One of my favorite summer activities is tubing. Since I don’t own a boat or a tube or live by the lake, it doesn’t happen a lot, but when it does, it’s fantastic!
That is until you get a maniacal driver who turns the boat a little too fast. Then, tubing turns into a less popular sport called “holding on for dear life as the centrifugal force tries to pull your hands from their grip on the handles.”
It’s a sport that not many enjoy playing, but there is one thing that can help you stay on the tube even in the worst curves.
Lean into them.
I have one of those crazy drivers for a friend, and when I know he’s getting ready to change direction, I adjust my body so that I’m leaning into the direction that he’s getting ready to go. That one shift allows me to keep my elbows and arms in close to my body and hold my position through the worst of the curve.
If we’ve learned nothing else, it’s that life comes at us fast and can throw us curves at a moment’s notice. It’s in the curves where we are most likely to lose our grip, and Jesus understands that. It’s why He helped His followers anticipate the curves when He said that we’d have trouble in this world (see John 16:33).
But not only did He remind them that curves are coming, He also told them how to lean into the curves: “but take heart because I have overcome the world.”
Take heart. It literally means to be of good courage or be of good cheer. We can shift our position from seeing the curve as something that we barely hold on through to something that Jesus has already proven He can hold on to us through.
Don’t fear the curves because fear is the force that will push on you until you’re too tired to hold on. Lean into the curves, and you’ll find that Someone greater than you is holding you secure.
