Light Bicycles and Heavy Hearts!

Today's blog isn't really about me even though it starts that way.

 I used to tear around Nora Springs on my bicycle.  I loved my bicycle.  As a hand me down, it was heavy.  So heavy, I never won a race against anything that wasn't a tricycle. On foot, I was as fast as anybody in a distance race and most people in a sprint.  Even though it was slow and didn't have any gears, I loved that bike. It was the measure of freedom for me.  When you live on a street where some 33 teachers lived at one point and your parents are teachers, it can be a bit stifling.  My bicycle was freedom.  From the buffalo farm and pool on the east end to Walkers on the west end I would freely ride.  From the city dam to Boulder  park, I would race.  Freedom, there is no other feeling like it.


The other day I drove up the street, here in Marshalltown, and nearly hit a child on a bicycle.  He came off the sidewalk and tore in front of me. He only stopped at the sound of my tires.  His friend came ripping onto the street from a different direction.  Clearly, they were racing.  Clearly, they were taking shortcuts.  Clearly, it could have been me when I was a kid. 


I can't tell you how sad it made me.  


Life is precious.  Life is full of misfortune. When my wife was a child, she and her sisters went swimming in the Mississippi river, unbeknownst to her parents. We all do silly things at times. It is easy to judge others.  Please resist the temptation to condemn.  Instead please pray a prayer of blessing on those unprotected areas of our towns that provide unsupervised entertainment and refreshment.  Please pray for those public and private workers who provide supervision to children.


Please, lift your hearts in prayer for the safety of all children this summer.