Lessons at a Stoplight

Have you ever tried riding a tandem bike?  I have once.  I think I was in junior high, and my family was vacationing up in Victoria B.C.  We rented 2 tandem bikes and rode around beautiful Stanley Park on Vancouver Island.  My parents were on one and my sister and I were on the other.  I quickly learned that riding tandem is a lot harder than I thought!  Both riders have to really be in-sync together to make it work.  Otherwise you are exerting a lot of useless energy and basically don't get anywhere.

Just this evening, as I was sitting at a red light, 2 pairs of tandem bike-riders came zipping down the street that I was about to cross and turned left right in front of me and went on their way.  They looked like pretty hard-core bicyclists.  You know the type - skinny and covered in spandex. =)  I was immediately impressed at how obviously in-sync each couple was with each other.  As they turned the corner, they stopped pedaling at the exact same time and cruised through the turn.  Then they picked up pedaling again at the exact same time, going the exact same speed.  I think it took my sister and I the whole bike ride in Stanley Park to really get the hang of riding tandem.  The bicyclists I saw tonight had obviously ridden together for quite awhile and had gotten that thing down to a science.

It reminded me of a believer's relationship to the Holy Spirit.  We are told in Galatians 5:25: "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."  How does one keep in step with the Spirit?  By setting our minds on the things of the Spirit:

"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace."  Romans 8:5-6

What am I setting my mind on on a daily basis? What am I watching? Listening to?  Spending my time doing?  The above passage says that setting our minds on our own personal (fleshly) desires is death, but a mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.  The more we set our mind, thoughts, and actions on the things of the Spirit, the more we will display the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and the more we will keep in step with Him...making for a much smoother and more enjoyable ride.