Since this is fair season, I got to thinking about my best and worse trips to the fair and thought I would post this story. If you would like, you can comment on your best and worst stories about your trip to the fair, whether it be this year or years gone by. My story is called THE OCTOPUS: THE OCTOPUS! Now I need to start this story with a disclaimer! Don’t read this story if you have a weak stomach! Alright, I”VE WARNED YOU, SO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK! The year was 1972 we had gone to the state fair in Muskogee Oklahoma on a class trip. We were having a great time, foot-long conies, cotton candy, corndogs, funnel cake, and soda. I mean for a boy of 15 it didn’t get any better than this, but that was beforewe came up on the OCTOPUS! This was the ride of our day! It was the ride that every 15 year old boy just had to ride, if he was to hold his head up among his peers. This was much more than a ride, it was a right of passage. The OCTOPUS was far more than just a ride, it was in fact the measuring stick of courage and a badge of acceptance. Ride it and you were IN, ride it not and you were OUT! Ride it and you were COOL, Ride it not and you were a COWARD. The girls didn’t care if you were cute or not, they just wanted to know, “HAVE YOU RODE THE OCTOPUS!” It didn’t matter who you met or whose path you crossed, the question that was always on their lips was the same. Not are you having a good time, Not have you seen the exhibits, not have you won any prizes but the question, everyone, who was anyone, had to have an answer for was, “HAVE YOU RODE IT? HAVE YOU RODE THE OCTOPUS?” So here we are, standing in line to ride the OCTOPUS! Now, I’ve got to tell you that everything within me told me to stay clear of this ride. Deep down I knew better than to climb on this ride. I remember those who were getting off the ride just before we got on, and many of those who were disembarking would barely leave the seat of the ride and they would be loosing their lunch, sicker than dogs and I WAS ABOUT TO CLIMB INTO THE SEAT! Had I LOST MY MIND! WHAT WAS I THINKING! Now I’ll admit I wasn’t the brightest person in our class, after all I was a 15 year old boy, but I KNEW BETTER THAN THIS! Anything named the OCTOPUS cannot be good! How many of you know that anytime you got 5 or 6 teenage boys all trying to get you to ride a particular ride, something is up, HELLO! Good sense had just about won the day, when my best friend Notchie said, “I’ll ride it if you will ride it!”. I remember saying, “I’m not riding that thing!” and then it happened, Notchie, “Starting clucking like a chicken, Bak, Bak, Bak, BAAKAAK” taunting me, and on top of that he was taunting me in front of all those that were in line to ride, including the girls. So when the ride stopped and I heard the operator ask, “Are you going to ride or not?” I heard myself saying, “I’M RIDING”. So I climbed into the seat of the “OCTOPUS!” Notchie and myself, riding in one of the cars that would rise and fall with the arm it was attached too. The car we were riding in, would spin with every turn and spin violently. We were less than 3 minutes into the ride and I began to realize the corndogs, the extra long conies, the funnel cake were probably a mistake. By now I’m on the verge of being sick, and I tell Notchie and he starts laughing at me. So Now, I’m hollering at the operator to stop the ride. Every time we went by him at warp speed and in the blurr of the moment, I could see his wicked laugh, as if he was demon possessed or something. This man was deriving joy out of my pain and he wasn’t about to stop and Notchie, well Notchie, was enjoying every minute of it too! And then it happened, I got sick, I am vomiting with every spin of the ride! Now Notchie who is riding in the same care with me, is NO LONGER LAUGHING but instead now he’s Pleading with the operator to STOP THE RIDE. With every spin of this hideous ride, I would spew and share the joy of this ride and my lunch, with all the other riders that were in the car behind us. I remember in the blurr of the moment, seeing a young girl in the car behind us and she was crying uncontrollably, not because of the ride, but because of what was happening to me and therefore what was happening to her and those in her car. It was not a pretty sight but there was nothing I could do about it. I had determined that if I ever made it off this ride, I would kill this guy operating this machine and then I would KILL NOTCHIE! I would wring his clucking neck with my own bare hands but by the time I got off this ride, I was so sick, I could barely walk, much less confront the operator or Notchie. Some might would say, why would you tell that story Brother Doke, that’s not very spiritual. Well, maybe it’s not to you but it has great spiritual significance to me! You see Satan has a ride that is very similar to the OCTOPUS. O he may call it something else: he may call it a high, he may call it pleasure, he may call it riches, he may even call it prestige but It’s really JUST A RIDE TO HELL! 1st. I knew better than to get on that ride----And there is always that inner voice that warns us of those things we need to avoid! Secondly! The reason I ended up on that ride was because I was more concerned about what my friends thought than I did about what was best for me-----I wonder how many folks have found themselves doing something that they should have never started but they gave in to peer pressure by their friends! Thirdly! I had seen what riding this ride had done to others and you would think that would be enough-----Anyone with one eye and half a brain, could look and see what sin has done to those who have climbed into the seat of this ride and yet CLIMB ABOARD THEY WOULD! Fourthly! Once you get on the ride, you can’t get off whenever you want too. The momentum of the ride was now in control------There are plenty of folks who wish they could just get off the ride they are now on, but the momentum won’t let them stop whenever they want. Fifthly! Once your on the ride, you have given up control and you are dependent upon someone else to stop the ride. You are at their mercy and under their control------Can I tell you that once Satan has control of you, he won’t stop the ride just because you’re a little sick, as a matter of fact, he could care less if the ride is killing you! 6thly. I have come to realize that you can’t ride the ride and get sick without affecting others who are around you! Almost everyone who decided to ride the ride, ended up wearing a little bit of my lunch and most of them ended up sharing their lunch as well! I’ve come to the conclusion that the pain of the ride is contagious to most of those on the ride. 7th. I have also come to the conclusion that those who were doing the taunting never made it on the ride themselves but instead they stood on the sideline and laughed their heads off because I was dumb enough to be goated into getting on the ride and putting on a show! 8th. The next thing I want you to know is that the OCTOPUS messed up something in my equilibrium. For a number of years, I couldn’t eve sit on a swing or watch a merry go round or even a Ferris Wheel. That ride messed me up------and if you think you can get on the Devils ride and escape without long term consequences, then you are dumber than I was a 15 and believe me, that was pretty dumb! So I pray that you will avoid your OCTOPUS like the plague and avoid the pain that goes with it! May God bless and keep you in his care!
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 22:06:30 +0000
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