Coming back from a vist with friends, I apparently took one switch-back curve a little too fast as the back tire slid out and I dropped to the ground. The drop itself was not bad, but that sudden stop on the bottom was not nearly as pleasant. It hurt a bit but I'm not really hurt other than a sore spot or two. I think I might have fractured my ego, however.
My bike, on the other hand, wasn't as well-protected as I with my leathers, helment, boots and gloves. It sustained a terrible crunch to the crash bar and the left foor board looked to be bent out of recognition. The floor board was not really hurt to speak of, it was mostly dirt jamed in between the rubber and the metal. The crash bar did it's job of absorbing the brunt of the crash while protecting the rest of the bike and it's rider's left leg.
It looked bad at first. I took it off, tried to bend it back into some kind of shape but simply didn't have the tools or the bronze by myself to effect much change. I made some progress but not enough so it would fit back on the bike. It didn't look good until I talked to my friend and brother in Christ, Martin. He invited me to come out to his home shop, where there was lots of space and lots of tools to hammer out the problem, and hammer we did.
Two men, one sledge hammer and an assortment of wooden block over the course of about an hour, and we had that bar looking near enough to normal to give it a try hanging it back on the bike. Much to our surprise, it fit back on with that first attempt. It isn't perfect but if you look close enough to tell, you're looking too close.
My point, beside recognizing the help Martin provided, is to point out a biblical truth. What appeared to be a real bummer and the end of my expensive crash bar turned out to be the beginning of an exceptional day. Martin and I had wonderful fun working together on the bar, we had a nice ride afterwards, great conversation over a terrible meal. Martin asked me, "Explain to me how that after taking 45 minutes to get the food to us, the burgers are cold." I couldn't imagine. But we both agreed that we enjoyed a warm conversation over a cold meal.
The way things looked to be and the way things turned out to be were quite different. That is why the Bible says, "We live by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor 5:7). What is seen is the circumstances life brngs to bear but what God is doing in and through those circumstances is the unseen power that empowers our faith to fear not but trust in God to bring about good. Holding on to God in the middle of a storm, expecting him to bring us through it and even to prosper us in the process is faith. It is not having a blind eye to reality, it is having an open heart to providence. Jus' Sayn.
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