(January 22, 2018)
One Year Ago
Not this guy. Honestly? I don’t know how much adrenaline my body produces, and, if I suddenly need some (fight or flight) I would hate to think I had already used up my supply by forcing the adrenal gland to work just so I could get the thrill.
When I was young, in Garland we had a bicycle hill off Glenbrook Dr. I only went twice. The first time I was probably 13 or 14. There were two hills, a high one and a lower one. I only used the lower one. The second time, I had a 10 speed and I bent the wheel.
The first time I rode the big roller coaster at the State Fair of Texas, I wasn’t driven by the thrill of it all. Actually, I was trying to catch a girl’s attention. I wasn’t afraid, but I didn’t have this need for a new thrill. Though, I did want to look brave for the lady.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the thrills that come along in my life. Who doesn’t like the excitement of a close game, where your team pulls out the victory in the last seconds?
But, jumping out of a plane? Bungee jumping? I really don’t feel the need to force it.
To pursue the thrill.
Last week, when I was talking to a good friend, just days before he left this world, I saw his countenance change, a supernatural calm, a peace, a genuine smile, almost glowing, giving the seventy something face a momentary appearance of the face of a young, untroubled man, who was experiencing joy.
That was thrilling.
Countless times in my life since that day in 1978 when everything changed, I have felt that thrill, a sense of the God that I love, parting the curtains of eternity, and drawing near to me.
A sense of feeling the pleasure of God over me.
Just because He loves me.
NOW, THAT IS THRILLING