Ice

I first started winter biking in December of 2013 on a mountain bike with 2” tires. On just my second ride, I was heading home on the recently plowed streets when my tiny tires slipped out from beneath the dark blue frame and threw me to the hard pavement.  My helmet bounced twice on the icy avenue, and I lay sprawled on the road not knowing what had just happened.  I heard some honking and a voice yelling, “Hey get off the road, you bum!” as a yellow school bus full of children passed and laughed at me.  I peeled myself off of the street like a slice of peanut butter toast from the kitchen floor and attempted to remount my bicycle.  I hadn’t realized that my seat had snapped off during the fall, leaving a sharp post protruding upward, until I attempted to settle into the saddle.  I quickly bounced back up with a “yeieiaah,” slipping from my breath.  I rode the rest of the way home…standing…without incident. 

This is not the only time that I have fallen on the ice.  I am sure you can relate…as I can’t imagine anyone growing up in the long, frozen winters of Minnesota without enduring a similar experience of falling on the ice. 

I recall falling on the ice while delivering a pizza in college…sacrificing my much younger body to save the pizza.  Nowadays…I’d forget the pizza and save myself. 

Some of the worst moments of ice catastrophe occur when I fall in front of my mother or my wife.  For inexplicable reasons, they find my near death experiences worthy of uncontrollable laughter. 

I spoke with an orthopedic surgeon at one time and asked him what created most of his patients.  He replied, “Ice…always ice.”…”Ice.”

When we fall on the ice, it happens so FAST! It is incredible! One moment I am standing...or riding my bike…or running…and the next…I am flat on the ground, sometimes on my back, sometimes on my face, and sometimes upside down.

I think that on the day that we come face to face with God Almighty and see Him in all of His glory…a similar experience will happen.  I think that when we see God…we will fall flat on our faces immediately…faster than a fall on the ice.  When we see His Holiness…we will not be able to stand…we will drop.  In fact, we see it evidenced in the Scriptures, Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1:28 and Revelation 5, (as well as others). In Revelation 5, we see angels and Godly people falling on their faces before, “He who sits on the throne and the Lamb!”

I don’t like falling on the ice…but honestly…I think that I am looking forward to falling on my face before God Almighty.  I know this…I am not even worthy to fall on my face before him…but He IS WORTHY…thus…on my face I will go.

May we come to see…and worship…the Holy God!