the lovely anna meadows is the associate youth pastor at lifechurch.tv’s nw okc campus (the same one as scott!) another lifer i am excited about meeting – and her mom rocks too! check out anna’s blog here!
i hope you all are enjoying these guest blogs – tomorrow…you will see the most disturbing photo EVER posted on flowerdust. stay tuned…you won’t wanna miss it!
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?Connected to the Axis?
I love riding bikes. Right behind our church building there?s a lake with beautiful trails. The winding sidewalk butts up against a plush green golf course and when the weather permits it?s my oasis, my retrieve from the craziness of life.
Sometimes I like to take my bike around the 9 mile trail and I?ve reached a personal best time of 40 minutes.
Not bad considering I still ride a bike with streamers on the handle bars.
Okay, so I?m kidding about the streamers, but I?m not kidding about how refreshing it is. Riding gives me time to think, pray, listen, which is sometimes hard to do if I don?t make an intentional effort.
As I was riding one day I noticed something about the wheels of my bike. There?s this place in the middle called the axis and no matter how fast the wheel turns or how bumpy the road gets, this place in the middle of the wheel stays still. If it didn?t stay still the wheel wouldn?t be able to turn. All the spokes of the bike are connected to the axis and that?s what makes the wheel able to do its job.
Lately, God has been showing me that He must become the axis in my life. Like the axis on my bike wheel He has to be an unmoving, constant force in my life that every spoke, like my work life, personal life, family life, everyday life, is connected to. If He?s not, then I won?t be able to do the work He?s prepared for me to do. No matter what comes my way, or how bumpy the road gets I will be protected because I?m connected to the axis.
Is every spoke of your life connected to the axis?
How would your life look different if they were?
As a road biker myself (and no, my bike doesn’t have streamers attached to the handlebar) I can really relate to the analogy. Extrapolating further on your analogy, if one of the spokes of the bike was loosely connected to the axis, the wheel wouldn’t be ‘true’ and so the bike would ride a lot harder. The daily challenge is ensuring that all my “spokes” are connected to the axis. Great post.
Wow, what a great visual for what God is.
My spokes are connected in some areas and others just look like they are connected, and sometimes I wonder why my bike is always crashing. It is a daily repair job to get all they unconnecteds connected, somewhat as a daily upkeep. I look forward to the day when no upkeep is required and I can just ride.
And you’re only 21? Good grief, Anna. Will you mentor me? :)
um…working on this one. This week, it is 1 Peter 1:13 getting my mind ready. Being prepared. Actually working on the thoughts in and out. Yup…broken spokes for Kristi Fair this week. Grrrrr.
i’ve broken both my bike axis (mountain biking can get rough) which was ugly, and my spiritual axis…which is the ugliest thing you’ll ever see!
Joseph–Great thoughts!
Stacey–Thank you for your honesty… sometimes it’s easy to make it look like some spokes are connected and they’re really not…
Cindy–You crack me up! I was actually thinking you could mentor me!
Kristi–Thoughts are a huge struggle for me… thank you for sharing that verse!
Aaron–the good thing is He’s always there ready to pick us up again when we crash! Thank God for that.
thanks for the post, anna…
this reminds me of one of the passages read at my wife’s and my wedding from Ecclesiastes about a three-stranded cord…
we long to always let Christ be the strongest, central cord sustaining us as the other two…
well said…
You know Anna, I love your heart and how you pursue God! Half the battle is knowing that HE is ALREADY the Axis -whether we know it or not – believing it so much that you live your life trusting Him the same way you trust your bike to get you around. We don’t have to make Him the Axis – just allow Him to do His job…. which most of the time is a restful place to be. :O) I don’t know how to insert smiley’s!
Craig Groeschel told a similar story in his book Chazown which we are using as a supplemental study in one of our classes at church. I spent 44 years trying to be the axis in my own life. I never got very far. Since becoming a Christian 4 years ago, I become acutely aware when Jesus isn’t my axis because my ‘bike’ never goes down the straight path. I stop often to adjust my steering. :)
Great visual Anna- We have to keep the Main Thing the main thing!