(9/21/22), I am reading this story again for myself as a reminder that you don’t always get what you want, sometimes you get what the Lord knows you need)

Yesterday, I didn't get something I wanted. I wanted it but not as much as I thought I deserved it. I worked hard over the years and thought that my work would be recognized, awarded, and acknowledged publicly by those whom I had done the work for. It didn't happen. The folks gave what I asked for to someone else. At first, it didn't bother me much, and I tried to just say "Oh Well", and move on. But then last night while sitting at an outside concert, in the cold, I started to mope about my loss. I didn't get angry, but I got sullen and resentful, not a lot, but those two things were not good to grow in my spirit at all. Those emotions, are petty, and will slowly poison a normally cheerful heart, turn it dark, and make your spirit sick. I recognized that and knew that I would do no one any good if I allowed those "feelings" to grow. I guess without knowing it the Lord answered a prayer I didn't even know I made. That prayer was to not let this day get the best of me, and his answer was a story, something from my childhood. It just showed up in my mind, I could see it like it was on a screen and I could feel it too.

When I was young, about ten years old we lived in Norfolk, Virginia. The Ocean View Section. We lived next to a golf course, and across the golf course was the Chesapeake Bay. On the shore was Ocean View Amusement Park. I loved that place, it had great rides, including a scary roller coaster. All of us boys in the neighborhood used to go on Saturdays or summer weekdays. You bought tickets to each ride, and they could cost anywhere from 25 cents to a dollar for the coaster. That was quite a bit of money back in 63. It was usually more than I had until they had dime Saturdays. Every ride except the coaster, for one dime. Actually, the cost was a dime and a little newspaper coupon. It was printed on the movie page next to the comics, and you needed one for every ride, along with the dime. When the coupon hit the paper midweek for that coming Summer Dime Saturday, I would go to work. I would look for yards to mow, and chores to do for my folks, and others in the neighborhood and I would start canvassing the neighbors for newspapers. I wanted at least ten coupons, more if I could get them. I was competing against my friends too, we all wanted the same thing, even though we were going together, and lived in the same neighborhood. It was not nearly as much fun riding the Ferris wheel alone, going through the Fun House, or playing mini golf, which was also part of dime days, by oneself.

One Summer Dime day, I ended up going to the park with a fistful of coupons, enough to share a couple with my younger brother who was tagging along with me and my friends Joel, and Tim. I was determined to ride every ride including the roller coaster which cost half price on dime days, no coupon needed. I wanted to ride the Trabant, the Rollo Plane, the Flying Boxes, the Bumper Cars, take the Tunnel of Love, even without a young lady, the cable cars, and the newest ride, the Paratrooper. I had worked hard to get there with my dimes and coupons and I deserved it. We arrived early one sea mist-covered morning. We four discussed where to go first, we always stayed together, but sometimes argued about which ride to get on first. On this day I won the discussion and we headed for the big red ride that spun hard at a 45-degree angle with each car having a big bright white metal and fiberglass parachute cover over it. The cars spun madly as the ride turned. We paid our dimes and our coupons and piled on board with a hoot. The ride started, it got faster, the g forces began to grow and as it turned, my stomach did the same thing. I discovered, that this ride hated me, it was not good for me, I needed it to stop before something bad happened. Luckily it did, but it made me look as green as the water in the bay. It took me all that morning to recover, and it kept me from enjoying the rest of my day, as much as I should have anyway. The funny thing is, I would not give up on that ride, I could not accept it was not good for me, I told myself I worked for it and I deserved to get on it and conquer it. So a few weeks later, when Dime Day came around again I did yard work, scrounged more coupons, and went to the Amusement Park with my brother Rod, Joel, and Tim again. This time we got on the big Red ride later in the day.

But the same thing happened, it made me want to hurl over the folks standing there watching the big red wheel spin. I gave up that day, and I never rode it again. Well, that is not quite true. Eight years later after we moved away, across town, I met a girl in high school who I liked very much, and that summer after we both graduated I asked her on a date. And even though dime days were not there anymore we went to Ocean View one hot sunny day to the Amusement Park. I was going to show her a good time, I was determined to ride everything. We almost did, until one of us decided to ride the Paratrooper, yes it was still there, the bright red a bit faded, the fiberglass parachutes, now yellowed with age, not the bright white that would hurt your eyes when the sun hit the cars. Diane was not sure she wanted to get on it. Oh come on, it will be fun I said. We got off the Flying Boxes and went to stand in the short line for the Paratrooper. We held hands and laughed as we climbed into the small hanging car. I gave her a kiss as the ride started to gather speed and soared over the beach. The car started to spin and then, to my surprise and shame I started to get sick! No way! I am almost eighteen years old now, not ten, why is this happening? I looked over at Diane and I saw she was turning green. We were both staring at each other, and before a double dash of candy apple, fennel cake, and popcorn that was sloshing around in us like tennis shoes in a dryer decided to escape, the ride stopped.

We staggered off and out of the exit.

Diane said she needed to sit down in the shade somewhere. I went to buy both of us a Coke, something to settle our queasy insides, at least I hoped it would. It did, and after a bit of rest, we bought tickets for the closest ride. We managed to enjoy the Rocket, the meanest wooden coaster you have ever been on. We also took a ride through the Tunnel of Love. That, well, it was nice. I never got on the Paratrooper again. Ever again.

As I sat there at the concert I realized that no matter how hard you work, no matter how much you want it, some things are better not to get, they won't agree with you, they are not good for you. That doesn't make the work you did to get it less important, it just means you need to take that effort and apply it somewhere else in life. And the most important thing is to trust the Lord in all things. Trust Him to provide you with what he knows will work for you and you with it. He sees things we don't see, he knows the future, which we don't.

Provers 20:24

A person’s steps are directed by the Lord.

How then can anyone understand their own way?

Corinthians 4: 17-18

17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Derrick Lee Parker

PS Time has proven that I dodged a big bullet two years ago. Well, I think you know what I mean.