BICYCLING WITH MY BOYS

Getting my two bicycles out of the shop was a costly ordeal. The bill was $145. They had to do a significant amount of work to get them back into working order. One of my bikes had been shaken apart while being stowed outside, then inside of my truck. Important components were lost. The other bicycle had general wear & stress from heavy use from earlier this year.

I attach a child's bike-trailer hybrid to my seat post & have my four-year-old son help me pedal. It's kind of like a bicycle built for two, with a bend in the middle. Forest loves it & neighbors admire the contraption. My eight-year-old son, Hunter, is very proficient at writing on two wheels. I think it was about two years ago that we took his training wheels off.

We all wear helmets while we pedal around the neighborhood. The boys have heard stories of my past bicycling adventures, including the time when I was in a bad wreck, where a helmet saved my life. It was split from front to back & my concussion caused me to say the craziest things to the emergency workers...in Spanish.

I don't give up my gadgets during our two-wheeled adventures around the neighborhood. I bring my truck's dash cam along, just in case something interesting happens during our ride. And, I bring my iPhone – in which I have the Waze app engaged. Several streets around here have yet to be confirmed in the Waze database, mostly Cul-de-sacs & dead-end roads. I can identify these unconfirmed sections of roadway by the Pac-Man like dots adorning the map's road. Whenever I ride through such areas, my truck avatar transforms into Pac-Man & I earn points. The only value of these points are bragging rights, as I inch my way toward the sought-after status of "King Wazer."

In other news, my mom arrived in Shawnee, Oklahoma today. She will stay with my dad until Wednesday, when she will drive back home to Springfield, Missouri. Dad has an apartment in the Potawatomi housing, as he has needed to be near Oklahoma City so frequently for his numerous heart treatments at the Oklahoma heart Hospital. I'd say he spends about 60% of his time down there. Friends we knew from Hawaii will be traveling from Arizona & will spend a few days with my parents, as they explore options for an idea that my dad wants to set into motion. I will remain mostly mum about it, until events unfold further.

I attended First Baptist Church with my grandpa this morning. He greeted for about two hours prior, so his 86 year-old body wasn't much in the mood for standing during the various songs. Sunday mornings are always a time that I especially miss Grandma Berthena. It's been almost 3 years since she passed away. She will live forever in my heart. Fewer and fewer people that I knew from my late teenage years still attend the church, but there still are a few familiar faces & friendly acquaintances. The pastor preached from John, chapter 3 – in which an awkward conversation between Jesus and the chief Pharisee, Nicodemus occurred - Where the religious big shot of the day was informed that he was doing it all wrong: His own compliance to the Law wouldn't do it. He had to be born again, of water & of spirit. This is one of the areas of the Bible where there are sharp differences of opinion among Christian denominations. According to Baptist doctrine, being "born of water" harkens back to the book of Ezekiel (Speaking of God purifying hearts from sin), while other sects of Christianity interpret this to mean that baptism is a necessary component of salvation. So many denominations exist because the Bible can be interpreted in so many different ways. Many well-intentioned people have done their very best to interpret the Scriptures & have prayed for guidance from the Holy Spirit, only to end up with wildly different perspectives. Much suffering has resulted from this. It's a puzzling reality.