6-7-09 "can you avoid breaking the landspeed record?"

      A few weeks ago, my mom told me about the time she almost broke the current land speed record.

          On her bike.

                When she was seven.

     My mom had just learned to ride a bike and she thought it would be pretty sweet to ride as fast as she possibly could down a hill. She backed way up and began to pedal furiously. When she got to the crest of the hill, she was going just about as fast as she possibly could on an old, sibling-worn bike. She tipped over the side of the hill and gained speed and she flew down the hill- right into a barbed wire fence.

     About half way down the hill, my mom had realized that the fence was right in her path. Her mind told her to brake. Her hands would not obey. She forgot how the brakes worked and where they were located. Two seconds before the bloody collision, she let go of the handle bars.

CRASH!!!

The moral? Look before you leap. Something may look really cool- like flying down a hill on your brother's old bike- but there might be a barbed wire fence at the bottom. Don't jump into something before looking into it first. You could end up commited to something you hate. You could end up with your emotional bike tires punctured and your feellings all torn up. I have got my self into some sticky situations before. Trust me, it's hard to go through with something you don't want to do, but it's harder to pull out when everyone's depending on you (not to mention it's just plain rude).

     One way I could have avoided being stuck between a rock and a hard place was to listen to my dad. I have to admit: He's ALWAYS right when it comes to making commitments (and pretty much everything else). He tells me not to overfill my schedule, but do I listen to him? No. (Oh, Daddy, I can take this class AND be in that performance; no problem!) And I always wish I had.

     Another way is to pray about what I should do. You may be thinking, "Oh, right. Like God cares which sport I choose. Besides, it's my life." But God will lead you if you ask for his guidance. And when you're following his lead, you'll never find youself flying down a hill at a million miles an hour headed towards a barbed wire fence.