I recognize that roller coasters are not everyone’s cup of tea, but for me they are exhilarating. 

 

With that said, the worst part is that slow, clanky, long climb up to the first drop. Then there is that momentary pause as you stare down into the abyss wondering why you have chosen this as your form of excitement. 

 

It is then and only then that you discover the thrill of momentum carrying you from one hill to another with turns and loops leaving you only a ragdoll at the whim of this man-made creation. 

 

The season of Lent leads us to this week: Holy Week. 

 

Perhaps it has felt like a slow six weeks. Perhaps our penances were clanky, at best. Perhaps the long slow climb of giving something up has left you wondering why you started all of this in the first place. 

 

Beloved, now you are at the precipice. Now is the moment when God chooses to reveal the beauty of His majesty and the magnitude of His love. What comes next as you stare over into the abyss is not something frightening. No. It is something wonderful! It is something magnificent! 

 

What comes next is the promise of Jesus fulfilled, “I have come that they might have life and have it in abundance” (John 10:10).

 

If Good Friday was the end, then we ought to be living in utter sadness and fear. 

 

Here is some good news. It was not the end! Jesus’ death ended in Him rising from the dead! 

 

That means we have no need to live in fear or think that suffering is our destiny or that death is bleak, because Jesus has overcome all of that when He conquered death by beating it — by becoming undead. 

What’s that mean? It means you and I can ride, by the momentum of the Spirit and the power of Jesus, this beautiful journey called life. 

 

And if Lent was the slow, clanky, long climb up, just wait for the exhilaration of what Jesus will offer you in the Season of Easter.