My family and I lived in Ireland for eight years. During our time in Ballincollig, Co. Cork, I became a fan of cycling. At the time, two Irish guys, Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche were among the world’s best. They were national heroes.
As an American living in
Ireland I was able to enjoy the Irish success and, at the same time, celebrate
the rise of three-time Tour DeFrance winner, Greg LeMond. In time, LeMond’s fame was overshadowed by
Lance Armstrong.
I loved the sport of
cycling. I admired the grueling physical
nature of the sport. In time, I came to understand there was strategy used by
the various teams. I came to appreciate the importance of
teamwork, role players with different areas of expertise. Some of the guys excelled in the
mountains. Others were sprinters. Some even were on the team to play defense, to
protect the star, who excelled in the mountains and during the sprint. With the retirement of Greg LeMond, Lance
Armstrong became a household name around the world. Unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons,
Lance Armstrong is still a household name.
I was recently thinking of
the parallels between winning, the right way, as a cyclist and as a Follower of
Jesus.
Winning cyclists understand
the value of hard work, self-discipline and aerodynamics. Huh... aerodynamics, YES! In cycling, [or car racing, and speed skating,] “Drafting”
is a technique where, at least two, moving objects fall in line to reduce the
overall effect of wind resistance or “drag.” Riding alone is a sure recipe for
failure.
The same is true for the
follower of Jesus. The resistance we
face is the strong wind of conventional wisdom, peer pressure or anything which
contradicts the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles.
The Apostle Paul never speaks
about “drafting,” in the cyclist sense of the word, but he continually calls us
to live life in community. A dozen or so times in the New Testament, the “one
anothers,” serve as the biblical equivalent to drafting.
In both cycling and Walking
with Jesus, “riding alone” always leads to drifting. In Hebrews 2:1 the writer encourages us to
“pay more careful attention… to what we have heard. “ He is speaking about the writings in the Old
Testament, the Gospels and the Epistles.
The words literally mean, “hold in your mind.”
We “hold” the teachings of
Jesus and the Apostles in our mind to the extent we know and apply the
Scriptures to the details of our day to day life.
The verse [Hebrews 2:1]
begins with a good idea and ends with a strong reminder that we will “drift
away” if we neglect or ignore “what we have heard.”
The word drift describes a
slow, almost invisible, process where we eventually abandon a person, position
or perspective.
In Lance Armstrong we have a
painful example of what “drifting” looks like in his professional life. The landscape is littered with casualties of
his drifting.
My prayer for us is that we
face the resistance of the world, as we know it, by “drafting,” in a community
of “one anothers.” Victory in this race
is a reasonable goal for every follow of Jesus.
