I am a terrible bike rider...my sense of balance wobbles precariously from side to side, and I usually zigzag all over the available biking space (note: I did not say driveway, or biking path, because I can't always manage to stay on it!!) til I seem to get the drift of how to do it. And since my death-facing bout with Covid, I also have ridiculously rebellious lungs that seem to harbor colds easily, and become winded at the drop of a hat. So, that doesn't help anything either.
I definitely stand in admiration of the strength of the young men at our church...they are currently on weekend bike trip...started from Pittsburg, and I believe they are hoping to bike all the way home!!!
However, I usually manage to climb onto a bike now and again for the sole purpose of providing amusement for the rest of the family. Laughter is good medicine, and it's not wrong to provide a dose of that to others every so often. It does my heart a small measure of good to see my son rolling in the grass in helpless laughter, apologizing over and over for his untimely laughter. "I'm so sorry, Mom, I just can't help it," he says. Then succumbs to another bout of mirth.
Although here of late, Mr. Trent coaxed me onto one of Jeannine Martin's e-bikes, and Lo! to my surprise, I really enjoyed it...AFTER I had the sense of balance figured out. Maybe I need to save pennies and invest in one someday. Miss Letitia is much, much better at biking than I am, and she also really enjoyed the e-bike.
But today, I am not going to talk about e-bikes, but the old fashioned bikes.
My sister called me one day, and read me a parable about biking tandem, and then we discussed it for awhile. It was so good. But that's been several years ago.
Let me see if I can remember the most important parts...I couldn't find the article, so I will give you the gist in my own words...and of course, I added or subtracted pertinent ideas. Only know that the Main idea about riding tandem didn't originate with me, but with an unknown author out there whose thoughts have never left me over the years.
Life is a little like riding Tandem Bike. Riding Tandem Bike is great when you ride with Jesus. But first, let me tell how it was before it was great.
I used to ride tandem bike with me in the front, and Jesus in the back. I chose where I wanted to go, and when. I laboriously pedaled, and it felt like I was doing all of the work, and Jesus was just tagging on behind. I went from point A to point B, and I didn't do much more than necessary...I couldn't. I was too worn out! Maybe I should tell Jesus to get off...especially if He wasn't helping me pedal!
But one day, Jesus began to whisper in my ear, "Let me in the front, and you sit in the back."
I was reluctant to do this, because I thought that my life would be REALLY boring, with Jesus in the front. It meant dying to self, and letting Him have control of my biking journey. And where in the world would Jesus take me? To church even more?
But He kept at it, that whispering of His. He was gentle and kind, too, and his persuasion won out one day. I decided to allow Jesus to have the front seat, no matter what it cost me.
So Jesus took the front seat, and I nervously perched on the back seat, peering anxiously out the front. Where was He going to take me?
Then, I began to notice a difference...I wasn't as tired as I was when I was in the front seat. Suddenly, it dawned on me that Jesus was pedaling most of the weight, and it was lots easier. Of course, I still pedaled, but the heavy load was gone.
When I finally noticed that, and figured it out, I suddenly was aware that we weren't following the NORMAL roads any more. Where in the world was Jesus going? When I voiced my opinion, He just grinned and said that we were going to see some different scenery for once, and I was to notice the beauty of the landscape.
We went past rivers and lakes, through meadows and valleys. How I enjoyed it! My eyes drank in the beauty of His Creation. I certainly was freed up to enjoy the scenery because I was now on the back seat, and didn't have to worry about steering and all of that.
Then I gasped. Jesus was starting up this crazy big mountain! How in the world would we EVER get to the top of that thing? The more I worried, the harder I began to pedal. Soon my legs ached, my lungs screamed for air, and I wanted to stop....turn around and go back down this long tall mountain.
I hated this huge mountain. What was Jesus ever thinking to lead me there? I asked Him over and over, as the mountain loomed, towering over me. With tears and exhaustion, I quailed before the unending, zigzag mountain path.
But Jesus just looked over His shoulder, and said, "Have faith. Just pedal. I will take care of you." He murmured words of comfort, and the more I listened, the more comforted I felt.
Things were definitely different in mountains. The higher we went, the more things I noticed. I stopped taking things like sea level oxygen, beautiful shade trees, and good drinking water for granted...because they were scarce. I suddenly was grateful for those simple things I had never once thought about before.
I began to notice the beauty of the rocks, the occasional mountain streams, and boulders around me. The wild animals and birds created many amazing pictures.
We kept on pedaling. Around those switchbacks, sometimes on trails so narrow that it barely sustained a bike wheel. Sometimes, with deep ravines that dangerously plunged far down the mountainside. Sometimes, around road blocks of boulders.
The trees grew short and squat, and eventually disappeared. It became a barren wilderness that only mountain goats seemed to enjoy.
We labored on, Jesus still on that front seat. Altitude sickness enveloped me, and my lungs screamed for air, my head ached, and my hope grew faint. When would we ever get there? Jesus informed me that most bikers didn't make it up to the top...were we going to add to those statistics?
Then, suddenly, we were at the top! How did that happen? We had actually made it!
We paused for a long time at the look out on the top of the mountain, and I gazed in absolute wonder at the scenic picture I saw. The continuous ridges of mountain ranges disappearing into the vast blue distance. I forgot the burning leg muscles, the gasping lungs, and my exhausting struggle. I strained my eyes to see across the panoramic view over into the Promised Land...Jesus said we were so very close.
As I looked down the mountain, back the way we had come, I COULD SEE WHY JESUS BROUGHT ME THIS WAY NOW...the beauty was indescribable. I had learned so very much about biking with Jesus. And besides that, I had changed. I was a different person...more trusting, more kind, more thankful.
Jesus said the Promised Land wasn't ready for me yet, so we got back on the bike, and then began the challenge of going back down the mountain. It was easier than going up, but it was far more dangerous. We had to be careful not to go too fast, and to avoid pitfalls and ravines. We had to stop and Jesus repaired the brakes on the bike several times.
When we reached the bottom again, I looked at that mountain, and then at the cheering crowd who had gathered to celebrate my success. I was proud that I had climbed that huge mountain. Surely, it must have been because of my faith in Jesus and trust in Him, plus, hadn't I pedaled the whole way?
But Jesus stopped the bike, turned, and favored me with a piercing glance into my soul. He asked me if I wanted back onto the front seat.
I shook my head. "No," I said, remembering the torture of days when I had been there. No, I didn't want to go back to that.
"We don't have room for Pride on this bike," He said. "And besides, you would not have made up or down safely without Me. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man makes it, except through Me."
That mountain marked a change in the way I trusted Jesus to steer my bike. And the more I trusted Him, the more strange things I found myself doing! Jesus wasn't really boring at all! I was suspicious that the bigger the impossibility, the more He invested in the adventure.
I found that Jesus knew all the amazing Bike Secrets, not to mention all the bike tricks He knew!
He knew how to JUMP a bike, and sometimes the chasm He would choose to jump made my heart beat fast, and I was afraid we wouldn't bridge the gap. But somehow, the tires always gripped the other side, with room, and to spare.
He also knew how to bike on top of rails...and some of the skinny fence rails and rail road bridges we biked across made my palms break out into a nervous sweat.
He knew all the amazing bike trails in the country. He knew just when to brake on the trail, and He knew the most scenic views.
He knew the best bike shops, and occasionally we would stop and add this or that to our equipment, to enable us to bike even more! But He always told me, though, that Experience was the best biking gear.
Jesus and I meet all kinds of people on this bike journey, and sometimes, we'd stop and help others. Then, Jesus would suggest that He take the front seat of their bikes too. I found something out about Him...He is big enough to be on every one's front bike seat, but it doesn't diminish Him to me in any way at all. In fact, I have a bigger community when I meet with other tandem bikers who have Jesus on their front seats...we encourage each other, and become more like Him, together.
Sometimes, Jesus would stop and buy me gifts along the ride...gifts that make people stare and gasp. Sometimes, He would say, "Give those Gifts away...I want to be able to buy you more, and we can't take ALL of them along with us." So I would hunt for sad looking faces and give them the gifts Jesus had gifted to me, and Jesus and I loved to see their worn faces brighten!
When I stop to think about it, my bike ride is no longer boring...it is actually... it's actually, well...Amazing. Crazy. Not at all what I though it would be like. I would NEVER go back to being the controlling, proud creature on the front seat...That seat now belongs to Jesus.
And when He starts down some strange, scary trail, obviously up to some new trick, I still sometimes panic. My breath shortens, my heart beats fast, and my palms sweat. Now what is going to happen?
But Jesus always seems to know when I panic.
He says over His shoulder, with a smile on His face and a touch of reassurance,
"Just Pedal. Have Faith in Me. I've Got You."
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