When we were children, my father used to take my little brother, Ralph, and me to an amusement park named, "Riverview." It was located on the North Side of Chicago. We really enjoyed all of the games and the rides that we went on, but there was one ride that I would never get on. It was a huge roller coaster was named, The Bobs.
There was always a long line of people that were waiting to get on The Bobs, but for the life of me, I couldn’t understand why. That was the biggest, scariest looking thing that I had ever seen. People would be yelling, screaming and crying while they were riding on it, but after the ride was over, those crazy people would get back in line so they could ride on that thing again.
Some of my friends tried to talk me into riding on The Bobs. They called me chicken and scare-de-cat, but I didn’t care. There was no way that I was going to get on anything that went that high off of the ground. Period. Ralph and I rode on the safe, sensible rides like The Merry-Go-Round or The Ferris Wheel. One day, we found a ride that we had never been on before. It was called, The Wild Mouse. It had the same kind of seating that The Bobs had but it just rolled around the park on level ground and into a tunnel. There was a long line there too, but it looked like it was a nice, safe ride.
Ralph and I got on The Wild Mouse and took the seat that was in the front. We rode along, waving to people until we entered the tunnel. The farther we got into the tunnel the darker things became. We couldn’t see anything, not even each other. Although the tunnel was a little scary, it was fun. The train moved along very slowly, almost like The Tunnel of Love. We were laughing and talking and enjoying the ride.
Finally, after the long ride through the tunnel, we saw daylight ahead. We thought we were coming to the end of the ride, but when we came out of the tunnel we found out that we were no longer on the ground. When I looked down I couldn’t even see the ground. I think I saw The Bobs down there. I looked ahead and it looked like the tracks were coming to an end. I looked at Ralph and said, “Uh oh.”
Remember, Ralph and I was on the front row. I wanted to cry, but before I could get anything out we were flying down that long, steep track at about a million miles an hour. Everyone was screaming, “Awwwwwww”, but I was yelling, “Daddaaaaaaay”
I had never been so glad to get off of anything in my life. All 12 years of it. I had no idea that the ride that seemed so nice and peaceful was a roller coaster in disguise. I didn’t know that while we were enjoying that long, slow, uneventful ride through that long, dark tunnel that we were getting further and further off of the ground until it was too late. However, what surprised me was, as scary as The Wild Mouse was, a lot of the people got back in line to ride it all over again.
You might not know it, but Satan has a Wild Mouse too. It is called sin. We all have ridden on it at one time or another during our lifetime. Millions of people are still riding on it today. The Wild Mouse. Some of its riders are easy to recognize. They are drug dealers, drug addicts, alcoholics, Gang bangers, prostitutes, rapists, robbers, players and player haters just to name a few. However, there are a lot of respectable citizens that are taking the ride as well. The sad thing is they don’t even realize it.
All of their lives they have avoided the crazy, dangerous roller coasters like The Bobs. In other words, they stayed out of trouble, received a good education and they are pursuing the American dream. Some of them are doctors, lawyers, bankers, teachers, politicians, community leaders and hard working family people. They think they are traveling on nice, safe level ground as they cruise through, what they think is, the tunnel of love. However, when they reach the end of the tunnel they will realize that they are riding on The Wild Mouse and they are just as far from level ground as the people that are riding on The Bobs.
When I got off of The Wild Mouse that day I knew that I was never, ever going to ride that thing again. I didn’t like the ride, but there were others that loved the thrill and excitement, so they rode that thing over and over and over again. For the life of me, I just could not understand how they could do that. It is the same way in life. Some people accept Christ and walk away from the world of sin and ungodliness, but there are others that continue on that path because they love the thrill and excitement of it, or it could be that they just don’t know any better. However, it doesn’t matter whether you are riding on The Bobs, The Wild Mouse, or walking on level ground (living a Christian life) you are still a long way from perfection. We all are. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. (Romans 3:10) Although none of us will ever be sinless, by the grace of God we will sin less each day that we live.
- Rev. Burton Barr, Jr. (Author of The Hoodlum Preacher & Amazing Grace: The Storm Is Passing Over.)
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