My son Jeremy is home for a couple of weeks. One of my great joys is riding bikes with him. He is a marvelous athlete so when the two of us go out together to ride it is an amazingly great and difficult ride. I have blogged about biking before. There is a slip stream behind a cyclist that makes an enormous difference. Today Jeremy and I rode 37 miles at a demanding pace. We alternated being in front. After being in front for a mile I could hardly wait to slip in behind him and get some relief. Being in the slip stream means your front tire is about 6 inches from the rear tire of the one in front. If you drop farther than a couple of feet it is called "losing the wheel" and it means you are toast. If you and your partner were scooting along at say 25mph and you lost his wheel you would drop to about 20mph and still be working as hard as ever. To really rest would mean you would drop into the teens to catch your breath. You cannot lose the wheel of the rider in front of you. Today's ride made me think of the church. I think when people drop out of church it is like losing a wheel. They think it is not that bad at first but after a while it really takes a toll. There is no where in the Bible where it talks about a Christian being without a church. I think because it is so hard to try to do it alone. I guess what I am saying is church helps you stay close to people moving in the same direction. In fact if church is really working the way it should then you will have people around you who are stronger than you are and pulling you around and people counting on you that you are stronger than hugging your wheel. And so it is. Whatever you do, don't drop back, stay home or lose a wheel. You may never make it home.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
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3 comments:
What are the reasons people leave the church? At Hudson, it would not be that the Word is not being taught. Maybe small slights, or insensitivities, etc. that are not so small to to the recipient. With our recent growth, "missing a few" that stop attending would be easy. Let us not miss anyone. Don't see someone for a while, call them. Could be a very important call.
With a church it's like being in the middle of a whole peloton of riders. It's hard to sneak out of the side or back if your physically surrounded by those who care for you. And sometimes you don't even have to peddle.
One of the reasons people leave churches is because they are not growing spiritually, as a Christian. Don't see this being the case at HCC. However, if somebody is missing in action, for whatever reason, members and/or staff need to phone.
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