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(Learning to ride my bike)

When I was in the 4th grade Mom, Mark, and I moved from Grandma’s garage to Mr Deneke’s summer house located on a private drive. The private drive was known by 2 different names: Estesbrook and Fairview Place. Mom worked for the Denekes at their medical supply store on Broadway Street in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

At that time (1958 or 59), there were only 5 houses on the drive: the Chenoweths, the Davis’s, the Denekes, us, and one other neighbor couple whose name I don’t remember. It was an exclusive drive situated on a hill with 2 large white stone columns at the entrance. There was also a wishing well near the entrance which we threw pennies in and made our wishes in the summertime.

The drive curved around to the top of the hill, then formed a loop right in front of the house we lived in. Within the loop was an area of trees; among the trees was a concrete bench and a concrete birdbath, a perfect place for meditation and bird-watching. It belonged to Mr Deneke.

I had received a bicycle for Christmas from my Mom. I didn’t know how to ride it yet since Christmastime was not a good time to go bike-riding in Southeast Missouri.

My bike was an old Firestone; it looked a lot like this one:

it was very heavy; in fact when it fell over I sometimes had to have help to pick it back up. It was also too tall for me. I couldn’t put both feet on the ground at the same time. Getting on it was sorta’ like climbing up on a horse. I put one foot on the foot pedal, then swung my leg over to the other pedal while at the same time pushing off to get the bike moving; otherwise the bike would have just fallen over from lack of movement and balance. It took me a while to get that whole process perfected.

It was Springtime; the time for riding bikes. I got on my bike and managed to successfully get it moving downhill on the loop in front of our house. Fairview Place had almost no traffic since it was a private drive with no outlet; so there was mostly only residents driving on that road. Since we lived at the very top of the hill, our car was usually the only one who drove up that far. So one would think it would be the perfect place to learn how to ride a bike, right?

Well, it didn’t really work out that way for me.

So, as I said, I was going down the hill on my bike when, lo and behold, here came a car! I was in the middle of the road so I swerved to the right. I had not yet learned how to use the brakes on my bike. So I ended up inside the loop and headed straight for Mr Deneke’s birdbath. I hit it head-on, cracking the pedestal and causing the birdbath to fall to the ground (that bike was built like a tank).

I knew I was in big trouble. Mr Deneke saw the situation and was coming my way. I just knew he was gonna’ yell at me so I was prepared to take a tongue-lashing. But instead of yelling he just said “Honey, don’t worry about this. We’ll get it fixed.” Wow, I was so relieved and so thankful for Mr Deneke’s graciousness.

Unfortunately that’s not the end of the story. Mr Deneke’s hired man fixed the birdbath good as new. You couldn’t tell it had been broken.

One day soon after the incident I got back on my bike and headed down the hill again. What are the odds that I would meet another car? It happened; another car, another swerve to the right. Again I hit that birdbath. Again, it broke. Again, here came Mr Deneke headed my way. This time I am absolutely terrified! To forgive me once was gracious of him – but twice! I knew it was all over for me. As he drew closer to me I

could see the expression on his face. He didn’t look angry, just kind of amused. He leaned down to talk to me and said “You know what? I think we will just leave this birdbath like this until you learn how to use your brakes.” Then he started teaching me how to use the brakes.

This is a true story. It actually happened when I was a young girl. As I think back on it now, 50 years later, I see it as a picture of the way my Father in Heaven has forgiven me (more than twice) without anger, showing me mercy instead, and above that teaching me how to “use my brakes”.