Ollie was surprised to find his dad destroying an old bicycle that had hung for years in the back of the garage. Piece by piece, he was disassembling and burying it in a three-foot hole. “What’s goin’ on, Dad?” asked the boy.
Sitting on the edge of the patio, the man said, “Son, my granddaddy had a terrible temper and he cussed all his life. My daddy had a temper and did the same. I have a terrible temper and I’ve cussed all my life. Yesterday I saw how you lost your temper and said those words. I made up my mind I’d break the cycle, and I’ve asked God to make me a new man for your sake. I decided to do something to help me remember how important this is. So I’m literally breaking this bicycle and burying it.”
Ollie didn’t really understand his father’s words that day, but in coming days he saw the difference, and in coming years he understood.
Christ can help you break and bury cycles of dysfunction, addiction, anger, and sin in your life. You have to make up your mind to do it, then trust His all-sufficient grace. You may not destroy a bike, but find a meaningful way to memorialize the end of a long line of sin.
David Jeremiah