Beware of Making Sharp Turns on Your Spiritual Path

Photo source:  Billy Lush Board Company, Knoxville, TN

The day after paddling with my uncle at Watts Bar Lake, we headed to downtown Knoxville to try out the hydro bikes at the local paddle shop. Hydro bikes are something I’ve never done before, so I was very excited to try something new on the water.

These bikes look like actual bikes from the pedals up, but instead of wheels they have a similar feature on the left and the right as do the amphibious airplanes that land on. This is what keeps them stable and afloat in the water. In the front where the front wheel would be on a land bike is a front rudder. The handle bars are what turn the rudder so you can control the direction of the bike.

The guy who was working at the paddle shop told us not to turn the handle bars sharper than 45 degrees or else the rudder would be turned sideways and we would just be wasting energy pedaling and getting nowhere (much like if you turn the handle bars too sharp on a regular bike).

Just like in our spiritual walk, if we turn too sharp to the left or too sharp to the right, we can get stuck or stalled in our spiritual journey. Yes we will experience a few curves in our path, but we mustn’t overcorrect. We must make the adjustments in our steering that are within our control, and trust God to do the rest to get us straight and back on the path.

Failure is a part of life and there will always be times when we as humans will fail. But God’s promises do not. He is always available to help us straighten out our lives and start over. When we acknowledge our sins, He is ready and willing to help us start again.