When you have a two and a four year old boy you can forget about Hawaii, the Bahamas, or Monterey for vacation. The ultimate vacation spot is Disneyland. Last year my job required me to be in Southern California quite a bit. So, we decided to splurge and get the season pass. We made every little getaway that year to "The Happiest Place on Earth."
So, here we were making our rounds to the different rides in the park. Buzz Lightyear is E's favorite. Actually, it's e's favorite too. They would ride on that all day every time if we let them. But, we are always trying to help them progress in their roller coaster repertoire. We found ourselves at a busy time of day and decided we wanted to get on a ride that did not have a long line to wait in. Pirates of the Caribbean is a good one for that. It moves people through fast and I have never had to wait more than five minutes to get on. We have been on the ride twice before with both the boys. So, I was a little surprised that E was hesitant to head toward the ride. Now, whether you think it is right for us to take our two young boys on Pirates of the Carribean is a whole other issue. But, I am going to disregard your concern for the sake of this great story. :)
In E's slight hesitancy he asked if he could bring his light saber on the ride. They both always bring their light sabers to DLand. You never know when we might head over to the Jedi training. When he asked this, I pictured him wielding his light saber while on this shifting boat that is in the water, in a very dark enclosed area, and whacking some grandma upside the head. So, not wanting to ruin somebody's vacation, I told E no. Remember the light saber for later in the story. ;) Now, we were headed in between the empty steel line boundaries and to the quick moving entrance.
To set up this story, I need to give you a little insight into E's recent sleeping issues. You see, E had been often telling me he was scared when he went to bed because he was having bad dreams. We had been spending quite a bit of time talking and praying together before bed to help him to feel comfortable with going to sleep. Most recently, I had been encouraging E that if he was scared during his dream, that there was no reason he could not pray during his dream. So, if you see a monster in your dream, ask God to help you not to be scared in your dream and for his protection. E was good with that and I think it helped with his progression toward not being scared before bedtime. But, the point I want to make from this story is that I was trying to help E understand he could pray to God about anything including monsters and God would hear him and help him as he saw fit.
Back to the ride. We knew getting on the ride that there was one part that he liked the least. That was the part of the ride where the boat is going slowly up a hill and you see in front of you a hologram of the pirate with the octopus beard - Davy Jones. Both times, we rode the ride previously we would just distract E in some way and he would be fine and actually like the other parts of the ride. This time E decided he was going to take things into his own hands. As the ride crept up the incline, we attempted to do the same things we had done at previous times. But, E did not seem to pay attention to our distractions. He did not want to sing any songs or look at any other scenery on the ride. His eyes were fixed on Davy Jones (octopus beard man.) As we crept closer, you could sense some anticipation from E. It seemed to be a mix of both fear and boldness. As we got closer to the hologram of Davy Jones you felt like you were almost able to touch it. You have to go right through the hologram to get to the next part of the ride. As we inched closer just moments before entering the larger than life image of Davy Jones, E decided he was going to make his move. With a type of fearlessness that would make any father proud, E stood up in the ride and yelled, "God, Give me my light saber right now!"
He believed it. He believed that God would meet him right there on that ride just like He did in his dream - Just like He did when Daniel was in the lion's den - Just like He did when David slew Goliath. So, now you are saying to yourself, “Ed, surely God did not throw him a light saber out of the sky.” You’re right He didn’t. It was much more than that. The biggest obstacle in E’s path at that moment was not Davy Jones. It was fear. And courage was just the right answer to his prayer.
1st Samuel, Chapter 17, verse 32 David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him."
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