Biking Riding Thoughts

“You should know that your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit that you received from God and that lives in you. You don’t own yourselves. God paid a very high price to make you his. So honor God with your body.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ERV

What a sweet reminder that we do not own ourselves! I am so excited that this was the verse that I was reading this morning and I had already decided that I was going to write about bike riding!

Yesterday was the first day back this year to ride my bike...extremely late in the season. First, school was way too busy. Then it rained all the time. Then three weekends in a row with out of town company. The excuses piled up. I wondered if I should just sell that bike. But yesterday I could offer up no excuses.

Let me me say from the beginning that riding bikes for me is not easy. I did not grow up riding bikes. My mom did not let us ride our bikes out of the driveway because she was so afraid her four daughters would get hurt. I decided that bike riding was a dangerous activity and I should avoid it. Four years ago, Mark came in one day and said "I bought bikes for us to ride." I thought he has lost his mind! I had no idea that bike riding would teach me about myself and walking with the Lord.

When I first started riding, it was so unfamilar to me. But as I improved I began to enjoy the time of riding. After two years, Mark came home and announced that we would be getting "better" bikes. Better bikes meant bikes that have these weird handle bars. They help you go faster, according to Mark. I thought "I don't want to go faster. i want the slow, steady and no risk pace that I have."

Oh, the lessons I have learned come riding these new bikes. First of all, you have to keep your balance.

“But I almost slipped and lost my balance. I almost fell into sin.”
Psalms 73:2 ERV

About a month after I started riding, I got a little cocky. I took my eyes off the road in front, took one hand off the handle and looked to the right and attempted to pick a bug off of Mark's shirt. That crash sent me to the emergency room with a fractured arm. Just as in the Christian life, if I get prideful and think that I can take my eyes off Jesus for one second and "turn to the left or right" I am in for a painful crash. Keeping my balance and focus is imperative!

Another thing that I have learned is riding bikes is that it is not a joyful, pain free activity. It always requires grit for me. It starts off carefree for about 60 seconds and then I remember that I have to keep making my legs move and move and move. Happens every single time. The first minute is glorious and then I realize that I have to exert the energy to ride 15 more miles to finish. So much like my walk with Christ. It is awesome to declare that I love following the Lord. But to wake up early every morning and spend time with him requires effort on my part. It will catch you off guard when you realize that wanting to follow the Lord requires that you have to "deny yourself and take up your cross and follow him anywhere."

The place where I usually ride is a 7.5 mile path that ends in a circular spot and then you turn around and ride 7.5 miles back to your car. I usually try to work harder after the turn around. I purposefully try to go much faster and it kills me. I am uncomfortable. I divide it up into the mile markers to pace myself. I see the mile marker that says, "5 miles" and I tell myself that I have to make it until I see "4 miles." This always makes me think of times in my life when I step out of my comfort zone and be willing to be uncomfortable to live in obedience to Christ. Writing this blog is a good example of this for me. I want to write down my thoughts and keep them to myself. I feel foolish most days for letting others read these. But I tell myself, "Jesus is saying just trust me today. Don't worry about whether you have anything to write about tomorrow. We can talk about that one on the next mile marker."

I saved an obvious lesson for the end. " Honor God with your body." Even though God may not call you to begin riding bikes, today may be a good time to ask if there are any changes you need to make with how you treat this body that God owns. I can guarantee that God can use the exercise to teach you about Himself.