Passing On The Left

I’m an avid cyclist on my own. I completed my first 100 mile ride - a century- this summer for my 61st birthday! I typically ride on a multiuse path that runs for miles near my home. This summer, before heading out on my own for training and head-clearing personal rides, my husband and I have created a regular routine of early morning rides before he has to be in front of his home office computer.

The path can be a bit of a busy place. Walkers, runners and bikers pass each other with nods and smiles and “good mornings!” We are delighted to pass “the regulars” who have become part of our routine. We recognize them from afar. They have gotten used to my bell and my cheerful warning of “Passing on the left, two bikes!” We know how they will react with their movement.

I have had “close calls” where walkers and runners I need to pass don’t hear my bell and my shouting as I’m approaching from behind. I often leave startled people in my wake and on occasion hear them yelling at me. It saddens me as I know I’ve tried to reach them.

These close calls are more frequent in the last couple of years because of a troubling trend. As technology has developed with airpods and blue tooth, more runners, walkers and bikers are using noise-cancelling headphones. I call out and wildly ring my bell sending out my safety alarm. Often they don’t move, or worse, shift into my side of the path because they haven’t heard my warning. Every time I approach someone to pass I wonder, “Can you hear me?”

I wonder if God feels the same way as He watches us walk and run through our lives on our own path. I wonder if He is saddened by our willingness to cut off the sound of His voice through our own “God’s voice cancelling headphones” like busyness and not taking time to be in His Word. In Hebrews 2:1 we hear, “We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” (NIV) Are will filling God with joy as He sees us follow His call, or does His heart ache as we continue on our own path often drifting away from the plan He has for us and perhaps into potential disaster?

Many squirrels and chipmunks are part of my rides. They are so focused on the shiny object of a nut they are willing to dart out across the path even though they hear the sound of my bike. They pause and look and just keep going, coming dangerously close to disaster.

How do we do this in our lives? God is speaking to us. He calls to us to teach us, encourage us and redirect us. Are we too intent on getting to the shiny object to heed His warning? Are we too busy to be still and listen for His voice? (Psalm 46:10) Do we think a quick fix with Word, sacrament and some praise on Sunday morning is enough to get us by in our lives? We, like the squirrels, know the sounds we should be listening for to keep us safe. We know that not listening will bring us to decisions that may not bless our lives or even harm us. The truth is, the shiny object of our own will, of doing things our way, can be too much. The “power hour” of Sunday mornings won’t keep us from being drawn away from God. It is working on our own relationship with Him that will. Learning to recognize and hear His voice.

This entire summer, we have ridden past an older gentleman-one of our regulars- who merely puts out his left hand when he hears my familiar double ding followed by “Passing on the left, 2 bikes”. We don’t usually see him on the return trip and we’ve never really spoken to him. The other day, he was stopped on the side of the path with other walkers. He was facing us for the first time as we approached. He called out “Hey, It’s 2 Bikes!” Boy did we smile! The next morning, we noticed he was missing on our ride. Maybe it was too cold, or he got a late (or early start). Suddenly, we heard, “Hey! Two Bikes!” There he was, driving by in his car with his window down, sporting a smile shining like the sun! Holding up traffic, he explained that he was on his way for a few days at a cabin in southern Ohio, but he’d be back on Monday. We suddenly have a relationship with him. He came to know us by our sound. Such a moment of joy on our ride!

God longs for us to not only hear His voice, but be a “regular”. Beyond hearing His voice, He wants us recognize it and further, seek it out and wait for it with expectancy.

To be like Samuel and say, “Speak, for your servant hears.”