God works in crazy ways.
Last week we did some “ATLing”, which is World Race lingo for “asking the Lord” what to do. This usually starts through group prayer and writing down the pictures and thoughts that come to our imagination. Crazy encounters have followed our ATL time, both immediately afterward and days later.
On this particular day, I had a vision of bicycles. I enjoy fixing bikes and have worked at a bike shop for the past four summers. Before I left on the race, I had a crazy feeling to bring a portable toolset and some bike lube, knowing that it would end up as a ministry in one way or another.
In my mind, the impact of this unknown bike ministry had always been small, but whenever we get small thoughts about God, He will show up and teach us how big He really is. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to talk to any cyclists that day, but I knew God had a greater plan with everything.
Part of me did have to trust though. Frustration easily comes from working on old, beat up bicycles that are well past their timeframe for being tuned up, which describes most bikes in the third world. Fixing bicycles like these can be near impossible, so I really enjoy working on brand new bikes instead. At work, I get the privilege of assembling them straight out of the box, so most of my background as a bike mechanic spoiled me.
Our Sunday morning was spent at the usual church service in Backdoor, but there were two guest speakers from Atlanta. At the end of the service, one of the men explained a vision he had about equipping the local pastors with bikes. This got my attention pretty fast.
The idea actually came to him from Pastor Surprise’s book, which explained the difficulties faced by pastors in poor, rural, and hilly communities. (I’ll write more about him in my next blog.) Most pastors don’t have a car, which makes it hard to get around and connect with people. This can slow down community development and the spread of the Gospel.
Then my mind was blown. As he shard this, someone brought a bicycle box up to the stage. It was for a Raleigh bicycle, the same brand my bike shop specializes in back home.
Okay, seriously Lord. What the heck?
For the rest of the service, I couldn’t stop thinking about the bikes. I didn’t know what their plan was for assembly, but I figured I would talk to the man who had the vision and offer to help however I could. He was hard to track down after the service, but I eventually found a moment to introduce myself and begin conversation. “I don’t know how you plan to assemble the bikes, but I work at a Raleigh dealership in the US and build them over the summer.”
Excitement captured his face the moment I said that. “You’re not going to believe this,” he replied. “Right when you came up to me, I was asking around to see if they could find anyone nearby to build the bikes. We didn’t know they would come like this and we were trying to figure out what to do.”
We had a great conversation and I explained the calling to bring bike tools and how I had no idea what it would bring. He encouraged me to keep listening to the little things and prayed over the rest of my trip.
God works in crazy ways. I’ve wondered why He wanted me at this location in South Africa, but now I know. He wanted me to build bicycles.
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But the story isn’t over. Just when we think we’re done learning lessons, God is just getting started. He brought me to White River to build bicycles, but He also had some lessons to teach me through them. He often speaks to me in themes, so bicycles became the theme for this week.
Working with an audience
(Photo by Rich Bowman)
LESSON 1: Be patient and like a child
My team came along to help separate the parts from the packaging, but we found out the boxes were moved to a nearby preschool. Once we began the bike assembly, a bunch of excited little kids joined us. Aside from playing with the packaging and bubble wrap, they wanted to help but weren’t doing much at all. They shouted at us eagerly in Swazi and Zulu and spoke little to no English.
While asking God for patience and grace to handle the kids, He helped me realize that I can be like them sometimes. I can get too excited about things and think I’m helping Him through my limited perspective, but instead I need to focus more on listening than helping. He really doesn’t need my help at all, but He still generously invites me to be part of the process when I seek Him first instead of what I can do on my own.
With this eye-opener, I felt inspired to treat the kids more like how He treats me. Instead of shooing them away, I tried to explain what I was doing because they treasured seeing it. Too often, I pop the bubble wrap of life without seeing the bike that needs to get put together, but God will mercifully show the same patience to me as He patiently communicates with my heart.
LESSON 2: Be culturally sensitive
It didn’t take long to realize the international bike models were different than the ones I’m used to back home and required different tools. This began a lesson in cultural sensitivity. I wasn’t fully prepared for the cross-cultural mechanics, so I needed to find some tools to borrow and mentally figure things out before getting them right. This caused some frustration, but it was good to learn.
Before we can do anything helpful in a culture outside our own, we need to be patient and observant. Even if we know a lot about something, we can’t let our pride get in the way of asking for help.
Also, the shipping standards are different in Africa, so the bikes had taken more of a beating in transit. I learned this relates to working with other people. Some have been shipped differently through life and experience more difficulties. You can’t work with them the same way until you realize the extra steps involved. Thankfully, Jesus is Mechanically skilled in every culture.
LESSON 3: Be tuned up
One important thing about bikes (and any piece of machinery) is they need to be frequently tuned up. If not, they will gradually lose their efficiency and fall apart before reading their full potential. I felt this lesson carry over spiritually along the lines of how much time we spend with God, the Master Mechanic.
There are lots of people with crooked wheels and loose parts. They are trying to do things on their own, but like bicycles, they intended for a greater purpose. We can only fix so much when we’re out of tune, pedaling aimlessly, and not riding the same direction we steer. Without the right tools and experience, we can only fix so much so we have to trust a master mechanic.
We need to willingly put ourselves on His workbench to be tuned up in ways we can’t see. He is willing to fix things whenever they start to go wrong, which most of the time is before we can see them. This includes cleaning, another important piece of bike mechanics. Constant riding accumulates a lot of junk, and like bikes, we need frequent cleaning to work how we were intended. This is especially true on our hearts.
I’ve seen a lot of bikes in poor condition because they avoid getting tuned up and spend most of their time in a garage of solitary confinement. This can even mean going to church once a week and not reaching our full potential of what we are called to as a follower of Christ, especially among community.
LESSON 4: Finish what you can
Finally, a hard lesson I had to learn was to control the things I can and not get frustrated by what I can’t do. God has a sense of humor too; sometimes He uses the things I like the most to teach me this lesson. I love working on bikes, but they aren’t the same outside of a bike shop full of tools.
A few days ago, I was frustrated and talking about this with Johnny, one of our contacts at MCV. He gave me the advice I needed to hear: “Don’t let that get you down. Do what you can and trust Jesus to finish the rest. He called you to start the job, so you have to let go of what you can’t do and trust that someone else is called to finish the rest.”
For me, this advice was not only about the bikes but toward myself as well. This month has been especially great (and hard) to trust in Jesus more and know there is a lot I can’t do on my own.
Most of my World Race hasn’t been about what I can do, but rather what’s been done in me. I’ve learned a lot of lessons, including the ones this week: to be patient and like a child, culturally sensitive, to let myself be “tuned up”, and to trust Jesus to finish the rest. This trip is laying down the foundation for the rest of my life, especially as I spend more time learning from the Master Mechanic.
(Photo by Ashli Blackwell)
