The Flash! October 24, 2013

Call it the preacher’s curse: the insatiable need to find a metaphor and message in everything from the mundane to the momentous.  I’ve got it bad…

Early one morning this week I was on my bike cruising down Governor Printz Boulevard with a cold north wind blowing off the Delaware into my face.  Off to the east the sun was not yet a bright ball of fire, but rather a brilliant red glow serving as the backdrop to a couple of Jersey refineries.  It would have been an inspiring moment except…

The ride was appreciably more difficult than normal.  Each revolution of the pedals took more effort, and the speed was noticeably compromised.  I was working harder and going slower.  Needless to say it was less enjoyable.

When I returned home in a ragged emotional and physical state I had a notion, which led me to check the air pressure in the bike’s tires.  Sure enough…the tires that are most efficient when inflated to eighty pounds of pressure were meeting the road with less than sixty.

The metaphor I would offer is that we are like those tires: we too travel most efficiently when properly inflated.  When we attempt our journey with under inflated beings it will be harder, our progress will be slower, and there will be little if any joy.  The journey becomes a burden, and the astonishing scenery given to inspire is lost on us.

The message I would offer is to be mindful of the things that fully inflate us, and then be intentional about staying pumped up.  Seems to me this is a piece of God’s design for Sunday mornings; that church would be the place to get our pressure up to par so that we might begin each week prepared to travel with maximum efficiency and speed, and to be able to rejoice in the evidence of God’s grace that surrounds us each and every day.

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