Tuesday’s are normally my half days. Now that the weather is starting to warm up, I’m going to try(I said try) and ride my bike in the afternoon. I tried running, but my heart just wasn’t in it. I enjoy bike riding though and if you ride long enough, it is good exercise. I was unable to take my half day Tuesday, so I took it today. I got home a little before 4 p.m. and decided to still go ahead and bike for about an hour. These are the items I had with me:

Helmet … water … house key … iphone … ear buds … sleeve for my iphone to attach around my arm … driver’s license in case I ever get hit and they need to know where I love(I know … OCD … what can I say)

I had ridden bout a 1/3 of my trip and was about 5 miles from home when … yep … you guessed it … I heard an unusual sound from the back of my bike. I looked back and it was flat as a pancake …

Hand tire pump? … nope

Money to get to the closest gas station and use their air pump? … nope

Debit card to get to the closest gas station and use their pump? … nope

Repair Kit? … nope

My only option? Call my wife and have her come get me. Unfortunately for me, she was 30 minutes away at an appt. So … I started the long trek of walking my bike back towards our home. Needless to say, I had a long time to think on my walk back … don’t worry, my wife made it after her appt. I was only walking with my bike for about 45 minutes.

As I was walking my bike back towards our home, I made the decision that from now on, I will have some cash or a debit card with me; I will buy a hand pump that attaches to my bike. Next time that happens to me; I will be better prepared.

It’s kind of that way in our Christian life. We go through life and depend on everything else for our success. As long as we have a nice house; two cars; in-ground pool; good paying jobs; the right social connections and the “perfect family” then we don’t really need God, right? That is what we count on … that is what we trust in … until some(or all) of that changes. Then when things happen and our life goes “flat” we realize then that the things that are most important; that the things that we need close to us to help us endure life’s struggles aren’t immediately at our disposal.  Then we call out to God to come deliver us. He does … and things are great again.

I couldn’t help but think of Ephesians 6:10-17

The Armor of God

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

1. Be strong in the Lord … Rest in Him … Trust in Him

2. Recognize that we aren’t to attack people when things don’t go our way … Let God fight for us

3. Trust in God’s truth … If we aren’t studying His Word; attending a good Bible teaching church; we won’t know the truth

4. Live a life of “rightness” before God. The closer we are to God, the better life we’ll live

5. Be ready to serve wherever/whenever God requests you to serve

6. Live a life of peace before God … When we walk close to God, we’ll be at peace during the struggles

7. Shield of faith … Trust in God … that’s really the key through all of this(and why it’s mentioned so many times throughout scripture); we must have complete trust in God

8. Know the Word of God … without it, we will have no tools to overcome temptation and sin

So, as you walk through your Christian life, keep in mind that we can’t keep our faith, trust and hope in material possessions, social status, etc. Those will fail us when our life goes “flat.” We must keep our faith, trust and hope in Christ alone and we must keep a close walk with Him. We can’t live this life without Him. “I Need Thee Every Hour.”

By the way … I’m glad our phones didn’t die … my % was at 13% and hers died just as I sent her my location …