On Valentine's Day...

God's Love is Always in the Air

YOU ARE LOVED!

Yes, it’s Valentine’s Day! And love it or hate it, you’d better remember one thing:

God loves you. Yes, YOU! So much so, that he sings over you! (Check it out in Zeph. 3:17!)

First, a mini-poem for you:

“And we love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19, NIV).

He loved us all the way

from eternity to a womb

to the cross and the tomb,

while darkness loomed,

the light was coming soon,

Then back to eternity

And over you he croons…

Yes! He SO loves you!!

Second, a Fun Story:

Today, since it’s Valentine’s Day, I pulled this fun little story out of my archives and gave it a fresh edit. Hope it makes you smile! :)

Ride of a Lifetime!

In hindsight, I should’ve known it would be a harbinger of things to come…The exciting yet anxious long-awaited beginning, the slow rolling gain in momentum, the dread of looming hills to climb, furious curves that throw you against each other. (Not to mention the sudden drops when you’re screaming and flailing through the air, upside down and sideways at times…)

Yep, the Magnum was not to be trifled with! In June of 1996 it was on my list to ride, and James knew it.

One of the perks of growing up in northeast Ohio has always been the proximity of Cedar Point, a 150-year-old amusement park in Sandusky built on a peninsula overlooking the shores of Lake Erie. During my teens and twenties, it seemed there was a heart-stopping new thriller ride added to the park every few years.

The Magnum coaster opened in the summer of 1989 as the steepest, fastest and highest roller coaster in the world. Its first hill created an incline that left you ascending flat on your back with an initial drop of 204 feet.

Now, here we were, staring upward at all that!

“How’re you doing?” James asked me with a hug. While the sun radiated summer warmth, I grew quieter by the minute. We’d waited in line for over an hour so far. The cranking noises grew louder with every advance in the queue, striking fear in the hearts of all of us waiting. Even though I’d ridden it years before, trepidation loomed larger with every passing minute. Predictably, my stomach twisted as anticipation rose.

But this wasn’t the only thing I was anticipating. James and I had been dating for over a year. Being in our late twenties, we’d discussed our desires to settle down and have a family. I kind of wondered if this trip might become a day to remember.

“Which side do you want?” James asked me as we reached the concrete platform and chose an aisle to enter the double-seated coaster car. I climbed in first and moved over to the right. My heart pounded as we locked our seatbelts and secured the metal U-bar over our heads. This was the point of no return! The rhythmic hissing of the coaster’s hydraulics sounded sinister at that moment.

“Here we go!” James grinned as we slid forward into the deceptive calmness of daylight, open air and blue sky. I heard screaming from the passengers in the coaster cars ahead of us as they tipped over the top and zoomed downward.

Rounding a curve, it became our turn to confront that massive hill. I listened to the slow clink-clink-clink as each of the separate cars in our coaster engaged with the lift and tipped backwards. Feeling panicky about the drop to come, I gripped the safety bar tighter. Why, oh why did we humans do this to ourselves, loving a ride that both thrilled and terrified us?

After some agonizing moments, our car engaged upward, laying us flat on our backs. Clink-clink-clink continued the huge lift, matching the thump-thump-thumping of my heart. Each passing second seemed like an eternity, and I now regretted my coaster-riding choice!

Right when we were about to level off at the top, James yanked something from his pocket, held it out to me between his finger and thumb in mid-air.

What?!? Was that an engagement ring? Was that REALLY an engagement ring he was so casually offering me at the top of this humongous hill?!?

“Will you marry me?” he shouted with glee, 204 feet above the earth. (Clearly, he’d been looking forward to this moment, enjoyment lighting up his entire face!)

“What!?!?!!!” He’d caught me by surprise. For a split second we were level at the top of the hill, then tipped over the edge for the freefall drop. Thoughts now pinged around my mind at the same speed as the coaster. What if he dropped that ring up here?! We’ll never find it!! What was he thinking? Is he seriously asking me to marry him UP HERE?!?

“Hang onto that riiinnngggg…...!!!” I shouted, words left behind in time and space as we plunged down the cliff and careened around the next curve.

Of course, I wanted to marry him, but ALL I could think about was where was that ring? It appeared to be gone! James held onto his safety bar with both hands—had he dropped it?

“Don’t droppp itttt!! …Seriously, did you dropppp itttt? Where did it goooo??” This was all I could get out in between screams as we flew down and up yet again, taking curves at lightning speed, crashing into our safety bars, no real way to communicate over the noise. The ride was unrelenting and had to be ridden out. Worry about the ring replaced the terror over the ride.

(It’s safe to say that this ride became the longest roller coaster ride I’ve ever taken!)

After what seemed like eons, the screaming stopped, the coaster slowed, and the brakes screeched as we glided back into the terminal.

“Yes, I will marry you!” I finally got out, breathless and hoarse. “But what happened to the ring, did you drop it?” I questioned in between galloping heartbeats. I pulled hair out of my eyes and mouth, whiplashed by more than just the coaster.

“It’s right here in my pocket somewhere…” he grinned, fidgeting side to side, attempting to locate it as the safety bars released.

“But honey, what were you thinking? Weren’t you worried about losing it up there?” I asked him while unbuckling, still not sure he hadn’t dropped it.

“Of course I was! That’s why I bought this fake one! TA-DA!” and he produced the ring from some side pocket.

“It’s FAKE?!?” I doubled over. “Holy smokes, you had me so worried!!” Relieved, I finally started to relax as we stepped back onto the platform.

James took my hand as we descended the wooden stairs to exit. “Yep, right out of a candy machine! We can go pick out the real one next week.”

“A candy machine? Are you kidding me?!?” I laughed out loud and tried on the fake ring--it was a tad loose, but looked pretty darn real! I stowed it away in a zippered pocket, afraid it would still end up underneath a ride at some point.

True to his word, the following week, we picked out a real ring that looked remarkably similar. I saved the imposter as a memento of a memorable day.

The ride of a lifetime had just begun!

*Photo by Shubhan Dhage on Unsplash

**Photo by Skyler Gerald on Unsplash