RIDING HOME AGAINST THE WIND

The wicked are not so, but are like chaff which the wind drives away (Psalms 1:4).

When the weather was really cold this last winter, while I was doing my daily walk, I was walking against a strong northwest wind.  It reminded me of my feelings as a boy, riding my bike home against the wind.  As a boy, the farm on which my family lived was five miles north of Sutherland.  When I was in third grade I started to ride my bike, an old hand-me-down girl's bike with a wobbly wheel, the five miles to school.  I loved the feeling of independence, riding the school bus was not my favorite thing to do.  Once in a while I would meet a couple of friends and we would ride together, but I think I rode more than any of them.

Riding to school was great because most often the wind was at my back.  Riding in town was great because the streets were paved and the wind diminished because of the many buildings and trees.  Going home was another story.  Often the wind was so strong that it was very disheartening to a 9-year-old boy on a heavy girl's bike with a wobbly wheel.  Those were the days when there were no multi-speed transmissions on bicycles so at times I just had to get off the bike and push.  Quitting was not an option because even at age 9 I understood that there are consequences to quitting.  It was always good to get home.  There was always something to eat as well as love and acceptance. Home was just a good place to be.

As I walked against the much-below-zero-wind-chill wind that day, I thought that the faithful life is much like riding a bike on a gravel road home against the wind.  Life, with all of its hardships and sorrows, like riding against the wind, it still worth the ride. Arriving home is even better because one is finally home with the best family ever!  I also noted that if one only rides with the wind at his back, he is taken farther and farther away from home: But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind (James 1:6).  To believe, one has to go against the wind, but it is in believing that we find our way home.

Has your faith in Christ taken you against the wind?

Grace&Peace;
Tom