Hanging On

I remember a time when I was 8 maybe 9 years old. My parents took us to upstate New York to spend a winter vacation in a huge cabin with other families. During the vacation, I took my first ever toboggan ride. Now - imagine a 8-9 year old, wearing big, thick, black-rimmed classes dressed with so many layers that movement became an interesting venture getting on a toboggan. Not only on one, but in the very front of a five seater.

When I asked what I should do, I was simply told: "No matter what happens, hang on tight." To what? "To the front of the toboggan." So, putting my mitten covered hands on the front of this contraption, I held on. Within just a few seconds after being pushed off, the snow coming from the front of this sliding vehicle had covered my glasses making everything else impossible to see. I could hear all of the screaming coming from those behind me - for a few moments at least. It turns out all of them fell off along the way. I was the only one to make it all the way down - because I followed the advice given to me at the top of the hill - "No matter what happens, hang on tight."

Now, hear I sit, 39 years later, being reminded of that lesson. Instead of a toboggan I'm needing to hang on to, it is my dreams I'm hanging on tight to.

It has been a long, tough, week for both my wife and me. The week was filled with a lot of tough edges, ones that led me to doubt if I was on the right path, doing the right things, heading in the right direction. You get the idea right? Yet, through it all, there has been this small, still, voice in my heart telling me: "Remember the toboggan? Hang on to your dreams even tighter. That is why you are given them. To have something to hold on to when you can't see what is going on or can't understand it. Hang on to the dreams I've given you. As you do so, remember to hang on to me too." I am a Christian, and I know that small still voice is from the Master I serve.

Sometimes, our dreams seem to be so far away or slipping away. Our perception can be wrong. The recent week has brought to mind that dreams only slip away when I let them. They are a gift, and can only be given away if I chose to. As a gift from God, my dreams are not for circumstances to rip out of my hands. This is a time to simply tell myself "No matter what happens, hang on tight."

Mr. KEB