How Not To Throw Up

How do you define a thrill ride?

I define it as any ride that makes you want to revisit your lunch. For me it has nothing to the speed, but rides that have a circular motion make me want to do exactly that. Do you know how embarrassing it is to tell your two year old daughter that she can't ride the carousel at the mall because it will make you sick? It's humiliating! I can normally tolerate riding once, but twice and I'm more nauseated than a pregnant women eating Bert's chili at Waffle House.You get the picture.

One of my biggest fears is getting on a ride and the attendant start texting, dying of a heart attack or suffering from narcolepsy or epilepsy and I'm stuck spinning round and round. So I normally pray with them beforehand. I learned this the hard way. When I was a kid, I went on a church trip to a place called Dogwood Lake. It was heaven for a little kid. It had a lake, water slides, diving boards, and rides. My friend and I decided to ride a ride that spun tremendously fast. We were the only two on the ride and the girl thought we were having such a good time that she let us ride and ride and then ride some more. An hour later when she finally stopped the ride, I nearly lost it. Since then, my balance has never recovered. Now I hate spinning round and round, so I avoid it all costs. When one of my girls ask to ride, I'll make up an excuse, "Sorry, gotta go to the bathroom. Where is your mother? Did she leave us here forever? Let's go get some candy! Want to go visit Mr. Chuck E. Cheese?"

That is until this fall.

My wife taught me that if I keep my focus on something outside of the ride, then I won't get sick. It works!  I can ride as long, for as fast (or as slowly) as I want too now; all I have to do is look absolutely ridiculous doing it.

Your life is the same. So many of you are sick and tired of what the world is throwing at you. You are spinning round and round and you hate it:

Your marriage sucks.
You can't seem to please the people close to you.
You can't find any meaning in the work you do. You hate the very job you prayed for.
Your kids don't listen.
Your relationship always seem to fail.
You can't knock an addiction.
People talk about you. You feel judged, rejected, and unlovable.
You are always afraid of the next thing that's going to break because you know you won't be able afford it.
You hate the way you look.
You feel too old or too young.
You feel like everything and everyone is passing you by.
You might even hate who you are.

You could just throw up.

Christian, when your world is spinning round and round and you feel like you can't take it any longer, you need to keep your focus on Christ. Better yet, before your life starts spinning round and round, just start out with your focus on Christ. I found to keep from getting sick on the ride, I have to start off focusing on something else, my trick isn't as effective halfway through the ride.

The only way to overcome what life is going to throw at you, is to focus on the only one who is the life.

Question:
How do you keep your focus on Christ when life is crazy?