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I Want Another Fast Pass

It may seem odd to you to mention Disney and suffering in the same post, but that is exactly what I am going to do. See, Walt Disney and his hierarchy have done some magical things at their park. I could gush about cast members always answering my questions with a smile on their face. Or I could talk about how they take care of every single detail you might possibly think of to have an organized day.

But my absolute most favorite part of Disney World is the Fast Pass. They are not the only ones to use this idea, but it's absolute genius.

Imagine you come to one of your favorite rides. The line is 4 hours long, because everyone in the state of Florida decided to come on the same day. No problem. You slide your ticket into a kiosk and out comes a Fast Pass for you to use later in the day. When you come back at your scheduled time, the long line is there, but you get to skip ahead.

Every time my family used this I had two thoughts. One was as I looked into the eyes of the people with no Fast Pass. 'Suckers', would quickly go through my head. Then I would avert my eyes and move on quickly, as my second thought was that I was getting away with something. Any moment I would hear my fourth grade teacher's voice call my name and I would be caught and punished.

Fast Pass. Brilliant. Now I can go ride another ride instead of waiting in line with 3 young children who just want to hear the theme song from 'Small World' for the tenth time.

Why can't we have a Fast Pass in life? Wouldn't it be nice to see that staff meeting coming and slide your ticket into a kiosk (which all offices should have) and grab a Fast Pass? We could miss dentist appointments, yearly exams, Monday mornings, and most seasons of American Idol. With all this time saved we could be doing what we actually want to be doing...heading over to some other ride.

Sometimes we want God to Fast Pass our suffering. How nice would this be? 'What's that, I'm going to have the flu this week? How about I Fast Pass that?' We could bypass awkward conversations with co-workers, tough good-byes to family or friends, or even facing consequences from bad decisions.

This might get out of hand. We want to skip the lessons that help us grow. It was Solomon, quoted later in Hebrews, who said,
"My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son. ~Proverbs 3:11-12
The writer of Hebrews comments on this by adding the following:
"Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?" ~Hebrews 12:7

There are definitely things worse than waiting in a long line at Disney World. But maybe it's better if we skip the Fast Pass and just go through it.
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