Okay, kids, I'm on deadline for about four different projects here at the end of the week, so just the main body of the post today. It's from an old speech given by Mike Yaconelli, who was one of the co-founders of a company called Youth Specialties and was one of the founders of the Christian satire magazine, The Door. It's something I need to hear right now.
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PEDAL!
At first, I saw God as my Observer, my judge, keeping track of the things I did wrong, so as to know whether I merited Heaven or Hell when I die. He was out there sort of like a president. I recognized His picture when I saw it, but I really didn't know Him.
But later on when I met Christ, it seemed as though life were rather like a bike ride, but it was a tandem bike, and I noticed that Christ was in the back helping me pedal. I don't know just when it was that He suggested we change places, but life has not been the same since.
When I had control, I knew the way. It was rather boring, and predictable. It was the shortest distance between two points.
But when He took the lead, well, He knew delightful long cuts, up mountains, and through rocky places at breakneck speeds. It was all I could do to hang on!
Even though it looked like madness, He said, "Pedal!" I worried and was anxious and asked, "Where are You taking me?" He laughed and didn't answer, and I started to learn to trust. I forgot my boring life and entered into the adventure, and when I'd say, "I'm scared," He'd lean back and touch my hand. I gained love, peace, acceptance and joy; gifts to take on my journey, My Lord's and mine. And then we were off again.
He said, "Give the gifts away. They're extra baggage, too much weight." So I did, to the people we met, and I found that in giving I received, and still our burden was light.
I did not trust Him, at first, in control of my life. I thought He'd wreck it, but He knows bike secrets, knows how to make it bend to take sharp corners, knows how to jump to clear high rocks, knows how to fly to shorten scary passages.
And I am learning to shut up and pedal in the strangest places, and I'm beginning to enjoy the view and the cool breeze on my face with my delightful constant companion, Jesus Christ.
And when I'm sure I just can't do it anymore, He just smiles and says ... "Pedal."
[with thanks to Mikey's Funnies]
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Mike Yaconelli was killed in an automobile accident in the fall of 2003. A sad day for us on earth, but a happy day in Heaven.
Meanwhile, as most of you read this, my kitchen demolishment should be underway. And that's not even one of the projects I mentioned at the top of the post. Anyway, I'll be hard at work the next two days, which include a goofy medical test (read the blog on Sunday for details), so take a little extra relaxing for me this weekend, and I'll see you on Monday.
Mark
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WEB SITE of the WEEK: Well, I'm not sure what sets it apart from "secular computing," but you can get a free digital subscription to Christian Computing Magazine at http://www.ccmag.com. The ezine's catchphrase is "Applying Tomorrow's Technology to Today's Ministry." You'll need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the articles. You can find that at http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/.
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Mark's Musings is a Habeas-certified spam free mailer. Subscribe, view past issues in the Archives, look at a few photos (which I will update one day soon, I promise) and help defray publishing costs at my web site. To contact Mark, click here. To get some sleep, go to bed. G'night. You can forward or reprint "Mark's Musings" freely but please keep the credits attached. The credits help the post pedal. Original material and commentary © 2008 by Mark Raymond. I update this blog with a copy of my post daily, and extra thoughts, the occasional video, and other things that go bump in the night on the weekends. Look for the label that says "Weekend" and you can bring them all up with one click. My personal mission statement is John 3:30. My employer is offering an early out retirement. Hmmmm.
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WORDS for YOUR WEEKEND: "When you arrive at a fork in the road, take it." (Yogi Berra)
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