Wednesday was a great day on the bike trip! We had a short day, about 38-39 miles from Pendleton, IN to Shelbyville. It was nice because we were able take the afternoon off and get some rest. After arriving at Shelbyville Community Church, we ate lunch, unloaded, and a little over half of the students went to the pool to cool off and relax for a while. The rest of us just lounged around the church, took naps, read, etc.
Wednesday were good days, too, for a couple students who had some challenges on Tuesday. Malea was pretty sick most of Tuesday, and even Wednesday morning was struggling. She had a desire to fight through it, though, to get back on her bike and keep going. She struggled Wednesday but made it through. It was a great life lesson in how there are many times that God allows struggle into our life. Sometimes intense struggle where we’re not sure if we have what it takes to go on, and where we may not even want to go on. But as we press forward and continue along the path God has set before us (think Hebrews 12), God grants us the strength, mercy, and grace to carry on. He wants us to grow and to overcome, trusting him for the strength we need.
Brian is another student who had a rough Tuesday, but came back strong on Wednesday. On Tuesday in the rain, Brian had an accident that caused him to fly over his handlebars and literally kiss pavement. His lip and nose were bloodied up and his bike got banged up, too. (I joked with him afterwords that I’d hate to see the other guy!) Brian and his group got off the road and sat to rest for a while, helping Brian to calm down a bit and wait for one of the roving team vehicles to come help. When one of the rovers showed up (Myra, I think), they helped Brian get cleaned up and loaded his bike up onto the bike rack of the car. The rest of Brian’s got back on their bikes and got going again. Brian rode in the car for a few miles, needing some time to calm down and get his mindset right again. An accident like that can be somewhat unnerving and it was good for him to get off the bike and ride for a while after being shaken up like that. A few miles down the road, though, and Brian was ready to go again.
They stopped his group of cyclists and unloaded his bike. The memory verse on Tuesday was Romans 12:12 – “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” One of the guys in Brian’s group referenced the verse as Brian was getting ready to start biking again and thought it would be a good thing to obey that verse and pray for a bit before getting back on the road. They prayed for Brian and each other, then got back at it. Because of the delay the accident caused, their group was the last to make it into Pendleton Tuesday, but when the rolled in Brian was biking with them.
We were proud of Brian! He got knocked down, was beat up, even had to take a little time off to recover riding in the car. But in the end he overcame the trial. He trusted God. He trusted his friends. And with both God’s help and their support he kept going and finished well. It will be huge for all of those guys to remember this experience as they go through life. Sometimes sin, Satan, and/or our circumstances can knock us hard off our bikes. Sometimes it will require some time off to heal and recover. But God never abandons us, and neither will our true friends. He’ll help us through it, bring healing and courage, and by his grace we’ll get going again and finish well.
Wednesday’s memory verse was from Psalm 100:2, “Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!” On Wednesday night we talked about the spiritual discipline of serving. Of being involved in the church and helping to build God’s Kingdom. We talked about what it means to serve Jesus with gladness and how so many miss this and only serve out of obligation and drudgery.
I believe it’s true that when a Christian doesn’t work to develop these spiritual habits in their life (bible memorization, prayer, bible study, serving in ministry, etc.) that they quit growing and begin shriveling. And when they quit growing they forfeit the joy of the Lord to instead grow old and grumpy. I really believe it’s true that when you run into an older saint in the church that you will quickly be able to tell what kind of effort they’ve put into developing their relationship with Jesus by simply observing their fruit (or lack of) in the way they interact with people. Those who have developed spiritual habits and been disciplined will be very much like Jesus. Those who haven’t will be apathetic, draining, and complaint filled, demonstrating little to no fruit of the Spirit in their life (see Galatians 5:22-23). That’s sad. By God’s grace I hope never to regress like that, but always to press on and pursue Jesus in every way.
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