A shaky start – looking back at what’s familiar – childhood stories

So I’m on my bike wobbling, half walking it as I try to navigate my way over loose gravel. Now I need to back up a bit and tell you why I keep mentioning loose gravel.

Riding my bike as a kid

When I was a kid I used to ride my bike a lot. Well, after I traumatically learned how to ride it but that’s a story for another day. Once I was comfortable riding a bike, and not helplessly trying to lean in the opposite direction so I wouldn’t fall over, I was a pretty decent rider. I could cruise around the cul-de-sac no handed. I knew how to ride my bike and I no longer had to think about the mechanics of staying upright. I could take curves at a comfortable speed, ride uphill and downhill no problem. I rode my bike to work one summer and that was downhill uphill downhill on the way in and uphill downhill uphill on the way home. I was accustomed to riding a bike – a regular ten-speed on pavement and street asphalt.

So one day I was riding near a park in another neighborhood and I rode up a ramp and turned. Then crashed and burned. I learned the hard way what happens when you (or at least I) try to turn on loose gravel. I scraped my knee, limped home, and had to get the gravel out.

Back to the Hiawatha bike ride

Are you with me? So imagine what’s going through my head as I’m on a path of dirt and loose gravel. Where’s the paved road? The trail I imagined in my head? I’m not even up to that long dark tunnel and I am already confronted with my greatest biking fear. The only thing going for me is that I’m sitting on a mountain bike with really fat tires (well compared to a regular ten-speed).

But it’s been years since I’ve been on a bike. Nothing about it is familiar and I’ve just committed to a 15-mile bike ride that starts on bumpy dirt and loose gravel. What was I thinking? Whose idea was this anyway? Oh, yeah. My husband’s. And I love and trust my husband and he’s going on this bike ride with me.

Childhood Bible stories

Growing up I heard Bible stories: Noah and the Ark, Moses and the parting of the Red Sea, David and Goliath. The stories were presented on felt board. They were short and understandable. All I had to do was listen to someone else tell me the story or look at an illustrated storybook version.

The stories were recognizable, understandable, and familiar. When I tried to read the Bible as an adult, the safety net was gone. There were no pictures and the stories were a lot longer and had more details. And those names, so many difficult to pronounce names. I wanted the process to be easier, more understandable and manageable.

What we remembered

On the first gathering of my Bible study (the group that read through the whole Bible), we started with what we remembered: Bible stories from our childhood. We shared names we remembered from the Bible: Adam and Eve, Noah, Moses, David, and Jesus. In some cases we remembered a story about the people. Noah built an ark for a flood. David slew a giant Goliath.

Coming back to these stories woven in our hearts from our childhood helped us find a connection to the Bible. It gave everyone a boost of confidence as they realized they already knew something about the Bible. I remember when the epiphanies started and someone discovered they knew a story but either hadn’t realized it was from the Bible or that it was the same person in the Bible. Moses as a baby in a basket and as a grown-up with the parting of the Red Sea.

“That was Moses?”

“Yes, that was Moses.”

“Same Moses?”

“Yup, same Moses.”

Do you have stories you remember from the Bible? Start there. That’s your knowledge base. You do know something from the Bible. No stories coming to mind? Don’t worry, that’s what this journey is for, to learn about those people in the Bible. And the best part? God is in those stories and He’s with us on this journey.