Training Wheels
For Augie’s birthday this past August we purchased a new bicycle for him. His old one was getting a bit small, and a bike is always a great gift in my book. After having no luck at Dick’s Sporting Goods, Augie found one at Target he liked—I suspect the neon-like green on it was a factor. Into the bed of the truck it went…well, after we paid for it, of course. 🙂
Now, I knew we were taking a chance. The bicycle was the right size, but Augie had not actually learned to ride one yet…and there were no training wheels on this model. My hope was that if I took him to the paved play area at the elementary school (right next to our apartment complex) he’d learn quickly (and with minimal spills).
Let’s just say that it soon became clear that my hope wasn’t going be fulfilled. It’s not Augie’s fault; I hadn’t taken him out enough previously on his old bicycle. We had to switch back to his smaller bike with training wheels.
I’m sharing this with you because when I was, unsuccessfully, trying to get Augie to ride his new bicycle I noticed several reasons he did not succeed:
- First, he didn’t even sense a need to balance.
- Second, he plain just didn’t have the coordination.
- And third, he didn’t focus (for instance, he would look over at other kids playing when he should have been looking at where he was going).
Basically, as much as he liked riding the birthday bicycle he wasn’t ready to do it on his own, and he needed training wheels.
There is a sermon hidden in there somewhere…
Of course, a preacher doesn’t need even this much to have something to spawn a sermon from. 🙂
I would suggest that Augie’s experience can be analogized to the spiritual…and let’s see how together…
