Faith in Jesus Christ and my Bike Ride

     A few days ago I had an experience that reminded me of something so very important.  I went out to ride my new Trek bike for the 2nd time since I bought it a few days before that. The sky was clear and I decided while no one else was home, I would ride about 12 miles.  I was excited and loved riding down highway 90 that runs in front of our property.  Highway 90 has a 4 foot shoulder and bikers love this road.  It's also relatively level with few hills. Many bikers come through here during the year.  I enjoyed the sunshine, unusual cool breeze, and the feel of my bike.  I had forgotten how much I loved biking!  I easily shifted into higher and lower gears, as I meandered along the road.  After biking 3 miles east on hwy 90 I turned south on Sapp Rd, another paved road not far from our home.  Sapp road doesn't have the wide shoulders for bikers, but it is not as busy as hwy 90 and I have always enjoyed biking or running down this country road past the farms and country homes.  Along my way I passed a man with his little grand-daughter,hand-in-hand taking a walk.  I smiled and spoke to them as I passed them, noticing the little girl's braids bobbing as she walked.  Later on down the road I came to where the road goes over the interstate.  I knew I had now traveled about 6 miles and it was time for me to turn around.

     I turned around and started the jaunt back to my house.  I knew my 16 year old daughter would be coming home soon from an outing with a friend.  I also knew my husband had called an electrician friend of ours to do some work at our house, so I had timed my ride so I would return about the time the electrician  would arrive.  As I biked north on Sapp road back to hwy 90 I exchanged greetings with a young woman who was watching her dog run around in her yard.  It was a beautiful day! What a great day for a bike ride with a sweet breeze in the air!  Then suddenly I heard thunder and looked to the east and the beautiful blue southern sky had melted into black clouds.  I rode faster.  I was still about 5 miles away from my house.  In a few minutes it began to sprinkle.  By that time I was about 4 miles away from my home.  Another mile back to hwy 90 and then 3.1 miles to my house from there.  

     Lightening accompanied with thunder began to pop around the area, and I biked faster.  By the time I arrived at hwy 90, it was pouring down.  As an after thought, I had grabbed a baseball  cap and sunglasses to wear while biking.  I was beginning to be very grateful for the cap and sun glasses because they allowed me to see through the rain.  Had I not been wearing a cap and sunglasses to shield the rain, I'm pretty sure I would have wrecked.  I turned onto hwy 90 heading west toward our home and peddled as fast as I could.  I prayed constantly that my Heavenly Father would hold off the lightening away from me, assuring Him that I surely didn't mind the rain, but I did not want to die.  Now I was biking through an inch of  or more of rain and it poured harder.  My clothes and Saucony running shoes were soaked and getting more soaked.  I had not brought my cell phone with me and no one was home anyway at my house.  My husband was working out of town with a silage crew cutting silage for farmers in Georgia & it wasn't quite time for Kenzey, our 16 year old daughter to be home around 6 pm.

     At this time, I began counting the pick-up trucks  that rode past me, trucks that could have stopped and 

given me a ride just 3 miles down the road where we lived.  More lightening and thunder cracking all around me.  What did this mean?  Was there a lesson for me to learn here?  I continued to pray and be grateful for my protection, so far on my wet journey.  It was now obvious that no one was going to stop, that it was me and my faith in Jesus Christ that would save me in this storm.  I prayed for the enabling power of the atonement of my Savior to allow me to bike like I never had before.  I was soon amazed at how fast I was going with so little training before this ride.  I lost count of the trucks and concentrated on my faith and my prayers directed to my Heavenly Father.  I just kept moving in the right direction and kept praying.  Soon, I was only a mile from home, then a 1/2 mile from home.  I could see our mailbox, I was doing all I could to get there.  A little more strenuous peddling and I was at our mailbox. Finally, I got off my bike  at our mailbox because I didn't want to ride uphill on our 1/4 mile driveway in the mud. (Our driveway is not paved)  I discovered my legs were a little shaky, but I had made it.  I walked up our driveway with my bike in the pouring rain and thunder feeling grateful that I was alive and had made it home with the Lord's help.  

     Since that day last week, I have reflected on this experience a great deal.  This is what I learned from that experience (besides letting someone know when I bike that far, in case of a Florida thunder storm!).  I have thought how my biking experience that day is a great deal like our lives.  One day we're moving through life with great joy and even recreation and relaxation.  But then, out of know where we are caught in a storm, maybe not a thunderstorm, but a storm of difficulty, or temptation, or grief and despair.  Things just out of our control that we had nothing to do with, but we find ourselves in the middle of it, all the same.  I know without a doubt that the storms of life surely come.  And sometimes, there is no one around to help us, sometimes we just feel all alone in this horrific storm.  But, I also know without a doubt that help and relief is just a prayer away.  Our Father in Heaven loves us and His son, Jesus Christ, loves us and they are watching over us.  We must put our trust in Jesus Christ, for he has endured everything in our behalf.  He is my Savior and Redeemer and has rescued me many times.  All we have to do is pray in his name and keep moving in the right direction.  He will do the rest.