When I was a kid, I used to ride my bike up and down the country road I lived on quite a bit. Growing up in Southeast Manitoba, there really wasn’t much else to do. I don’t really remember when I stopped doing this. I don’t really know why either, but at some point in almost everyone’s lives, being active becomes a chore for us. But back then, riding my bike up and down the road was just my typical after-school or Saturday activity.
I remember when I went on these rides, I absolutely loved the beginning stretch to the nearest mile road. I was riding with the wind, and everything was easy. But I dreaded turning around and going back home, because that’s the hardest part. Time to ride against the wind. The wind speed always seemed to be significantly higher than it was earlier, and I always got way too tired to bike the whole mile back. Around the 1/2 mile point, I’d start to walk my bike because walking was a lot easier than biking against the wind.
Sometimes I’d be riding my bike against the wind on the beginning stretch. I’d so be looking forward to turning around and getting to ride home with ease. But, when this happened, it seemed like the moment I turned back around to bike home, the wind direction would change again, forcing me to ride against the wind. Again. At this point, I would most likely slop myself down onto the gravel in the most dramatic way possible and proceed to entertain myself for a while by crushing the ants on the road with my fingers. Or possibly eating them. I was kind of a weird kid.
Do you ever feel like life is that way sometimes? Going with the flow is so easy. Nobody likes being different. Everyone feels uncomfortable with being different. We even feel uncomfortable with around different. (Although, lately with the current trend being “hipster”, we feel a little less uncomfortable with different. But then again, it’s not really that altogether different because it’s trendy. Does anyone else find that to be incredibly ironic?) But we still feel uncomfortable being around people that are really different.
There used to be a quote when I was around middle school age that went something like this: “A true friend walks in when everyone else walks out.” I was always really encouraged by this quote because in grades 9-11, it felt like there were a lot more people walking out of my life than walking in. But that’s not the point. The point is the person walking in in this situation was doing something the world would deem as “unpopular”, or “weird”, or “different”. Going against the grain is hard. Doing the unpopular thing is difficult. Being the one who chooses to speak for the ones who are too afraid to speak up isn’t easy. Riding a bike against the wind is tiring.
There’s a small hill in the road just south of my parent’s driveway. At the end of these biking expeditions I went on as a kid, I’d ride my bike up the hill and then ride back down, determined to turn into the driveway without using the brakes. Bad idea, I know. I think I wiped out almost every time. That’s the only time I liked riding my bike against the wind. It felt so good with the wind blowing in my face, causing my hair to blow back like a supermodel’s in front of a fan. It made the wiping out at the end of the driveway a little more bearable. The hill made going against the wind easy.
I believe that’s how it is with being a Christian. The more people I’m exposed to, the more I realize how much being a Christian is going against the grain. Being a church-going, sold-out-for-Jesus Christian isn’t as popular as I thought it was growing up. We’re hated, we’re criticized, and we’re mocked for what we believe in. Many people don’t even understand how we can believe what we do. Last week, I overheard a conversation at my job. Three of my co-workers started talking about “religious” people. One of them mentioned that she’d read through the Old Testament and just couldn’t understand why Christians could believe in a god so evil. But that’s the danger of picking the Bible apart. It needs to be confronted as a whole, not as two different parts. (Even though, I’m pretty sure that happens more than I’d like to think in Christian circles.) To my shame, I didn’t even interject anything into the conversation at all. I just went along with my work and ignored it almost completely. Talk about a slap in God’s face, huh? He handed me a great opportunity for ministry (and quite an obvious one too) and I just nonchalantly handed it back to Him saying I didn’t want it. Not something I’m proud of. Need to work on that.
Just like the hill made going against the wind easy, God makes going against the wind of society easier. Notice how I said easier instead of easy. It’s still not easy. If it was easy, I would’ve taken that opportunity mentioned above and ran with it! It’s still hard. Having God on your side doesn’t mean you’re not gonna get mocked or criticized, but it makes it a little more bearable because through it, you can be sure that the light of Jesus is shining through. Then you end up not caring as much of what other people think. God is very creative. He can use anything to speak to people. That’s something I’ve learned recently. (But that’s for another time.)
I just have to admit, these thoughts are messy (and as usual, I don’t think they’ll even make complete sense to anyone other than me). I still care way too much about what other people think of me, but I’m learning. This is what God’s been teaching me this week. And I’ve still got a lot to learn and a long way to go, but that’s okay.
Because when everyone else walks out, God walks in.
P.S. Actually, here’s a little secret: He was never out to begin with.
