There was a bike thief in the neighborhood. There were bikes missing all over the place. That didn't matter that much until mine was missing. I had experienced this before. I had a rainbow bike one time. I think it was the first real (2 wheeled) bike I had. It was stolen off an Air Force Base, which is rare and odd. If the boy that stole it knew what would have happened to his Daddy if he had got caught, he would not have stole that bike. Of course, it might have been stolen by one of those CIVILIANS- you know how they are. I don't think I ever got that rainbow bike back, but I don't quite remember. Some scars we just repress.
But now 'ole blue' was missing. 'Ole blue' was not the best bike I ever had. Actually, probably the worst. It was bought at a yard sale, picked up out of a ditch, fell out of a garbage truck or something like that. It was a low period in my bike world, however, even with all that, 'ole blue' was mine. It doesn't matter that I remember riding 'ole blue' at least one day without a seat on it and that pole from the frame sticking straight up as I stood over it and rode. (Thank you, Lord, for watching over me that day in one of the dumbest acts that I have ever participated in.) Even with all that, 'ole blue' was mine and now it was gone.
I don't remember the investigation nor any wanted posters nor helicopter flyovers, I just remember we found out who it was and decided to go and get it. My older brother and a neighbor, who had less sense than we did, took off over into the other neighborhood and came to his house that summer day. His parents were not at home. That's a good sign! I don't remember the approach. He might have been in the yard and saw us coming and ran in the house or we might have knocked on the door and saw him run for cover, but somehow we were in the house, had chased him into his bathroom tub, and they were holding him. Now my middle brother is 5 years older than me and the neighbor was 4 years older than me and the thief was about their age. He was standing there frightened as my brother and the neighbor held him and whispered sweet nothins' in his ears. It was like a bounty movie. They looked at me and said- 'Hit him.' I cocked the hammer down and blasted him in the arm and belly with two of my best jabs. I wish I could say that he fell in a heap from the devastation that my 8 year old pythons had caused him, but I don't think he did. They released him and he fell into his tub weeping and begging that my posse would let him go. With a slap about the head, we retrieved the stolen property out of his basement and headed on our way.
(Now if any of what I said is against the law and thirty years is not long enough for the statute of limitations to be lifted and if that blonded headed boy is now a little down on his luck and would feel impressed to file any kind of civil suit against any of the said participants, let it be for the record that the names and identities of all these participants have been kept confidential and this account is BASED on the facts of a true account but may have been changed to protect the identities and the guilt of any of the said parties.)
More good news: The next year or so I got the bike to end all bikes. It was 'Big Red'. In one day I went from having the sorriest bike in the neighborhood to having the best in a neighborhood full of bikes. I remember admiring 'Big Red' as much as I do riding it. That year on my birthday I had a combination of chicken pox and poison ivy at the same time. I was sitting on an ash heap scraping my wounds with potsherds when God doubled my portion with 'Big Red'. Like a convertible in a showroom, they put 'Big Red' in my bedroom while I healed. 'Big Red' was a cutting edge bike that had a shock in the middle of it to ease the blow when you made those crucial jumps over someone's ditch in the local ditch jumping contest. Big Red with the shock worked much better than 'Ole Blue', the seatless wonder. I can promise you that. I do remember, however, that the weight of the shock made the bike so heavy that hang time was not quite great enough to cause the physical damage that the shock would have protected by being added. (Did you get that? It made the bike very heavy.) I don't know what happened to Big Red. It may be in the Smithsonian, my parents may have 'pedaled' it (get it?) and made a fortune and are now slowly ecking out the revenue of the interest. However, it probably got thrown out in some garage cleaning after we went on with life. So much for including it in my life museum one day.
Why did I ponder on all that at 5 in the morning? Because I read about friends. (http://www.lifejournal.cc/bible/ ) It makes a difference who you make friends with. I tell my oldest daughter that all the time. It is good to have friends that will drag a guy into his tub and hold him so you can hit him when he steals your stuff...I guess. Let me just put it this way: It is good to have friends that will 'watch your back,' support you when you need them, and that you can count on. However, you have to choose wisely. James 4:4- ...whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. If you spend all your time putting confidence in what will not last, putting your focus on what will lead you astray, and putting faith in what you can see and what you think you know by appearance, you will find yourself without. What you really need is what can sustain you more than anything this world has to offer... a friend in Jesus. We spend too much time asking the wrong people for the wrong things at the wrong time. Instead you have a friend in Jesus that will get back what the enemy stole from you, will fight the enemy for you, and will walk with you through any neighborhood that life requires you to venture. You have a friend in Jesus. Don't call this ole world your friend. It will let you down. Call on the one that gave his life for you yet lives to intercede for you and is coming back to get you. Praise the Lord! What a friend we have in Jesus! Spend time with your friend today and have a good one!
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