In his book Soul Keeping, John Ortberg tells about riding a mechanical bull at a street fair. The bull operator explained that the bull had twelve levels of difficulty, and that Pastor Ortberg’s best bet for not getting bucked off was to shift his center of gravity to match the bull’s movements.

Ortberg climbed up on this mechanical bull and he held on as tight as he could. The bull started to sway and buck, and Ortberg focused on moving his center of gravity with the swaying of the bull. He thought he was doing pretty well until the bull started moving faster. Soon, he was hanging on for dear life, his arms flailing wildly, his body sliding helplessly from one side to the other. The illusion of control was gone.

Just when he thought he was losing his grip entirely, the bull slowed down …