Lessons learned on a bike ride

Last week some friends and I decided to test our limits. We participated in the 45th Annual Ironman Bicycle Ride in Lakeville, MN. It's not the Iron Man triathlon you are probably thinking about. There's no running or swimming involved. Just a whole lot of time in the saddle. It gets it's iron man title because it's the first major bike ride of the season here in Minnesota and that means anything is possible--rain, sleet, snow, bitter cold and wind, lots of wind. 

The past two years, rain and sleet were the biggest challenges and hypothermia actually sidelined a number of riders. Thankfully this year we stayed dry. But in the rains absence, thirty-five mile wind gusts, twenty degree wind chills and even a little snow stepped in to fill the void to make this hundred and five mile, nine hour suffer fest on the bike plenty challenging. 

The first fifty miles were straight into the wind. It was hard work but I was up for it. I'd trained hard and felt strong. It wasn't till somewhere around mile seventy that I began to fade. My legs were tired, my mind was tired, my bum was sore and I began longing, kind of like ancient Israel in the wilderness, for the flesh pots of Egypt. Only the flesh pots I longed for took the form of a long hot shower, a comfy couch and a remote. 

Earlier in the day I'd been riding along side my friend Doug. But he'd long since pulled ahead of me and the gap that opened between us was about a quarter of a mile wide, and growing. I had attempted to match his pace for awhile but his legs are about fourteen years younger and he's in amazing shape, so I settled into my cadence, content to hold my own in second position. 

And then it happened. What's this!? Another bike entered my peripheral vision. It was Pat, another friend in our group. Slowly he eased his way up on my rear tire, then up along side me, pausing momentarily to nod a greeting, and then, what's this?! Wait?! Could he be really pulling ahead of me?! 

Now I was alarmed. Not only is Pat more than ten years my senior, but I had always been able to match him and sometimes even beat him on the bike. But not today. He was like a man possessed. As the gap between us began to grow wider and wider, I began to feel more and more deflated. I was desperate to catch up but as hard as I tried, I just couldn't make my legs push any harder. It was a bitter pill to swallow. So I did the next best thing. My brain began coming up with rationalizations, or more accurately, delusions, to keep my pride from doing a complete nose dive. 

Delusional thought # 1: If I remembered correctly, there was a mammoth hill ahead. It was smart to save my strength and let him pass so I would have the energy to get up that hill. Once it was conquered, I would focus on retaking my position in the pack, which of course I could do with ease.

Delusional thought # 2: It's inconceivable to think that Pat could keep up that pace. Let him have his fun now, but once he is spent, I'll be seeing him again. If I just keep my current pace, I'll be back in the number two spot before you know it, pride intact. 

And it was working, well, at least for five or six miles. The problem was the hill came and went, and it wasn't anywhere near the mammoth size I remembered. And to make matters worse, my older friend wasn't showing any signs of fading. As my excuses died their natural death, I had no choice but to admit the honest truth. As much as I willed my legs to push harder, they just didn't have the juice. My older friend had kicked my butt this day, fair and square. End of story.

In John 3:30, some of John the Baptist's disciples came to him expressing concern that Jesus had begun to baptize. The crowds that had been coming to John were now beginning to flock to Jesus. In the minds of John's disciples this must have seemed alarming. Until now, preaching and baptizing had been John's domain. It had been an amazing ministry, one that John's disciples, judging from the distressed tone of their questioning, worried was beginning to fade. 

But John was anything but distressed. His answer to his disciples, the attitude it displayed, is nothing short of amazing. In response to their worried questioning he replied, "A man can receive nothing except it has been given him from heaven...He must increase, I must decrease." 

How many of us would have this reaction? Think about what had happened. Jesus, in affect, had come up on John's rear wheel, pulled up along side, and was now leaving him in His wake. The gap was opening up wider and wider between them. But in John, unlike his disciples, there was no sign of panic, no delusional excuses, no resentment, only a simple "He must increase, and I must decrease." 

John's reaction is anything but natural. In fact, it's directly opposite the typical response of our human nature. What does our human nature do to the nail that has the audacity to stick up a little higher than the others? When we should be encouraging other's success, praising their victories, BAM!, we take the hammer of our hurt pride and smack them down. We find subtle and not so subtle ways to minimize others accomplishments so we don't look so small by comparison. With a dismissive comment here, a refusal to give credit there, our pride, knowingly or unknowingly, drives us to do whatever it takes to preserve itself. It's human nature. 

That human nature was in full display in me last Sunday. If I had responded with God's nature rather than my own I might have been less focused on what I was losing and more focused on what my friend Pat had accomplished. Rather than make excuses for why I didn't perform better, I would have expressed to him just how amazing I thought his performance was. This ride was the culmination of two years of weight loss, eating right, consistent training and a lot of hard, determined effort.  He deserves nothing but admiration. I can only hope to be in as good a shape as he is in ten years. 

I think God often uses times of emotional or physical stress, times when we are weak, when our defenses are down, when our facade of good behavior is compromised, as opportunities for us to see areas of our hearts that still aren't responding to His nature. 

It could be a family crisis, upheaval or conflict among members of a church or even a hundred mile bike ride.

Romans 12:10 tells us to "Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another." 

Philippians 2:3 - 4 admonishes us to "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others." 

These scriptures describe the reaction of a person who is allowing God's nature to be shaped and molded within him. It's easy for us, during times when we are strong to believe we are not doing too badly on this score. But, if we let them, times of stress, times of weakness, can serve as litmus tests to reveal just how much molding and shaping still needs doing. They serve as catalysts for God's Spirit to spur us to greater personal growth.

That was true of my experience on the bike last Sunday. Although I regret that my pride won the day, I'm thankful for God lovingly using it, as He has so many other experiences in my life, to continue shaping and molding me into His image.  

"He must increase but I must decrease." 

Okay, maybe I'm not quite ready to concede to permanently riding in my friend's wake and I don't think that's what God expects. For one, last I checked, my friend isn't the Savior of mankind. He's just another schmuck like me, trying to stay in shape and have fun doing it. Secondly, I'm pretty sure that with a little training I can improve my strength and stamina enough to maybe have a chance to beat, or at least match, him pedal stroke for pedal stroke the next time. Okay, so maybe I'm just a little competitive. A certain amount of physical competition keeps things exciting and fun. 

But, if for some reason I'm permanently resigned to riding in his wake, hopefully the lessons and growth acquired from the miles already traveled will allow me to let God's nature, not my own, win the day.

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