Keep Pedaling (01/04/2025)

This last week we had a couple of decent days, relatively speaking, without fog or snow or icy sidewalks. And I saw a youngster on a shiny bike with a parent in a driveway as I drove to town. It brought a smile to my face along with a memory of learning to ride my first bicycle. My dad’s instructions were pretty simple as he tried to teach me to ride on the sandy street in front of our home in Rogers, Texas: “Look where you’re going and keep pedaling.”

I don’t know if my dad realized at the time that his advice would stay with me all these years or that I would apply his advice to other areas of my life beyond biking. In so many instances, so many challenging times throughout my life, I have tried to keep my eyes on where I was and where I was going, and I tried to keep at it, to “keep pedaling.” I know that advice got me through the challenges of parenting, through my studies for my degrees, through new jobs, even through my cancer treatments nearly 70 years later. “Look where you’re going and keep pedaling.”

Our journeys are about already and not yet. Our journeys demand that we be present to the moment but have our eyes and hearts and minds on our destination, life in the LORD. Our journeys can be as challenging as learning to ride a bicycle on a sandy road. And our journeys can bring the rewards of learning as we go and growing as we learn.

The LORD wants us to succeed. Remember, the LORD is our Father, the LORD is our Brother, the LORD is our Spirited Cheerleader. As we journey in this life, relying on faith, drawing upon our hope, and living our love for the LORD and one another through our actions, let us be present in the moment and committed to our discipleship and its demands. Let us “keep pedaling” even when we are tired and weary, even when we are struggling. It will be worth it when we reach our destination – homecoming in the LORD.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.