Devotional 7-26-19

Lanterne Rouge

I love bicycling. Sometimes I ride nowhere – for no reason…just so I can ride my bike. For my age, I’m pretty new at the sport. Only seven years compared to other’s 25+. But that’s ok. I told myself in the very beginning that I was going to enjoy the ride and not put myself in a situation to consider a 30, 40, or 50 mile ride as “bad” because I didn’t finish it before someone else or that I didn’t do it as well as I had a previous time. So far – so good. Staying ‘true to my school’.

For riders of all categories – young/old, fast/slow, new/seasoned – the Tour de France represents the absolute pinnacle of the sport. These cyclists are primo. The TDF lasts three weeks and is comprised of 21 stages. Day after day after day the racers ride 100+ miles, climb and descend mountains in the Pyrenes and the Alps and suffer through ALL weather conditions > the race isn’t called on account of rain…or snow…or heat. The leaders of certain categories are recognized as the Tour progresses. Best time by a yellow jersey, most points by green and so on. A position held that is not recognized by jersey or award but is respected as much as any is that of last place – Lanterne Rouge. So named to represent the red light a train conductor would hang on the last car. So why is last ok?

In the 2018 Tour de France a young rider named Lawson Craddock (from Texas) rolled into an errant water bottle in Stage 1 and crashed. In that crash he opened a gash on his head that would drip blood into his eye for the rest of the day, and he broke his scapula. Do you remember riding a bike? How do you think you would do with a broken shoulder blade? Despite his injuries, Lawson pressed on. I told Kim, “He will have to drop out in the mountains. There is NO WAY he can climb up out of the saddle. He will tug his arms off.” Yeah right! Are there degrees of wrong? I was VERY wrong. Lawson pressed on. By rolling into Paris 20 stages later and finishing 145^th he earned the moniker, Lanterne Rouge. Thirty-one riders over the course of the three weeks crashed out, dropped out, timed out or just plain quit. Lawson didn’t.

Being a Christian in 2019 is a little like the Tour. The effort is long. It is difficult. Uphill in many ways. But we must not quit. Our commitment to the mission is challenged. There are people out there (even IN THERE [church]) trying to knock us off our bikes. You get scolded, fined, and booted out for that kind of stuff in the Tour > glad church is more forgiving. People drop out because the road proves to be too much. They ‘time out’ because they feel that they are the only ones doing anything, and they give up. Some walk away because of a disagreement with another. Our society is so polarized right now. We draw sides based on PEOPLE and their ideals and how well those ideals matchup to what we like. Always remember that no single individual represents an entire people. Because ONE behaves badly, do not assume that ALL in that group are also behaving badly. One bike rider that cheats is NOT the symbol for all cyclists. Press on. Stay the course. Do what Jesus said and love. He didn’t say to make everyone like you. He said to love.

Lanterne Rouge. I think I would like to be called that someday. Called that because I wasn’t flashy or fast: just steady and committed.

Matthew 20:16

Steve Matthews