When I was a young child around the age of five, I received from my parents, a gift.  This gift was a Spiderman bicycle.  It came with training wheels and everyday I used to ride it up and down the sidewalk pretending I was “Ponch”.  Just in case your eighties pop culture trivia is not all that great, “Ponch” was the character played by Eric Estrada from the hit  television show about two motorcycle highway patrolmen, called “Chips”.  I thought he was so cool.  My friend Danny and I used to argue who would play the motorcycle officer, “Ponch” and who would play his road sidekick, “John”.  None of us wanted to play “John”, because well, he was just too boring.  Anyway, it wasn’t until my grandfather, or a.k.a, “Buppa”, came to visit us for a couple of weeks, that I finally was able to ditch the training wheels.  I remember it was very difficult for me at first. Buppa, would hold on to the seat and then whenever he would let go, “splat”, down I would hit the pavement.  I just couldn’t seem to balance myself but even with some slight bruises on the knee, I found myself determined, like a rodeo cowboy saddling up once more to tame the stallion once again.  Yes, sir, I had to learn this thing, cause after all, “Ponch” didn’t chase down bad guys with a motorcycle on kiddie wheels and neither was I going to. I had to do this, I had to learn.  Buppa, noticed my frustrations, and just when I was getting slightly discouraged, he told me to be patient and don’t think too hard, just let it come naturally.  He then changed tactics, and reminded me of a time when I was two and how I used to ride my favorite toddler push bike around the house.  He said I’d just plop on the bike and use my two feet to just give me a push and I’d coast for awhile and then push off again.   He said to give that a try starting out, then coast, then start pedaling. What he told me made perfect sense, and just like that I pushed off until I was coasting well enough that I was able to get a hold of the pedals and before I knew it I was long gone, just pedaling carefree down the sidewalk, big smile on my face, full of accomplishment. That was one of my very first memories that I remember as a child and today looking back, I am forever grateful that my grandfather taught me these skills, skills that I still use to this day, skills that enable me to experience the sheer pleasure and joy that bike riding can give you. And it all started as a gift my parents bought me when I was five.  I was thinking about this in relation to another gift that I received when I was eight.  The gift given to me by my heavenly Father, the gift of eternal life by faith in Jesus.  Like riding a bike, I got excited and started to try and learn all I could about this gift.  In fact I learned that eternal life was a relationship with the Father and it was mine never to be taken away from me.  In my learning process on how to use the gift, I would often fall from time to time, sometimes, getting myself all bruised up in the knees.  But God sent me wonderful mentors, like my father, and other men of faith that I could learn from and model myself after, men and Godly women to come alongside me and teach me how to have proper balance in life; God first and everything else second.  There was a time I neglected my gift, and stopped using it and I remember how foolish I was thinking I could experience the same results. But the gift of God’s love and mercy was always still there with me that eventually I found myself back on it again pedaling down the trail of the straight and narrow, full of joy that only comes when using this gift. Jesus says in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly”.  Jesus gives us the gift of eternal life and that’s for free, no strings attached and it’s just by believing in Him but that’s not all, he wants us to experience it abundantly or fully.  Eternal life is not just to be received but to be used.  For us to experience the quality of eternal life, that’s where we have to participate along with Him through learning, and obedience.  My parents gave me a bike when I was five, but for me to fully enjoy the experience of bike riding I had to get on the bike and learn to ride it.  I had to have someone teach me, I couldn’t do it on my own.  A lot of believers miss out on the quality of eternal life and never fully grow because they never had a spiritual “Buppa” to come alongside them and disciple them, to show them how to push off so they could ditch the kiddie wheels for good. If you have received this wonderful amazing gift of eternal life, my prayer for you is that you are using it to the fullest.  If not then may I ask why not?   You are only missing out on what the Lord truly has for you.  Yes, receiving this gift is incredible and there is nothing like it but using it is where the real joy is.  And if you are using it, do you ever take the time to train others on how they too can pedal on a spiritual bike ride without training wheels? Or maybe you’re the person that’s been riding for awhile but now you have gotten tired and are tempted to just get off the bike and quit but I want to encourage you to keep going, don’t stop.  You see, the Lord doesn’t just give us any bike, He gives us a tandem bike.  In fact, you may think you’re pedaling on your own but all along He’s always been the one in the front doing most of the work and guess who gets the credit for the pedaling?  You of course, and how do I know, cause He’s been doing that for me all these years since I got on that bike at eight years of age.  Yes, my God, the best riding partner one could ever have is still with me, pedaling for me.  Even after all my stubbornness I have put Him through, the times I quit, or went my own way, it’s amazing He still takes pleasure in wanting to ride with me. And as we coast down the trail of life, the wind blowing through my hair, I hear Him from time to time encouraging me with words of love as He calls out my name, “Ponch” and although I always insist He should play the part of the cool guy, He just smiles and humbly says, “Just call me John”.