Contemplative Prayer

God Rides A Bike And Baptizes In Fountains

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If I were God, I’d ride a bike.  I’d ride all around the world and watch people.  I think most would blow by me in their cars but some would stop and wave.  I bet if Jesus had a bike his message would have traveled much faster because there’s something special about a bike ride… Yes, that was the problem… Jesus didn’t have a bike.  If Jesus had a bike then people would have seen him as special, then they would have listened.  That’s the thing about a bike ride at night, its a good way to listen.

I like to ride my bike.  Besides the regular trip to class, I mostly ride at night when the weather is just chilled enough to close my eyes and feel like Christmas.  I rode tonight and let my mind go abit considering it’d been in overdrive all day.  I rode around campus and enjoyed the stillness of the night, the only noise comming from the pavements touch on the rubber nubs of my well-tuned wheels.

I came to the part of campus that us students affectionately refer to as “the quad.”  To my suprise, it wasn’t empty, there was a group of about 30 people surrounding a large fountain.  The group faced the fountain and had set generator powered lights around it, obviously very intent on someting happening within the fountain.  As I got closer, it hit me… baptism.  This group apparently decided it was a good night for a baptism and that the campus fountain was the spot to make it happen.  I watched from the back as one by one three individuals were baptized, on a cold night, in the middle of a college campus, in a fountain meant for aesthetics.  If God is crazy enough to let that happen, I think He might just be crazy enough to ride a bike.

On my ride home from the make-shift baptism it hit me how simple yet profound God is… always a paradox.  I wanted a calming bike ride, hoping to perhaps clear my mind… I got was a beautiful representation of a simple loving God.  God doesn’t need a fancy bike to spread his message, or a crazy waterpark to have a baptism…  God is God, I am not, and He loves me.  I like when God gives me gifts like tonight, He knows just how to reach me.

I wonder if I would have recognized the beauty of tonight without trying to live a contemplative lifestyle.  I don’t think so.  Contemplative prayer is all about finding the Divine in everything, even a simple bike ride.

My bike is a mountain bike.  I think that’s the kind God rides.

See Ya,

Chase Brumfield