Writers Corner: God As Your E-Bike
by Cindy Nehrbass
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew7:7)
My best friend from high school has one. About a quarter of the people, that pass me on my daily walks along my local lake path, have them. And now, I am starting to covet the idea of one. I’m debating on saving my pennies so that someday soon I can be among the many who, with helmets on and gripping their handle bars, speed towards their destinations via the electrical assistance of their aerodynamic E-bikes. Maybe the Road to Santiago pilgrimage I was contemplating biking in Spain might still be possible with my osteoporosis joints if I bite the bullet and trade in my old green Schwinn for a modern-day knee-saver.
The Cambridge dictionary defines an E-bike as “a bicycle with an electric motor that helps move the bicycle forward even when the rider is not moving the pedals.” My friend with a six-month-young knee replacement claims her E-bike allows her to climb hills with assistance, helping when her legs get tired. I guess with some models you even get choices: you can bike on your own, pedal with some electric assist, or relax and let the bike do all the work for you. Regardless, you still get where you are going, one way or another. The question is: how much work do you want to do? And, do you want to, or even need to, do it all alone?
Some might think it a bit lazy or only for the injured or elderly, but I don’t see it as a cop-out from good fitness hygiene—or even something that has appeal only to the aging or weakened body. It is actually quite ingenious. Taking a bike and adding help so you can complete your task, make it further along your journey, like a tandem bike would offer if you invited someone else pedaling with you, is brilliant.
It’s all kind of a metaphor for life’s journey, right? Do you tackle it alone, always relying on yourself? Do you look for the assistance of others and ask for them to pedal with you? Or when you hit the steepest climbs in your life, the ones you don’t know if you can get to the top of, or maybe you can no longer push the pedals and you stall, what do you do? Do you ask God to be your motor, to help you to reach the summit despite hitting rock bottom, or your empty “tank”, pedaling on fumes. Can you even picture welcoming God to ride with you, accepting assistance when you just can’t do it any more? Do you press a button on your E-bike and let Jesus “take the wheel,” propelling your pedals for you, until you can regain strength and begin to push your feet and lift your knees to make the wheels go ‘round and ‘round, again.
The good news is that even though a fancy E-bike costs thousands of dollars, asking for help from God along your path does not cost you a thing. The price has already been paid at The Cross through Christ. All you need to do is let go of pride and ask for help. Ask in prayer, cry out like in the Psalms; or tell those who love you, or your neighbor, that you need their assistance—that you can’t go it alone. Admit you need help to make it another day on a difficult path, for them to take some of the burden off of you—to help you to lay those burdens down at the foot of The Cross.
Yes, like me, (practically speaking) you might still need an E-bike to scale the terrain of Spain someday, but in the here and now you have all the assistance you need, at the ready. And it isn’t lazy, you don’t have to feel guilty, that you can’t handle the ride by yourself. Life in this earthly world is tough. We aren’t designed to be lone riders. So reach out and seek what you need. And, if someone reaches out to you for help, be the E-bike that they need.
Amen.
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