Let me start out with: We are not that young anymore. It is not that we are worn out, but our bodies don’t always react quite like we thought they still could. Case in point:
My wonderful husband of 34 years has decided that he will get into shape. He has been faithfully exercising by walking or riding his bike. Today, he shows up covered in sweat and mud. My immediate inquiry: “What happened?! Did you fall on your bike??” A soft “Yes”, was his response. “Tell me what happened”, I said.
“Well, I was coming up to a curb. I wanted to cut across the field and come down that new alley out north of here. I remember noticing it was a little higher than most–but I’ve jumped a LOT curbs in my life, so I’ll just “pop a wheelie” and clear it–it will be great!”, he said to me with a shriveled grin. “But it didn’t go quite like it played out in my mind.”
“You see, just as I pulled up on the handlebars to pop the front wheel up, I saw that the front tire was coming down WAY sooner than I anticipated. It came down with a slam. Then the tire ran directly into the side of the curb and my bike flipped over with a snap and threw my 230 pound aging body directly into the air and slammed me into the dirt. I can still see it happening in slow motion as the morning sky moved up and around and then under my feet. Plop. At first I just laid there. I was trying to determine if anything was broken (besides my ego), then I laughed–partly out of shock, and partly in case someone was watching. I wanted them to think I was having fun”..? (I paused in my thought: How many men your age go out popping wheelies on their bicycles on the reg??! Who in their retired right mind would see what just happened and go, “That looks fun! I think I’ll go buy a bike and join him”?! MEN. lol)
But the “fun” didn’t stop there. On his way back to the house, his bike chain came off with a grinding sound of metal on metal, trashing the entire gear mechanism and forced itself into the spokes of the rear tire.
I’m proud of him though. God has brought him a long way in how calm he was after such a trying morning. You see, what he underestimated in his ability to pop a wheelie, God overcompensated in grace and protection.
Don’t worry. He’s fine. A little bruised and his shoulder took the blunt force trauma–but Thank You Jesus it wasn’t on pavement–and we can get him a new bike.
