Life was good for Charlie, his wife, their 7 and 10-year-old kids and their dog as they hiked through the tall lodgepole pines in the mountains near Marble, Colorado.  They’d been to the top of the mountain and Charlie was truly flying high.

But then it came from no-where. . . A giant black cloud swung around the mountain and pelted his family with hail.  Desperate to hide from the sudden pounding, the kids ran to their dad who held his poncho out like a tarp.  As the green forest floor turned white with hail a bolt of lightning crashed to the ground.

Instantly, like a blistering fastball, 10 times hotter than the sun, Charlie and his dog were hurled thru the air and thrown to the ground.  The bolt surged through them all, burning holes from the inside of their bodies – out through their faces, arms and legs while a giant tree near them exploded, stabbing them with porcupined shards of wood.  We can only imagine their screams.

Sometimes life can knock us to the ground.  We get a phone call or a letter that throws us down.  Many times we can see it coming, but once in a while it comes from nowhere, especially when we are flying high.

Flying high. . . I’ll bet King David was flying pretty high when he wrote, “When I was prosperous, I said, ‘Nothing can stop me now.’” Psalm 30:6 NLT.   No doubt God had delivered David to victory – and perhaps he even felt like he had earned God’s favor.  “Nothing can stop me now” is certainly flying high.

Yet as we read Psalm 30, we follow David from the heights of victory to the depths of despair and ultimately to the point where David and we all must someday come – to be knocked down, next to the dust, knowing how fragile we truly are.

Yes, Charlie was tossed to the ground, just as you and I have been tossed to this earth in a hundred different ways.  But if we keep our eyes on heaven, we will ultimately be able to cry out to God as David did, “You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.” Psalm 30:11 NLT

Let’s pray, Dear Jesus, help us to keep our eyes fixed on you all the time.  No matter what our earthly joys or earthly sorrows – help us to always look to you, our God, our ultimate victory!