Unexpected Adventures!

“Oh dude!  Not good!”  That’s what a new friend of mine kept saying to me on the side of road earlier this week.  (Except he used a few more colorful adjectives to describe the situation…) 

Every time I ride, I have to be ready for some kind of chaos...

It all started when I decided to ride my bike to Mountain Springs.  I’ve done this several times, and I thought I was totally prepared.  However, about 12 miles from my house I hear a BAM… and I feel my rear tire go flat.  Usually, that’s not too big of a deal, but this time the tube was so shredded it was not holding a patch.  That left me stuck a few miles outside of Blue Diamond trying to find my way back home.  That’s also where I met my new friend.  He was riding his bike the same way, and he stopped to help.  He turned out to be a really neat guy.  He was from Germany, but he talked like a surfer from California.  The two of us used our cold and numb fingers to try and glue and patch my shredded tube back together.  Each time we had the same result… “Oh dude! Not good!” 

We are in the midst of our Advent season, and this week we are taking a look at Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem.  Their trip was filled with unexpected events!  This young couple had to go on a long journey, and there was no way for them to call in any reservations.  They simply had to hope someone would open their doors to them along the way.  They didn’t know who they would run into.  They just had to hope that God’s promises for them would be realized.  In the end, their journey could be seen as a failure.  The baby is born in a manger, they are far from home, and things won’t get much better.  However, Mary and Joseph decided not to dwell on all the awful stuff.  Instead, they found hope that God was working in the unexpected.

The Journey to Bethlehem was filled with
surprises

I think we all need to keep that in mind.  In spite of the best preparation, we will all face uncertainty.  We can choose to become annoyed and frustrated, or we can find God’s blessings right where we’re at.  For me, my bike ride was not what I expected, but I got to meet my new German surfer/biker friend, and I could give thanks for all the people who helped me get me to a store to buy a new tube.  Soon enough, everything was fixed, and I was on my way back home.  Sometimes life does not work out as expected, but God is there.  That’s something I know I have to keep in mind… especially when I heard my back tire blow out for the SECOND TIME on the way back to my house! 

Keep Adventuring!

PB