Handlebar Confessional

So, most of you who know me know that I can't sit still. The children's minister at The Rock, Melissa Kramer, would always look for the part of the meeting where I decided it was over because I had to be out doing something! She'd say, “oops, there it is, the meeting's over, he's had all he can take...” Ever since I can remember, I have done all my most productive work while walking... or riding a bike.

Yesterday, Jessie and I had what will be one of our few days off together for about a month. When we see what's coming up, we try to talk together as a family and say, “We will be grinding hard for a bit, but then, when it's over we will hang out.” That helps the boys...but Nadia doesn't quite understand yet.

So we had a day... what to do... well, let me go backwards. We ended the day with a good bike ride. Met a guy who has a carbon-frame Fuji time trial bike. Never seen a $7,000.00 bicycle before! He was very complimentary of my $500 Fuji... Anyway, about 5 years ago, Jessie and I started riding long bike rides (40 miles or more) to train to ride from Lexington to Covington for Annual Conference. It was going to be a fund-raiser. That part did not turn out so well...but we had a lot of fun. Ok, so we did not have much fun, etiher. It was the hottest Jun 7 on record the day we rode. And have you seen that hill out of Falmouth!?

One thing I have discovered about long bike rides. I don't run out of legs (except around 55 miles. Then my right quad cramps and I have to slurp on sugar/electrolyte gels for 10 miles or so and then somehow I am ok). I don't run out of breath-- you can coast to catch up. The critical decision is: will you stay in the seat? There are no comfortable bike seats. It gets to be about persistence. Will you stay in the seat for another mile? Another crank of the pedals?

I guess about a week ago, I was riding. For a few days I had been thinking about something unproductive, in an unproductive way. I had kind of arbitrarily decided that maybe you can hear 10,000 bad things, and when you hit 10,001, you're tapped out and need a new brain or something. I was starting to have a pity-party thinking, maybe I am at 12,000 or more bad things that have happened or people have told me about!

Like I said, a bike ride clears the head. You may think this is weird but God spoke clearly. I was thinking about the yoke in Matthew 11. Being yoked to Jesus means we are learning how to respond to the Master's commands from Him. And when the load is too heavy, He pulls most of it. And then what I heard, “Jesus is strong enough to help you carry one more burden, and one more, and one more...” I came back with a new lease on life!

So, I was really looking forward to a bike ride with Jessie and Nadia. Nadia rides in a cart that has a hitch on Jessie's bike. I did not have any revelations, just a lot of well-being. It was a great way to cap a great day. We had started earlier by going fishing with Mike Adams in the North Fork of Triplett Creek. It's such a relaxing and beautiful place, barely ten minutes away, and you feel like you have stepped away from everything.We crawled up and down the creek for about 6 hours. All we caught was four smallmouth bass. On that score it might seem like a waste of time. But I have never found fishing to be a waste of time. For one thing, two of the bass we caught were FAT. I use an ultralight rod b/c it is small and so you can fish in small pools and tight places, AND when a fish hits it feels like you have a monster! And nothing more than a decent-sized smallmouth. I caught my hard-fighter in a small pool maybe as big as our living room. Cast under a fallen tree and bam, fish on!

Let me go back... I have never found fishing to be a waste of time. I wonder if this is why Jesus called fishermen, used fishing as a metaphor for evangelism and discipleship? In Ezekiel 47, the prophet has a vision of a river flowing from the Temple into the Dead Sea. As it enters the Sea, it will make the water fresh. And there will be places for fishermen to spread their nets. A.B. Bruce, a Scottish theologian and expert on the training the disciples received from Jesus, notes that when they are called to be fishers of men, they would have understood that as a fulfillment of Ezekiel 47! That's the kind of awesome moment we are waiting for, when God calls us and we understand we have a clear and deep purpose! One that resonates with the heart of God!

Fishing in creeks, going farther and farther upstream to see where you can pull the biggest fish out of the smallest holes, beyond being the best fishing I have ever done, also speaks to me about part of our task as Christians. Sometimes we will get to be on a seashore, spreading a net and catching a multitude of fish. And sometimes, we go upstream where no one has been fishing before...

I hope y'all are still checking in with my friend JD Payne, and signing up to receive his emails. His website is www.jdpayne.org Please subscribe! Please read, pray and absorb!

In the spirit of creek-fishing, I also want to recommend to you https//unengagedunreached.wordpress.com

This wesbite is about the people groups in the world who do not have anyone preaching the Gospel to them. Talk about going farther and farther upstream to fish!