I've been pondering this whole "bike" parallel with "living by faith", these past few days. Do you remember your first two wheel bike? I think I was about 6 years old. My dad bought a second hand two-wheeler from someone in the neighborhood. It was originally red and white stripes, but my dad spray painted it gold for a fresh new look.
To a young kid in the 1960s, a bike was a total necessity! You became a super-hero on a bike, by going what seemed to be "faster than a speeding bullet!" Not to mention that your world expanded, big time! In those days, there were two ways kids got around the neighborhood. 1) You walked or 2) You rode your bike. Parents didn't drive their kids everywhere the way they do today.
Back then, somewhere around 9 or 10 a.m., you're Mom literally shuffled you out the door stating, "Go Play Outside!" The Neighborhood was your playground. You returned at noon for lunch. And then you weren't expected back until 5:00 for dinner.
Without a bike, the neighborhood consisted of your front porch, your yard, and your street, at best. But with a bike... the neighborhood boundaries enlarged significantly! One's only restriction was time. You had to be back in time for the meal. Remember... in those days, there were no cell phones to call home.
Taking all that into consideration, you can imagine the importance of not only receiving a bike of your own... but learning how to ride it well enough so that you could go "off the street" and explore the world.
Decades later, I can still remember the grueling process of learning to ride. I walked out to the back yard in the morning, and there it was parked in the driveway. No one instructed me. It was more like, "Figure it out and Practice it until you get it."
With that, I positioned myself on the bike and began to test it out. That balance thing was tough!
Try. Fall over. Try again. Fall over. Try again. Go for 2 seconds. Fall over.
Try again. Go for 2 seconds. Fall over.
That went on all morning. I just couldn't seem to stay up for very long. I'm sure the thought of giving up crossed my mind many times. But after lunch, there I was, again, positioned on the bike, determined to make it happen.
One... Two... Three... Four seconds up, then boom, down again. That's ok, that was progress!
The afternoon was more of the same. Relentlessly, I stood the bike back up and gave it another go... and another go and another go. Over and over again for hours. It was harder than I thought.
One more try. Another one more try. And another.
Finally, later in the afternoon, the 4 seconds turned into 7. The 7 seconds worked up to 8, 9 , 10 seconds and more. Soon, I was cruising up and down the driveway! I was doing it! Not perfectly, (of course), not yet anyways.
But, I was well on my way to mastering the skill of bike riding! In due time I would be out and about with all the other kids my age... Going here... Going there. Searching and seeking adventure, wherever it could be found.
Now you know why mastering this "living by faith" thing is so important to me. It's just the grown up version of bike riding!
So, today I'm off... RED sneakers and all, to practice some more. Before you know it... I'll be conquering the world for Christ! And having a blast doing it!
Happy riding,
Gail
