LITTLE BLUE BICYCLES

LITTLE BLUE BICYCLES

Every day a man would ride a blue bicycle through a customs checkpoint. The basket held three jars: one filled with sand, one filled with water, and one filled with nuts and bolts. The customs agents were suspicious and knew he was smuggling. They would open all the jars -- but the sand was just sand, the water was just water, and the nuts and bolts were just nuts and bolts.

They would search the man, and occasionally even take the bicycle apart but no contraband was found. Every day he would come back and forth and the knowledge that he was smuggling grew more and more, but they could not find how he was doing it.

Several years later one of the customs agent stopped the man on the little blue bicycle and said: "Today is my last day. I am going to retire. I have no desire to catch you but for the sake of my piece of mind, could you tell me what you've been smuggling all these years?"

The man replied, "I've been smuggling little blue bicycles."

Many would applaud the ingenuity of the man. Imagine putting something so obvious right under the noses of the customs agents and they never find what it is that you are doing. What a laugh!

Yet I recall the words of 1 Peter 1:13: “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled, set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do…”

When we come to the season of Lent, we must realize that in a unique way that God has been doing the same with the evil of this world. Every day Jesus comes into the lives of people and brings the one thing that we need the most. Some people feel like they need an answer to the questions of life, while others need a reason to continue. But in God’s way, He smuggles in the same thing every day. The grace and love of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Almighty God, continue to touch our lives with the Your special power. Remove the doubts from our minds and affirm the power of Your strength in the face of evil. Change our lives continually we pray, in the blessed name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

This has been Rev. Jim Massey. Join me again next week for our Mid-week Epistle and we will see who knows your name.