adversity, David "waits patiently on the LORD" and the LORD moves in an incredible way, not only to bring David out of the miry clay, but also to set him on a rock and set before Him an established path. And David sings a song of praise to God for that deliverence. Here's the remarkable result: "many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD."

David's adversity, and the deliverence that God brings, becomes a means through which God is glorified in David's life and others come to know Him. It is sad that we have been adversely effected by the prosperity gospel to the extent that we think of adversity as something outside of the Lord's will for our lives. Adversity in this Psalm resulted in praise to God, evangelism of the lost, and the strengthening of David's own faith. This reminds me of Paul's experience when writing to the Philippian believers. While some questioned why the Lord would allow Paul to be imprisoned, and others took advantage of the imprisonment to exalt themselves, Paul simply trusted the Lord and rejoiced. In the midst of this imprisonment, the Lord had worked to save guards, to encourage other believers, and to further spread the Gospel. God was working good in the midst of adversity.

Knowing His goodness and His power, then, let's trust Him. Let's delight to follow His will, regardless of where it may take us, knowing that He will accomplish His gracious purposes and he will be glorified.

I think this is the official beginning. In spite of many good intentions, I have failed to launch a consistent use of the blog. Everything changes today. It is my desire to post once a week, especially during the school year, so perhaps the summer will allow me to develop a weekly habit that will sustain itself throughout the coming school year.

The Prince Ave. Christian School Class of 2010 has graduated. I am so grateful for this group of students and what they meant to me and our school. They manifested a true spirit of leadership and were a genuine encouragement to me. I will miss them but I am sure the Lord will use them greatly to impact the world for Christ in the years ahead. Hopefully some of them will stop by occasionally.

Hannah has arrived in the land of the Thai. Her blog is linked somewhere on this blogsite.

Lydia has started her internship with the Connection (Prince Ave. Baptist Church's collegiate ministry.) She has a blog too and it's linked on here somewhere.

The roadtrip to Ohio is set. A full report will be provided on June 30.

Every accomplishment and every opportunity is a blessing from the Lord. James reminds us in James 1:17 that "every generous act and every perfect gift is from above." In the midst of new opportunities and further accomplishments, let us be faithful to give thanks and praise to Him from whom every blessing flows. Develop a spirit of gratitude and you will find that the Lord will use that, not only to bring Him honor, but to build in you a genuine reliance upon Him in all things. As we give thanks to Him, we understand that He is the source of all blessings; we understand that He is faithful; and consequently, we learn to trust Him in the things that are before us. Pray for grace that we might learn gratitude and through that we will learn reliance upon and trust in him who is able to do more than we can imagine.

This is a test