Indiana Jones Adventure: What Do You Do When You Don’t Get What You Expected?

A Map of the Temple

A map of part of the temple ruins, including the Chamber of Destiny.

At the beginning of the Indiana Jones Adventure, as it has been set up throughout “Scene One” in the queue, the riders in your vehicle are given a “choice” between three doors in the Chamber of Destiny:

  • Earthly riches
  • Visions of the future
  • Timeless youth and beauty

 

This selection between the doors is one of the many variables that guests experience on this ride. (Among others are whether the brakes or steering are “having problems,” and what Indy says each of the times you encounter him.) The final variation in the experience comes at the end, when Sallah welcomes you back. In each case, it’s supposed to match the door you went through at the beginning.

 

  • Earthly riches – “Greetings. You will no doubt be having many jewels and coins in your possession. Please stay seated until the transport comes to a complete stop and step out carefully with your treasure.
  • Visions of the future – “Ah, welcome back. You entered the observatory of the future. In that case I don’t even have to tell you that we would like you to stay seated until your transport comes to a complete stop.
  • Timeless youth and beauty – “Friends, I celebrate your arrival. If you drank too much from the fountain of youth we will be happy to assist you with strollers. Heh, heh. But please stay seated until your transport comes to a complete stop.

 

The problem is, it doesn’t always work that way. More often than not, or so it seems, they don’t match. In fact, most of the time, regardless of which door I entered, I seem to get Sallah’s welcome related to the Fountain of Youth.

 

I’ve been thinking about that these past few weeks, how we don’t always get what we’re expecting. But today I had a different realization. In spite of what Mara says at the beginning and Sallah says at the end, what we adventurers get for our trouble is this: nothing. We don’t leave with riches, youth, or future knowledge. We exit with exactly what we entered with. No more and no less.

 

Sometimes these are exactly what happen in our lives. Either we expect one thing as the result or reward from our journey and we get something else, or we don’t get anything at all–at least nothing we recognize. How we handle those disappointments says a lot about us, what we really believe about God’s goodness & faithfulness, and maybe even a sense of entitlement that we never want to admit to ourselves.

 

Usually I try to give some advice, tips, or steps on how to deal with the issue I raise in a given post, but this time I’m handing it over to you. Why? Because this is exactly where am right now.

 

Some things my wife and I had expected haven’t turned out the way we’d planned, either delayed or simply not happening. Some things we hadn’t expected, and frankly didn’t want, have come our way. Even though we can see the light at the end of the tunnel in some cases, the fact is we’re still in the tunnel.

 

So I want to hear from you. Bible verses, stories, tips, suggestions, whatever you’ve got, share it with me and with your fellow readers. You never know what simple word will be exactly what one of us needs.



Randy CraneRandy Crane is passionate about helping Christians, especially those with a Disney affinity, to discover and connect to their GOD-GIVEN PURPOSE AND VALUE, to build their lives to achieve TRUE SUCCESS AND MEANING, and to POSITIVELY IMPACT their world. For more than two decades, Randy has been leading individuals and teams into a greater joy and child-like appreciation of the world around them, equipping them to reach beyond what they have previously experienced and build a God-given identity and purpose. Ready to experience that for yourself? Tell us where to send SIX free videos all created to help answer the 3 questions you need to experience PEACE, FREEDOM, and PURPOSE!

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