Wayne Weekly “From Training Wheels to 18 Speed”

This summer my daughter Janelle decided to rediscover bicycle riding. She had not been on a bike in a few years, her mode of transportation going from two to four wheels, but situation had left her w/o a car…and not being ready (or able) to buy another one, opted for her former mode of transportation. Janelle took the bicycle off the hooks in the garage, put badly needed air in the tires, and off she went. It wasn’t long before she called me and told me she had a flat. After loading up the bike in my car trunk, buying a patch kit at Wal-Mart, and refreshing the art of patching a bicycle tire, Janelle was once again off and running…err I mean riding.

That was all it took to renew my interest in bicycling. I had loved to ride a bike as a kid, and later on in college. I had a ten speed French bike for a number of years that I brought into my marriage until it was stolen out of our yard during moving day into our first apartment. Out to the garage I went and took a neglected bike off of some rafter hooks. I had purchased this bike a number of years back so I could ride with my daughters. The tires were only a few years old so I was good to go after a few adjustments. And go I did. What a great rush of excitement to be cruising around. Soon I set my mind on finding another bike so my other daughter, Jill, could ride as well. Amazingly, my neighbor wanted to buy a metal park bench that my wife decided to get rid of. I told him I was looking for a bike…and he had one! It was a consumer grade lower end Mountain Bike with few miles on it, but really quite nice. We did a trade.

I’ve ridden a few times so far, and enjoy every minute of the air rushing around me, and the thrill of the ride in general. I’m getting to the age that my bicycling days may be numbered. Some might wonder, “Why is that old guy riding a bike?”…but that’s OK…it’s fun and great exercise…and maybe makes me feel like I’m twenty again.

Bikes are great. I started off with the training wheels, my 20 inch Rollfast was cool, then my spider bike with the banana seat, then my three speed English Hercules, next my Gitane ten speed, and now my not so expensive and heavy Huffy 18 speed. I had a few in between, I had a couple of garage sale Schwinns.

In our Christian walk we all start off with training wheels. We graduate to a two wheeler, sometime losing our balance in the beginning and taking a fall. Hopefully we get up and get on again. We peddle with some difficulty uphill and sometimes coast along with joy when everything is going well. Our Christian walk or “ride” takes some good turns, and maybe some not so good that end in painful spills. The key is to get off the ground and maybe even out of the dirt, and back on the “bike”, and move forward on the right path. Sometimes we need to brake. Sometimes we need to adjust our gears for the right speed. Derailleurs can be good on bikes… helping efficiency of speed and effort. Likewise in our spiritual journey we need to carefully plan ahead for efficiency. As long as the chain stays on the right gear, we’re good to go. But being totally derailed…not good.

Spiritual maintenance is always needed…for the Christian ride.

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.                                                                   Hebrews 10:36