Keep Pedaling

The Tour de France has been on for the past several weeks and I will admit to finding it quite fascinating… in a boring sort of way.   Yet what other sport has a single competition that lasts for 3 weeks!!  Truly it is a physical feat to be respected even though it doesn’t hold the popularity of the NFL, NBA or even yes…. Nascar. 

Both of my boys have taken up biking in the past couple of years and more recently, my husband and daughter-in-law.  Through their stories, I have become somewhat familiar with what’s involved.   While watching one of the final legs of the tour this week, there was a spectacular finish (or at least as spectacular as biking gets).   The leader had broken away and was “going it” on his own for some time.   He looked good and really strong for quite a while, but as the finish approached another biker was creeping up on him.  Again, a solo.  They were neck-in-neck… bikes and bodies thrashing… giving it their all…  when out of nowhere came a rider that literally just FLEW right past them.  Blew them away.  “Slingshot” was the official term the media used.  He crossed the finish line, hands in the air in victory. 

I was talking to my husband about what that was all about.   He said he was drafting with another member of his team.  Drafting is when you tuck in behind the person in front of you – your front wheel riding in very close proximity to their rear wheel.  So close, that two bikes virtually become one.  The result is a force that literally pulls you along, making your use of energy more efficient.  Giving you a chance to rest a bit, recoup, and get ready for a dash to the finish.  I’ve seen the benefits of this time and time again in both bike and car racing.

As our conversation ended, I got up from the sofa to get a glass of wine and asked my husband “And are you drafting Christ”???  He looked at me and smiled.  He had never thought of it that way.

In life we face many hills.

Some headwinds seem too strong to bear.

As we look into the horizon, some roads (while flat) simply seem endless. 

BUT, my friends, WE WERE NEVER MEANT to travel this road alone.

Tuck in behind Christ. 

He WANTS to carry you to the finish… to victory… through HIM.  

Aaawwww..... NUTS!!! (Renovation #3)

When we started this renovation project, we knew we were bound to run into unexpected “issues”.  The unseen.  But little did I know the unexpected would come in the form of… nuts!!  Acorns, to be exact.  Typically, I like squirrels and chipmunks.  The nervous nature of those cute, furry little creatures really cracks me up.  Lord knows I’ve watched enough of them during my years in my hunting blind.  Even named a few.  But when a carpenter cuts a chunk of drywall out of your ceiling and down comes an avalanche of nuts, well… NOT SO CUTE!!  And when the electrician finds an area of chewed up, exposed electrical wiring in a wall cavity along with (you guessed it) more acorns… NOT SO CUTE!!  They (the carpenters) chuckled at my moment of panic.  They told me that they rarely ever tear into an existing home without finding SOME sort of hidden “treasures”.  

Honestly??  I’m tired of the tear down phase.  I’m ready to rebuild.  I think mentally, I know that when they start hanging that drywall… they’ve found all they believe there is to find.  All the issues have been exposed.  All the issues have been addressed.  And the experts are comfortable with zipping the place back up.  It’s a turn from the negative (tear down)… to the positive (rebuild).  Like I said, I am READY.

We had decisions to make along the way on HOW these issues would be addressed.  Choices needed to be made.  Settle for the less expensive band-aid fix and hope for the best??  Or do the permanent solution that will take time… and many more dollars.  The end result would cosmetically look the same.  

If you’ve been following my blog, you know my life, as of late, has been a time of renovation.  A time of asking God to reveal any and all areas in me that need to be exposed, that need to be addressed, that need to be repaired.  I expected to come across some things, since as scripture says “we ALL fall short”.  But just like with the house, at times I’ve wanted to scream “enough already!!”  I’m tired. 

And just like with the house again, I’ve been faced with choices on how to repair what God exposed.  I can apply a quick fix to these areas of my life and hope for the best.  Be a better person, give more, attend church more regularly, DO more for Christ.  Outwardly, I’m sure it’d look just fine.  Or, I can take the painful route and ask the Holy Spirit to show me more.  Dig deeper.  Expose the root of the problem.  And then allow Him to HEAL… and rebuild. 

We re-wired the entire house. 

We re-did the flashing around the atrium.

We tore down more drywall and foamed the walls, permanently sealing off access for those cute, furry little creatures.

With anything that really mattered, we chose the permanent, more costly solution.  Why?? Because when we live in our house, we don’t want it to look all pretty on the outside, yet still question what’s lurking behind the walls.

I will do NO LESS with my life. 

p.s.  Drywall starts tomorrow.