My New Bike

So, as many of you might know by now, a recent injury has put a screeching halt to my normal daily routine of exercise.  Prior to this minor mishap, I enjoyed early morning walks in nature.  This time of the day allowed me to renew my wonder at God's creation.  The smells of nature, the wind across my face, and the breathtaking views simply leave me in awe all over again with each new day.  Well, in the last week, I've done nothing of the sort.  My daily injection of exercise has been coming through an empty syringe.  I've missed it. Not only have I missed it, but I've been feeling the effects of immobility.  An arthritic flare up and an abnormal fatigue recently reminded me that I needed to find a way to do something....so I went in search of a bike...

The picture you see is what came of this search, so let me tell you how I came to choose this particular one.  As arthritis ravaged my right hip late yesterday afternoon, it hit me like a ton of bricks.  "Ashton, go get your shoes on - we're going to go look for a bike for mommy," I enthusiastically instructed our son. Well, as we drove to the store, it occurred to me that right now may not be the best time to spend money.  After all, Sam desperately wants an ipod, but is happily willing to wait until it wouldn't set us back too much.  Shouldn't I be willing to do the same?  Well, I quickly rationalized that an ipod is of no beneficial use to his health, but a bike would restore a much needed time of cardio to my day.  "It's about my health!" I decided.  How I can rationalize anything to have my way is deserving of it's own post, so let's move on. 

Ash and I arrived at Wal-Mart and I decided to make sure God was a part of this decision no matter how it worked out.  "Father, I think I need a bike, but I don't want to have one if You don't want me to spend this money.  Please lead me in Your will for this area of my life.  Don't let me get a bike if You don't want me to have it, but if You do want me to have it, then please lead me to the right one," is pretty close to what I prayed.  So, we got out of the car and walked towards the bikes.  Inside, I glanced over the collection of cruisers, mountain bikes, and road bikes.  I reached out to gently pull a cruiser forward for closer examination and all of a sudden it started - the domino effect of falling bikes.  With a broken toe, I'm not too quick on my feet so the only thing I could really do was watch it happen.  One by one, every bike in a large circle fell to the floor.  Ashton and I both kind of laughed and then I sheepishly scanned the area to see if anyone saw.  "Should I walk away and swear it wasn't me?" I wondered.  Nah, "let's pick em up," I told Ashton.  So, I started picking each bike up.

As I came to the last two bikes, I noticed the seat on the one you see in the picture.  It looked comfy, so I decided to test it out.  I read the tag and saw that it was a Hybrid, a mix of sorts between a mountain and road bike.  I tossed it around in my head and decided to give it a try.  Well, the baby blue bike next to it also looked interesting so I sat on that one as well.  "Nah, this red one is way more comfortable," I thought.  Well, it then occurred to me that this was the only Hybrid bike on the floor.  "God? That You?" I quietly asked.  I wondered if this was all His hand in things.  Would I have payed such close attention to this particular bike had they not fallen like dominoes?  Would I have even seen it?  Would I have taken it for the spin that I did or would I have opted for the beach cruiser that looked way more like my style?

 It didn't take long for me to realize that it was God indeed.  I don't just say that because I wanted a bike and it worked out.  I say that because the more you invite God into the little decision in your life, the better you get at discerning His involvement.  I know it was God involving Himself because I felt good about the purchase.  Had God not wanted me to have that bike, or any bike, I wouldn't have felt right as I paid for it.  Additionally, I didn't know how much the bike cost until I did pay for it.  There were price tags on every other bike, but not this one.  I made my mind up that God was leading me before I ever got to the check out line, so I opted not to worry about what it cost.  Once the cashier rang it up I asked her how much it was, and do you know it was less than every other bike I considered?  Another little tidbit of interesting information is that when I was checking out, I asked her if there were anymore of this particular bike, perhaps in a box somewhere.  The answer was no - I had the only one. 

Take time to involve God in the little decisions of your life.  He doesn't lead us wrong.  May you all have a super fantastic day!