Bicycle-wrangling

In an effort to get a little bit fitter and to reduce my impact on the environment I try to cycle to the church building where I serve when I can. Before you get impressed, let me confess that my bike is electric-assisted (there are long and steep hills on the journey) and I am mainly a fair-weather cyclist (if there is inclement weather forecast I will either get a lift with my wife on her way to work or use my car).

Recently the electric-assist stopped working properly. It became intermittent – cutting out and leaving me using my muscles alone. That almost always happened when I was going up a steep hill, which was exhausting. I contacted the seller of the electric-assist kit and eventually we worked out the problem and have resolved it. Hooray!

I try to look after the bike as well as I can. I check out the tyre pressures and adjust bits and pieces that need adjusting. But there is one aspect of bicycles that is a mystery to me: derailleur gears. I watch videos, I read websites and while I understand what should be happening they all use strange words to explain what the different components are, and when they tell me to adjust this screw or that nut I can’t tell whether I am making it better or worse. When it works perfectly the changing of the gears is lovely and makes riding the bike (with or without electrical assistance) much easier.

But when, as today, I have And Can It Be? moments then it’s incredibly frustrating.

What are And Can It Be? moments, I hear you think. (Yes, I know what you’re thinking. You’re now thinking ‘get on with it’). In that hymn there is a line ‘My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose went forth and followed thee.’

When the chain comes off it usually finds somewhere to get jammed and it takes a lot of fettling and finagling, and the transfer of a lot of oil from the chain to my hands, to free the chain and get it back where it should.

I make adjustments according to the instructional videos (guessing at some of the words) but it doesn’t seem to make a difference. I had 2 And Can It Be? moments on my way to the church building this morning. The irony of that is that not long before on my journey I had congratulated myself on having adjusted the gears successfully.

What would make it so much easier than trying to decipher videos and websites would be if I found someone who could talk me through it in person, showing me what to do and helping me to learn.

That’s one of the things that church should be about – helping one another in person to follow Jesus – especially when we experience an And Can It Be? moment and the chain comes off in our life. Who would that be for you? It could be a few friends, a home group, someone with whom you have a particular agreement to support each other… If you haven’t got someone, and are not part of a church, I would encourage you to find one. Of course you can just watch videos and read websites about being a follower of Jesus (and PLEASE be discerning!!!) but my experience of being a follower of Jesus for 50 years is that it’s far better to have people with you ‘in person’.

Be blessed, be a blessing