Parents, what deflates you? While serving a church in East Nashville, I would frequently take a bicycle ride as a way to de-stress and think through the challenges of church, family and community. Sometimes I would ride with someone else, but most often, I rode alone to sweat out some toxins in my body and as an outlet for toxic thoughts in my head and heart. We had 4 preschoolers when we moved there and they were all smart, like their mother, so each needed care and stimulating challenges based on their unique personalities and I never seemed to have the time I wanted to give them. The church had gone through some “growth opportunities,” if you are an optimist; also known as “challenges or problems” to the realists. The year before I arrived the church had lost a pastor and almost 100 families. We were experiencing about one funeral a month and we had about a half dozen people in one of Nashville’s many hospitals each week. So, in addition to preparing three sermons each week and writing a newsletter article, I frequently was at the hospital or preparing for a funeral. The community around the church was diverse and was just beginning to see some urban renovation, but at the time the high school had only a 10% graduation rate and the middle school across from our house had to go on lock-down because of a gang killing. Shelby Bottoms Green Way was one of my chosen bike routes to stay off major roads and allowed me to enjoy some Urban nature. Though I didn't have time to play golf, I could enjoy the beauty of the the VinnyLinks, a 9 hole golf course whose main supporter was Vince Gill. After the green way, I would head toward downtown and the Titans Stadium. If you have ever driven through Nashville on the interstate, you have seen Steiner Lift, a huge scrap metal recycling yard. I passed the entrance to this iconic business that was ambiguously celebrated for being green, but also considered an sprawling rust-filled eye-sore to those visiting the Music City. All kinds of scrap iron and metal ended up here to be repurposed, crushed, and sold to other companies to be melted down and reused. Unfortunately there were usually pieces of glass, slivers of metal, and other materials that weren’t very friendly toward bike tires strewn around the street in front of the place. One day, when my brain and body were in need of an endorphin bath, because of some stress, I pedaled hard past the Steiner Lift entrance. I heard the unmistakable “pop” of a tire being punctured and the “spew, spew, spew” as the hole hit the ground, then air, ground, then air...it was empty in seconds. Though I had a cell phone, no one seemed to be available to help and my wife had just gotten the kids down for a nap… and the #1 rule in a house with 4 preschoolers is never wake a sleeping baby. So, because I was not smart enough at the time to carry a spare tube (I usually did after that), I began to walk the few miles back home in the 98 degree heat. I had some time to listen to God on that walk, He reminded me that He was with me in the midst of my struggle and deflation. He was with my family even though I never seemed to have enough time with them. He was with my church, though there was always some challenge. And He reminded me that He was at work in the community, that seemed to have so many problems. He also reminded me that my anger and arrogance were not helpful to the situations that were facing us all. I wish I could say that I instantly changed and my pride disappeared and I responded well to hardship, but sadly, years later, I’m still working on those things and recognizing that He’s in charge regardless of what’s happening. He still has to humble me, but hopefully less often. After I had covered a couple of miles or so walking the kids woke up, so Anita called to find out where I was. She and the kids came to rescue me and my trusty two wheeled steed “Raleigh.”
