could you carry me through...

The other night I taught one of my friends how to ride a bicycle...On a hot, hot, humid night in Osaka. As the sweat dripped down our backs, and we were laughing and feeling self conscious about random Japanese men staring at us. Still, we pressed on, one peddle at a time. I wasn't exactly sure how to teach someone to ride a bicycle. Its just a skill that you don't really have to think about. But, then again, maybe it does require more thought than we think...

Having a bicycle in this country, is almost like having breath. You need it. With it, you can go longer, faster, you can see more, and you see and experience the unexpected. You also run the risk of getting run over, bumping into people, going through scary tunnels really fast and attempting to peddle up hills on just one gear. (yes...just one gear).

I guess I got to thinking...its really an excercise in trust. In faith. Most of the times, when I am riding my bicyle, its generally pretty effortless. Sometimes, however, I forget how unexpected this city can be. At any given corner, someone can surprise you and you must swerve out of his direction or sometimes you just collide with them. You never really know whats going to happen. Its exciting but also very scary. I just try my best to grip the handles and keep peddling. Even though the sweat pours down my back.

grip the handles and keep peddling...hmm...

I realized in the last few days, that this is what I really need to keep doing. If I let go of the handles, I will most defanitely loose control. If I stop peddling, I won't go anywhere. Although there are hills that I have to climb, and sometimes just straight, long paths with not much to see - I must peddle. That will sustain me. Even if I don't know where I'm goin sometimes...I know that the bicycle will take me further than I ever would go by myself. Somehow, I think this bicycle is more of a literal metaphor than I originally thought.

Through this bicycle, life has become more accessible. More wonderful. More scary. More beautiful. But, my bicylce has also made life somehow more simple as well.

Sometimes, I have to go through tiny streets, or through narrow pathways, and sometimes, I have to carry it over barriers...sometimes places I don't think I should go. But, the bicycle always brings me through even the most difficult of circumstance. The most tiny of streets and the most darkest nights.

My experience of Osaka and Japan, has been made better because of my bicycle. Teaching my friend how to ride a bicycle the other night, taught me somehow that God is really taking me through an exercise of trusting Him. Hence, my bicycle has become a very tangible metaphor for me. Clinging to Him with all my might. But, allowing Him to carry me and bring me further than I ever thought I could bring myself.