Lessons from Parenthood Part II

That's right, NO TRAINING WHEELS! :D Been trying to teach R1 to ride his bike without training wheels and as you can see, he's finally in the weird, wonderful world of cyclists! :D

More than a year ago, I wrote a post on Lessons from Parenthood. Our kids teach us so much - while teaching R1 to ride without training wheels, it occured to me that there is much in common between teaching him to ride a bike and my bumbling attempts at evangelism. I am sharing this parallelism in the hope that it will help pre-believers better understand our sometimes bumbling attempts at spreading the Good News.

1. Why do I care whether R1 can ride his bike without his training wheels? I mean he gets on fine with his training wheels and is happy enough. Why do I want to stress him out by encouraging/cajoling him to ride without training wheels? Why do I want to risk his falling and hurting himself?
   Well, because I want him to experience the freedom and joy that comes from riding without training wheels. I am hoping that he will discover the same joy that I found in the wierd and wonderful world of cyclists and, God Willing, this would be the first step towards discovering a healthy lifestyle.
   In the same way, we evangelise out of our eagerness to share the joy and peace that we have discovered in our Lord. You know that feeling when you find a good restaurant and can't wait to tell others about it? It's pretty much the same deal, except maybe 10 times stronger. :) I know that sometimes out of our over-enthusiasm, we offend the pre-believers and in doing so, perhaps make it even harder to accept Christ. For that, I sincerely apologise.
2. Did I really "teach" R1 anything? I mean all I did was help him find the God-given ability to ride a bike. If he did not have that in him, there is probably no way I can "teach" him to ride his bike.
   In the same way, evangelism is really only helping the pre-believers find what God has already planted in their hearts (Romans 1:19-20). It is probably more like helping someone "connect the dots" than "teaching"...
   
3. There is a time and place for everything. I tried teaching R1 to ride without his training wheels months ago, multiple times, but he just wasn't ready. I could tell he has terrified of the idea of riding on two wheels, I can see him thinking "that's impossible". No matter how much I encouraged/cajoled him, there was just no way he was gonna do it. When he did try it (months back), his fear made him fall (repeatedly). It is only with time, when he saw his friends doing it that he made up his own mind that he wants to do it. Once his mind was made, all it took was a few practice runs (and I mean me running behind him, hunched over holding his saddle - Ouch!) for him to get it.
   God's timing is always perfect - sometimes He calls us to sow, and other times He calls us to reap where we may not even have sown. If we are not in tune with the Holy Spirit's working/timing, it can get frustrating. When the time is right, all it takes is the courage to try. Praise God!
   
4. While running, hunched over, holding R1 up by the saddle, I was trying realy hard to make sure he "got it" before I let go. My aching back soon had other thoughts and I had to let go. But guess what, that's just what it took for R1 to learn to ride.
   Sometimes, we just gotta let go and let GOD.
   
5. Finally, a quote from R1 when I asked him to describe to R2 how it felt the first time he rode his bike without training wheels. I was expecting him to rave about the sense of freedom/speed, etc, so that R2 will also get enthused about giving up his training wheels, but this is what he said instead:
   "It feels like you are going to fall, but if you don't let go of the bike, and just PEDDLE, it's easy peasy, lemon squeezy."
   At some point, it takes a leap of faith to discover God. Rationalisation can only take us so far. God cannot be "taught", but He certainly can be "experienced".
   

Praise God for He shows His wisdom in the innocence of daily life with children. :)

Quick update on the training side:
Thanks for all the encouragement/advice about breaking up the cycle of training/sickness I seem to get myself into - your comments made a lot of sense and I am going to focus a bit more on eating/resting right, and take baby steps back into training (and a little less on how much I weigh). I'm finally getting my hands on The Triathlete's Training Bible end of this month (I hope) which will help tremendously towards figuring out my training and nutrition plan. This week my baby step back into training is a 50km bike - I usually follow up my ride with a short (3km) run, but this time, I could feel cramps setting into my legs at the end of the ride so I skipped the run. Hurray for baby steps! :)

Train safe and God Speed!