Leap of Faith

This story is taken from a paper about my honeymoon...It is the most dramatic scene you've ever not quite witnessed on a water slide so...brace yourself for...THE LEAP OF FAITH!

The water slide that I remember most is called Leap of Faith. It is a glass tube that goes through a small tank. Oh, did I mention that the tank has sharks in it!? Anyway, it goes through that tank and shoots you out the other side into a shark-free landing place. I was so excited to do that slide – I was hopping from foot to foot all the way up the stairs as we waited in line. I had no idea the terror that awaited me. Finally, we were at the front of the line and I got up to the slide. Robbie had just gone. I sat in the launch pad and looked down, down, down, the tube. It was easily a 90° drop. My blood pressure spiked. For two awful seconds, I just sat there staring down the tube, suddenly regretting my decision to go down this slide. I looked behind me. There were little kids in the line. I knew I had to go or risk intense embarrassment. The Atlantis resort is big, but not big enough to hide from everyone who would see me walk down the stairs instead of riding the slide. I took a deep breath and pushed myself toward my doom.

I gained speed at an unholy rate – I am certain I was going faster than the average city speed limit. Water sprayed me in the face, and for a terrifying moment, I thought I felt my body actually come off of the slide. Then I hit the flat bottom part of the slide and in an instant every single sensation in my body was waterlogged. I tried to open my eyes to see the sharks. Big mistake! The water shot into my eyes and felt like a thousand needles stabbing me in the cornea. I was wearing contacts, and I’m still shocked as to how they stayed in my eyes. Then I shot out of the tube and into the landing pool. I was moving so fast I hit the bottom before I came up sputtering, my hair hanging in my face and my swimsuit completely awry. Robbie was waiting for me in the landing pool and helped me to the stairs. He asked me if I wanted to do it again. No way, I told him. Once is enough for me!

Creative Writing Work

Hello! I'm in a Creative Writing class this year. It's challenging - harder than I thought it would be. But I am enjoying it and I have written some pretty neat stuff. At least, I think it's neat. So. I'm going to be posting some of my assignments for you to read! This is partly inspired by my husband, whose blog is here: cuestrianconnection.wordpress.com. I recommend his Fiction link, where he is beginning a story called Knightly. I hope you enjoy it!

Alrighty! I will be posting my first Creative Writing Class post soon.

Make it a great day everyone!

Response to "I Don't Wait Anymore" by Grace for the Road, a blog that was recently shared on Facebook

Link to original blog: http://gracefortheroad.com/2012/02/03/idontwait/

I have been married for a month and two days now...my husband is 19 and I am 20.
Lives are so beautifully different because of God's grace - he can use a single woman in mighty ways and a married woman in different mighty ways. I think sometimes Christians can spiritualize marriage and make it some kind of lofty goal, like it's akin to the glory of God. Well it's not, even with all the great perks (and I'm no dummy, I'm not gonna deny that there are some fabulous perks to being married). But if you stop and think about it with eternity in mind, singleness is the permanent condition, not marriage. As a married woman this sometimes makes me sad, but it is also freeing for me because it reminds me that Jesus is the only permanent thing for me in the light of eternity. It also helps me to lighten up. Sometimes I can get so tense because I lose perspective. Some little thing hurts my feelings, I have a bad dream where he's not there to help or save me (yes, this actually has happened and he was actually in trouble for a few seconds until I came to my senses), or something else happens and I make it a bigger deal than it is. But if I remember that I don't rely on my husband for my happiness, suddenly my expectations settle to an attainable level. Suddenly I have better perspective on life.
And it is that perspective on life that is so very valuable, and a woman does NOT need a husband to gain that eternal perspective.

So when I read this blog and I heard about all these girls (and guys) who bought in to the fantasy of "God will bring you a spouse if you just honor Him," I just wanted to write down my thoughts, as much for my benefit as anyone else's. Because if I heard that message growing up, I certainly didn't buy it. God's really going to drop a husband in my lap? And I don't even need to date - God will just show me in His time? It seems to me that placing myself in situations and groups where I can meet people makes more sense. I don't know, I just have little patience for a girl who cries because she wants to get married but God hasn't left a man on her doorstep with a "From God" tag around his neck yet.

Now, I HAVE only been married a month. So...I'm sorry if I'm a little idealistic in my thinking and experiences. These thoughts are by NO means complete or probably even that coherent, but I need to wrap it up because I'm not really getting anywhere right now and I have class in the morning. So, I will sleep on this and report either tomorrow night or the next day. chau!