Brakes and life...

On Friday afternoon I went on my first bike ride with a group of guys from church. The plan was to go for a leisurely 20-mile ride; however, we only went 16 miles after we ran into one problem after another… (Matt’s punctured tube and tire, my stem broke off my tire tube, Jared’s broken moped…) Yes we had quite a few problems.

However, I found something interesting out about my bike during my ride on Friday - something I hadn’t noticed on the previous four rides I had gone on. My previous rides were fine. My legs were a little tired after the rides, but I thought it was only because I hadn’t been on a bike in years. But on Friday I realized there was something else that was contributing to my sore legs – my rear brake was constantly rubbing against my tire while I was riding. It was rubbing so much that when I would spin my tire it would stop in a matter of seconds. No wonder my legs hurt.

I spent a couple minutes fixing the problem, and then we were off. I was amazed at the difference. After my legs warmed up I felt the best I had ever felt on a bike. I felt great, and had the feeling that I could have gone for another 16 miles easily.

When I got home, I thought about my rubbing brake problem and life. Are their areas of my life that are preventing me from living the abundant life Jesus wants me to live? Is there a brake that is rubbing in my life, thus causing me to miss out on life, or stopping me from truly being a follower of Jesus with my whole heart? To be honest, I know there are brakes in my life that are rubbing. Brakes that rub every day. My prayer for my life is that I would be bold enough to recognize them and began the hard work of fixing them.