The Blowout

Well, I decided to ride my bike on Thursday morning. Nice and cool, a little cloud cover, some sprinkles. I get my bike down from the rack, and the front tire is flat. I noticed it was leaking, but I keep filling it up. I put some "slime" in it, the green stuff that fills the puncture, and it seems to work OK. So, I filled it up to the max limit and took off.

Got a mile down the road to Frankford and Erskine and went the Town n Country. Checked the tire. It was squishy, but not bad. Thought to myself, if I ride the full 8 miles, I will need more aid. So I plugged up the gas station air on the tire. Took 4 seconds and it was ready.

So, I'm off down the road, taking side streets around construction. I get all the way to Centennial School (near Quaker and the N. Loop), where I usually turn around to come back. I feel good, and am ready to face the Southwest wind on the way home when . . . . .

POP!!!

There I was, 4 miles from home, with a major front tire blow out. And it started raining. Briefly. But ironically funny.

Yup, can happen to anyone at any time. So, I'm trying to be spiritually minded here, and I ask "God, what can I learn from this."

My next thought was, "OK, who prayed for me, and what did you ask God to do for me!"

You ever tried to just walk and not think about anything? Yeah, I know. A man should be good at that. However, random things kept popping into my mind, and most of them didn't seem to apply much to my circumstance. Irritating songs kept interrupting moments of illumination, and pretty soon, I found myself a half mile down the road and no closer to a spiritual lesson.

So, I prayed again for guidance.

One thing struck me. I knew the tire was weak, and instead of fixing it, I waited for it to break. The tire was even flat--a perfect indication of problems. Yet, I increased pressure and pressed on like nothing was wrong. When it became evident that the problems were going to continue, I increased the pressure even more and pressed on. Finally, at a most inconvenient time, the tire finally blew up on me, and I had 4 miles and an hour to think about what went wrong.

This happens with air conditioners, roofs, computers (although they often don't give any warning), cars, and people (who often don't give warnings, at least verbally).

So, with everything else that is going on today, I got a little extra time for exercising and contemplation. I even think God spoke to me with some affirmation.

And now I am replacing a tire. It should have been done already. Has to be done now. And my procrastination led to a rather inconvenient, and frustrating, circumstance. Chose not to be angry--since I would have to be angry at myself for not correcting things earlier.

And somehow I got to hear God in my circumstance. We talked about several things on the way home. Affirmation is always nice. Being spiritually minded is always a good thing--not that I am worthy, but that God is able and present in my circumstances.

So, I am reminded of Philippians 2:5: Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

Even if it takes a blowout, let us readjust our minds to things above, not on things below.

Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.