Lesson from the bicycle
You may have always heard the expression, “It’s like a riding a bicycle, you never forget.” I remember learning to ride a bicycle. I started with something called “training wheels,” which was positioned so if you leaned too far to the left or right, they would stop you from falling over, but if you rode it correctly, neither of the two smaller training wheels would touch the ground. Eventually, my parents took the training wheels off and after a few crashes here and there, I was up and riding my bike.
Bikes were our main means of travel across town. Like cars, the type of bike you had was something of a status sym-bol. When the first bikes with “banana seats” came out, everyone wanted one.
Thankfully, I outgrew my bike and so my parents surprised me with a very special bicycle-a Screamer. It came from Sears and Roebuck. This was no ordinary bike. It had a large rear wheel, a Mag Wheel. That means, no spokes, just black, bladed supports coming from the hub and connecting to the rim. The front wheel did have spokes and was smaller. The handlebars looked like something off a chopper motorcycle. The banana seat was black with a cool looking, chrome covered reflector on the back. The seat sat on a post, with shocks! It had a stunt brake on the frame between the seat and the handlebar along with the standard rear brake. It had racing stripes and the number 2 on the chain guard. It was painted with the coolest green and yellow on the frame and the guard. The rest of the bike was decked out in chrome.
Those details are important because a kid stole my bike while parked at school. There was no bike like it in town. A few days later, as my mom was driving, I saw a kid riding my bike, and so I had my mom stop, I jumped out, told the boy who stole my bike to get off, he did (I may or may not have thrown him off), and I rode my bike home. Eventually, I outgrew the bike and graduated to driving a car.
Just a few years ago, in my sixties, I bought my wife and I some bikes. Nothing fancy, just cruisers. We both got on them and rode like we did many years ago. It’s like when you encounter the Lord by faith for the first time, you never forget the experience—it’s lifechanging. Get on the bike of faith and ride, ride, ride.
