No two sunrises are the same -- our Creator makes a new masterpiece every morning!
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands." Psalm 19:1
When I was 4, I wanted a bicycle more than anything. I begged my parents for one. They kept telling me I was too little and to wait. So I did. Patiently. For two days. Then I started begging for a bike again.
Finally they bought me one. It was a big Schwinn "Flying 'O'." It was huge!
I had to crawl up on a milk carton box to get onto the seat. You see, back then kids "grew into" stuff. You grew into your clothes. You grew into your bikes. You grew into your shoes.
As I digress from my story I just have to say that I think that one of the things wrong with the world today is that we don't grow into stuff anymore. Now everything is tailor-made and fitted down to the millimeter. Growing into stuff gave you goals to shoot for and helped you realize that maybe you don't have all the skills yet you need to succeed in life.
Pass the plate. That's the sermon.
So anyway, I'd crawl up on the seat of this monster bike and for the first couple of days I'd just learn how to balance. I could barely touch the pedals. After the first couple of falls I got smart and pulled out my bean bag chair for a cushion. When I crawled up on the milk box, hopped onto the seat, grabbed the handle bars, planted my feet on the pedals and just tried to balance, I always made sure that I'd fall to the side with the bean bag.
When I got the balancing act down, learning to pedal wasn't so hard. I'd take off from my launch pad of milk box and bean bag in the front yard and pedal straight for the backyard. I'd gotten good at aiming through the backyard gate but soon learned there was a lot more to riding a bike than pedaling fast and learning to balance.
There was something important I'd forgotten to even think about -- how to brake.
Back then they didn't have any handlebar brakes. And the only way you could do it was to pedal backwards. Now remember my feet barely even touched the pedals. So learning how to push the pedals backward was nearly impossible.
But that didn't stop me.
I'd hop on, pedal as fast as I could. Swoosh through the backyard gate and aim for the spot on our backyard fence where I had nailed two pillows.
And I'd crash. Over and over and over again.
Life is often like riding a bike. We think we can do it so we hop into our balancing act and pedal as fast as we can. But we've forgotten how to put on the brakes. So we crash. Sometimes we aim for the softest crashing spot. Sometimes we just plain wreck. If only we would only learn how to brake, how to stop and see this majestic world God has built for us, see the glory in the sunrise and take a moment to bask in the love of Jesus Christ. Then we could finally figure out this crazy ride called life.
Maybe it's something we can grow into.
Let us pray.
Our Gracious God. We thank you for the wonders of your creation. We thank you for the sunrises and sunsets. For the ocean view and mountaintop majesties. We ask dear God that you help us to learn how to enjoy your creation in our busy lives and teach us to learn how to have a full and loving life. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
PASTOR TROY CONRAD IS MINISTER OF THE FARMINGTON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH.
Religion on 03/18/2015