Rolling out of Rod's driveway we turned left and saw Stoney heading our way. Rod and I turned left again as Stoney turned right, greeting us with a "Hey guys," or something like that. When we hooked up with King of the Mountain a little while later, Stoney and I found ourselves riding side by side behind Rod and KOM.
"I had the weirdest dream last night," I said, looking over at Stoney. "I was riding in my dream and I hit a ginormous pothole. It tacoed my wheel but somehow I managed to stay upright. So I tried calling the bike shop about my wheel but I couldn't find the number. I googled it, but all I got for results were bike shops in Pasadena. So I called out, 'Someone find me a phone book...google is broken!' And then I woke up. How crazy is that? Who even uses a phone book anymore?"
Stoney chuckled and said, "Uh, yeah, that is a pretty bizarre dream."
Eventually we arrived at the meeting spot. Fro, Paul, and Miz arrived shortly after. We rolled out onto New Meadow, Rod leading the way. I'm not sure when, but at what turned out to be the right time (well, sort of) I began looking. I was thinking, "It's gotta be coming up soon." I may have taken my eyes off the road as Rod drifted back having finished his pull, I don't know. I never did find it, but I knew I was upon it. Instead I saw Stoney's hand in the air, moving quickly and pointing down. His movement was fast, almost as if he knew he wasn't giving enough warning.
I felt my bike hit the hole and hit it hard. I let out a loud "Whoa" and, as if in slow motion, I could see the bottle on my seat tube jump and escape the clutches of its cage. I yelled "Bottle!" instinctively and out of the corner of my eye I saw Rod drifting to his left, the bottle seeming to follow him as it skidded across the street. Rod managed to avoid the bottle and the group slowed down as I turned to retrieve my stray drink.
As I rolled back the group I felt my bike wobble. Sure enough, my rear tire was flat.
"Is it a pinch flat?" Paul asked.
"Yeah, for sure it's a pinch flat, he hit that hole hard," Rod answered.
Stoney apologized saying, "I'm sorry, I didn't see the hole until the last second. I should've warned you sooner."
"No worries, dude. I knew it was coming up and I was looking for it but..."
Somewhat suddenly I remembered the dream I had the night before and had told Stoney about minutes before. I mentioned it to the group and everyone kinda laughed and someone acknowledged how strange it was.
I wish I could wrap this up but I'm afraid I'm not sure how to think about it. Was the dream a warning? Or did it set me up to hit a hole I otherwise would have avoided? Maybe it's totally unrelated- just a freak occurrence. I don't know, but it was weird.
First of all, thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you for investing in youth through youth-ministers, by blogging about your experiences on Clipping In, Taking In.
Please know how incredible this is. And be encouraged to keep going.
I hope and pray that even more youth-pastors will be inspired, find solutions to their struggles, will be encouraged not to stop serving, and be inspired to grow their gifts.
We recognize that these are incredible times to live in, where technology allows youth-pastors around the world to encourage each other. As for ourselves, we use technology to reach out to youth globally as well.
For the past five years, we’ve been developing the world’s first videogame that takes kids through the Bible from beginning to end. Our hope is to increase the love for God’s Word amongst kids.
We dream to see kids go through the Bible together, having fun as they become part of David’s army, spend time in the fish as Jonah, and play level after level, leading up to Jesus’ death and resurrection.
In order to steward this immense project well, we’re building relationships with youths pastors like you. We like to ask your input by allowing you to look behind the scenes, have your kids/families play demo game levels before they go public, etc. You may also recommend a few people you think would be of interest.
Additionally, we can provide you with plenty of interesting “blog-food” (concept art, images, etc) if you feel that this could benefit your subscribers.
If you’d like more information, shoot me a quick reply to the email address below.
Ruben
Reply to: connect (at) tornadotwins (dot) com