The difference between fear and thrill: a perceived sense of control.
One person’s paralysis from fear is another’s exhilaration. We fear most what we control the least. Thrill is when you ride that razor’s edge between fear and control.
This year will be my family’s first Sheridan WYO Rodeo. We’ve heard the stories. We can’t to get WYO’d baby! Yeah, as we sit comfortably on our duffs watching others risk their lives for our entertainment. This principle of fear, thrill and control will be on full display.
One person may find it thrilling to race around an arena, vaulting off one bareback and bounding on another. One might be thrilled to ride for 8 seconds topside a 1,700 pound animal in need of anger management. Folks in the seats will gasp and turn their heads to avoid the particularly hairy moments, while others will be compelled to watch in complete horrific fascination, thanking God it’s not them out there, but living vicariously through those daring cowboys all the same.
Which seat, I wonder, affords the most control? The bleacher or the bull? Are those in the stands in any more control of their lives than those out in the arena? I wonder if any of those cowboys ever jump off of their broncs and look up at the stands in terror that they might have to settle down and be a dad someday and put down roots. Who’s in control? One person’s thrill is another’s terror.
Last year was the first year the rodeo was canceled since 1931. You know what we really didn’t like about the last couple of years? It wasn’t canceled events, It wasn’t masks, losing smell or taste, politics, changing rules, fake science or real, riots or protests, it wasn’t a microscopic virus, UFO’s or inflation, it was none of that. What we really didn’t like was the expose of a most terrifying truth, namely, that we’re not in control. Our life is out of our hands. 2021 in Sheridan has already painfully reminded us that there are no guarantees that any of us will see the end of this article.
Isaiah 40:10 says, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
God entered the arena and joined the fray. God put on perishable flesh. Jesus gave up control and became a human subjected to the most fearful death on a cross and emerged victorious on the other side. The God of the Bible doesn’t guarantee an injury and pain free journey, or that he’ll remove the raging bulls of your life. But if you put your life in his hands he will see you through to the end and beyond because he’s already gone before you.
You can be sitting in a wheelchair or the front seat of a rollercoaster, sitting on a bull or the bleachers. Either way, apart from him sustaining you, your life is spinning out of control like a loosely bolted Tilt-O-Whirl assembled by a tipsy carny. Putting your life in the hands of the one who is truly in control and truly loves you enough to sustain you through anything — there’s nothing more thrilling than that.
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July 09, 2021 at 11:00PM
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Fear, thrill and control | Faith | thesheridanpress.com - The Sheridan Press
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