Don’t Lift
Have you ever been in a situation where you just wanted to be told what to do? Maybe there was a lingering situation where you couldn’t process your next step. Perhaps you had analysis paralysis and couldn’t stop thinking. It’s not all that uncommon these days to just have enough fear and anxiety that the thought of making a decision, any decision, is too much to bear.
My first summer of racing bicycles was interesting and I had a ton to learn. Bicycle racing is like a rolling chess game; there is much more to it that pedaling! Fortunately I had a great friend that did a lot of learning years before I picked up the sport and he served as my mentor, guide, and most definitely told me what to do.
There was one particular race near Pittsburgh where he had a spectacular plan all ready for me. The race was 4 laps of a 10-mile circuit and each lap had a sprint prize and “King of the mountain” prize. These were the days where there was actual cash money for racing and being a broke college student I was happy to try my luck winning some moola.
My mentor gave it to me pretty simple: I was to sit in the pack through the first lap. Don’t worry about the king of the mountain or sprint prize on this first lap. At the end of those first 10 miles, when everyone was sprinting for that sprint prize, I was to sprint with them…but after they stopped to recover I was to roll off the front of the field and put my head down and go! The thought was that everyone would be tired from the excitement of the first lap and would be looking to rest a bit and I could have the open road.
As it turned out I did just that. I kept my feet going and didn’t lift off the pedals until 30 miles later. I won by 2 minutes and swept up all the king of the mountain prizes and sprints along the way. When it was all said and done, I won $800 and mistakenly thought that I could make a decent income racing bikes! That latter idea never happened but the attitude of “don’t lift” played well in that bike race. I didn’t let anything get in the way of my belief I could win.
Fast forward many years and “Don’t Lift” comes back in my mind quite often. My boys have taken to riding four wheelers and have found out the way to perfect drifting and sliding is to NOT LIFT. The heart of a boy is full of adventure and in the Beck boys’ case it’s a steady diet of adrenaline and wheeled machines. I always want them to be safe of course but they have found that letting off the “go pedal” or the throttle puts them in a worse situation. If you want to have that cool feeling of drifting around a turn in the dirt you can’t lift your finger off that throttle!
I have a good friend that has an outrageously cool old car that has mega-muscle under the hood. It’s loud. It sounds mean…in a good way! It has been set-up and modified to go down a drag strip as well as cruise around town. Behind all that muscle is a manual transmission where the driver gets to operate a clutch as well as try to point the car in a straight line down the track. Do you know the fastest way to navigate this giant piece of American muscle down the track? He calls it “Flat Shifting” and it’s where you push the accelerator to the floor the entire time; you push in the clutch super-fast and change gears all with your right foot to the floor. It’s “Don’t Lift” in muscle car form. The engine sings it’s song the entire time without interruption or delay.
Now you might be thinking the “Don’t Lift” sounds like an energy drink slogan or mantra to dig deeper inside of you for more output in life. But I’m writing about the wonders of “Not Lifting” as it comes to faith. Don’t let off the gas friend, God chose for us to live in these times and we are to live well, push on to the finish, and bring others along for the ride!
I’m constantly reminded from stories and parables in the Bible that times were tough then. Things didn’t go so easy all of the time and that’s an understatement I’m sure. But the most memorable stories to me are the ones where people didn’t “lift”. They stuck to their faith. God did things through them that were bonkers and others caught on and were encouraged as well. I can read the book of Job and Jonah and relate to these guys in their struggles. Eventually they came to the conclusion that God is God, they were not, and that their faith in Him will take them to where they need to go. They wrestled and struggled but Didn’t Lift! It’s tough to not lift when all signs, some friends, and the worlds wisdom say to abandon ship!
Every day is a new day. There are opportunities to run, ride, and live that race. There are also opportunities to abandon God, chase our own things, and go along with the world’s ways. I could have played it safe and sat in with the group of riders and tried to sprint at the end. My boys could dream about drifting a four-wheeler but never experience that thrill if they let off the gas. A big-block muscle car can be built for speed but if you don’t shift those gears and keep the pedal to the metal on the track it won’t go to its potential. God speaks every day and it’s personal! It’s up to us to stay tuned in, plugged in, to trust, and to obey when and where He leads us. Don’t settle. Don’t abandon. Don’t Lift! There’s purpose and life for the crowd that doesn’t lift. Hang in there friend!
