Riding Along

During recent months I have been cycling for exercise and to strengthen my surgically repaired knee.  These days I am on the lookout for new routes to try.  While I usually stick to the bike paths, it is fun to take on new roads and challenges.  I have often quipped Jerusalem and Riverstone have some similarities:  regardless which way you came from, it seems you always "go up" to Riverstone!  Pushing hard up the hills provides a welcome challenge, but I still prefer racing down them!

The other day my sons and I went fishing with a good friend.  We headed down Boundary Road to Wiseman's Ferry, and the scenery was beautiful.  Cows lounged under the shade of spreading trees, and green fields stretched out for kilometres.  "This would be a good place to ride," I thought to myself.  There wasn't a true bicycle lane, but there seemed like enough room to comfortably stay out of the way of passing traffic.  The gentle rise and fall of the terrain would be a good challenge as well.  One the way back I had decided:  Boundary Road was my next cycling destination.

A few days later I embarked on my new path.  It wasn't very long before I was white-knuckling those grips!  The hills which seemed hardly to rise in the Toyota Kluger seemed to stretch on and on whilst cycling.  I am basically new to cycling distance and I had to concentrate furiously on the edge of the road.  Many areas had no room at all, and the drop off the edge of the bitumen was severe at times.  The ride also happened during afternoon peak hour, so cars and trucks whizzed past me.  It wasn't too long before I was a bit saddle sore.  Towards the end of the ride, I began to lose circulation in my right hand - likely gripping too hard due to intense concentration and physical exertion.  I actually experienced more adrenalin on that ride with "close calls" than ever before.  At the end of the 53 minute ride, the Strava cycling app on my phone told me I had traveled a distance of 18.2 kms and climbed 215 metres.  I am looking forward to improving on my time and distance.

As I cycled, I was amazed how different elevation seemed from when I rode along in a car.  It occurred to me we often "ride along" with others in their pain and struggles, the hills they are tackling gentle and easy - kind of like when my mate drove me along Boundary Road.  His car was doing all the work.  I enjoyed the comfort of air conditioning and was not winded at all.  Needless to say, it was a massive difference when I took to the road myself on my bicycle.  It was hot.  It was perilous and cars swerved around me and at times I was mere centimetres from sliding off the road into gravel.  One time I even threw the chain and had to stop and fix it.  There was pain and discomfort I experienced on that bike I couldn't have imagined from the plush seats of a vehicle.  This is the truth:  you never know what someone is going through until you are in the saddle yourself.  It is easy for us to dismiss the pain and struggles of others, thinking that our "ride along" gave us real insight concerning how they should cope or what tactics they could use.  It seems quite easy until we climb into the saddle ourselves and go through the exercise ourselves, as the road stretches on and the uphills seem to go on forever.

If you know someone who is going through a tough uphill experience - whether it be divorce, illness, depression, loss of a job, chemical dependency, or family strife - demonstrate compassion and loving support.  Even if we have driven down that road plenty of times, it takes climbing into the saddle to open our eyes and receive a deeper appreciation of a struggle we couldn't have grasped otherwise.  One aspect of the Christian life which is so lovely is whatever suffering God allows, He provides greater consolation and comfort still.  The comfort we receive by faith is not only for us, but to give to others when they suffer.  2 Corinthians 1:3-6 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. ⁶ Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation."

We don't have to experience all the suffering in the world to offer the consolation and salvation we have in Jesus Christ and God's Word.  Jesus has suffered for our sakes, and when we share in the sufferings of one another as faithful friends, we can rejoice and endure through Him.  We can never know how much someone else is suffering or how they are doing it tough.  But God does, and He is able to deliver and save.  He is able to comfort, heal, and restore.  He's the One who protects us as we push up the challenging hills of this life.  Should we fall, it is He who will lift us up and bring brothers and sisters along to strengthen us in Him.  Let us bless the LORD, thanking and praising Him, for our God is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.