Disneyland Day 2
Day 2 at Disneyland has begun, another early morning. We still make good time, but today, this morning we are dragging a bit, and don’t arrive to the park until about 7:35 am. Again, there will be a race. This time to ride Cars, Radiator Springs Racers. Somehow, we do even better than yesterday and are literally one of the first to ride.
We continue riding mostly big rides. Today, we add Guardians of the Galaxy. Here, you ride in an up and down, falling elevator kind of ride. Honestly, I am a bit nervous, not sure if my stomach will handle it. As we get strapped in, am I ready for this, maybe not? Wow, that was fun. I declare it to be in the top 4 of rides. Later in the day, we ride it again.We also add Spider-Man, today. It’s a web-shooting ride, where you compete for points. I remember the day, I would have always won these rides (except Amber had my number in Buzz Lightyear). Sadly, the mantle has passed. Josh won, each time we rode Spiderman and Buzz Lightyear.
Our last two trips to Disney World, we have ridden Big Thunder Mountain Railroad as fireworks light up the night sky. Each time, literally being on the ride (not in line) as the fireworks show lights up the night. It adds a wonderful ambiance to the ride. Somehow, it happens again, here at Disneyland. Over the course of the two days, we ride many of the classics: Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Dumbo, Pinocchio, and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.
I was surprised by one other ride that has to be mentioned, Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters. Josh and Amber were strangely excited to ride this ride, but also secretive. They intentionally would not tell Eli and I anything about it. Luigi’s is by far the silliest and funniest ride at Disneyland (and Disney World). You sit in cars that dance to old fashioned Italian, polka-like music. We laughed and rode it twice.
The night before, we did not make it until closing, but on this day, our Disney stamina kicked in. We shut the park down!
I do want to go back to Disney being a place of imagination. I do feel that many Christians, when it comes to living as people of faith have lost imagination. We just live, which means we live like everyone else. I am convinced that if you want to be truly faithful to Jesus, you cannot just live. It will take imagination, a holy and faithful imagination. Jesus’ life was different in his day. He told parables to pull the listener out of their already preconceived understanding of life. Thus, we need holy devotion to Jesus, his way of life, and the holy imagination to live differently in the world.
Walt Disney imagined, the happiest place on earth, and now millions come to experience his imagination. Jesus described the kingdom on earth. Will we, above what we already see, seek to imagine and live into it? The source of this imagination, is not our already conceived ideas, ideologies, political leanings, or even current, so called, reality. We have to truly be careful where we place our devotion. The source of this kingdom imagination is Jesus himself. We are called to have extreme devotion to him above being easily led into other people’s ideas. This is why I also believe “saints” are so important. The Bible often tells us to imitate our lives off of Jesus or another faithful person who is already living this imaginatively different life in Christ. Saints, not super Holy, heroic people, but everyday disciples following Jesus should open our lives to the uniqueness of following Jesus, being light and salt. As Christians, we do not just live. We live Jesus. In the middle of July, Amber and I will be traveling the sights of St. Francis and St. Clare, two people who intentionally sought to imitate Jesus wholeheartedly.
We continue riding mostly big rides. Today, we add Guardians of the Galaxy. Here, you ride in an up and down, falling elevator kind of ride. Honestly, I am a bit nervous, not sure if my stomach will handle it. As we get strapped in, am I ready for this, maybe not? Wow, that was fun. I declare it to be in the top 4 of rides. Later in the day, we ride it again.We also add Spider-Man, today. It’s a web-shooting ride, where you compete for points. I remember the day, I would have always won these rides (except Amber had my number in Buzz Lightyear). Sadly, the mantle has passed. Josh won, each time we rode Spiderman and Buzz Lightyear.
Our last two trips to Disney World, we have ridden Big Thunder Mountain Railroad as fireworks light up the night sky. Each time, literally being on the ride (not in line) as the fireworks show lights up the night. It adds a wonderful ambiance to the ride. Somehow, it happens again, here at Disneyland. Over the course of the two days, we ride many of the classics: Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Dumbo, Pinocchio, and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.
I was surprised by one other ride that has to be mentioned, Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters. Josh and Amber were strangely excited to ride this ride, but also secretive. They intentionally would not tell Eli and I anything about it. Luigi’s is by far the silliest and funniest ride at Disneyland (and Disney World). You sit in cars that dance to old fashioned Italian, polka-like music. We laughed and rode it twice.
The night before, we did not make it until closing, but on this day, our Disney stamina kicked in. We shut the park down!
I do want to go back to Disney being a place of imagination. I do feel that many Christians, when it comes to living as people of faith have lost imagination. We just live, which means we live like everyone else. I am convinced that if you want to be truly faithful to Jesus, you cannot just live. It will take imagination, a holy and faithful imagination. Jesus’ life was different in his day. He told parables to pull the listener out of their already preconceived understanding of life. Thus, we need holy devotion to Jesus, his way of life, and the holy imagination to live differently in the world.
Walt Disney imagined, the happiest place on earth, and now millions come to experience his imagination. Jesus described the kingdom on earth. Will we, above what we already see, seek to imagine and live into it? The source of this imagination, is not our already conceived ideas, ideologies, political leanings, or even current, so called, reality. We have to truly be careful where we place our devotion. The source of this kingdom imagination is Jesus himself. We are called to have extreme devotion to him above being easily led into other people’s ideas. This is why I also believe “saints” are so important. The Bible often tells us to imitate our lives off of Jesus or another faithful person who is already living this imaginatively different life in Christ. Saints, not super Holy, heroic people, but everyday disciples following Jesus should open our lives to the uniqueness of following Jesus, being light and salt. As Christians, we do not just live. We live Jesus. In the middle of July, Amber and I will be traveling the sights of St. Francis and St. Clare, two people who intentionally sought to imitate Jesus wholeheartedly.
