Half Pipe Heroics

My son, Morgan, is a wild man. I knew the day was coming, but I hoped to avoid it. Morgan has been into skateboarding for some time now. Recently he has been asking Cheryl and I if he could do the half pipe. Actually he has been asking this for a while, we have summarily told him no. Cheryl took him to the half pipe yesterday, but wouldn't let him start from the top.

Today I took him, he was begging to go, and said that he could try it from the top. The half pipe at Legion Park is 6 feet high. So wearing all of the proper safety equipment which he hates, but gives us some peace of mind he bound up to the top (he has to run and jump up since there isn't any stairs). He goes down the first time, and promptly loses his skateboard and ends up sliding down. I wince, but he gets back up, and tries again. And again. And again. We were there for about 40 minutes, and he wasn't able to make it all of the way down without falling. But he would get back up and try again. There was a couple of experienced skateboarders there who were surprised that he wanted to learn on a 6 foot ramp, and they gave him some pointers. But said they were impressed that he would pick himself up and try again. Finally we had to stop because it was getting painful to me to watch. I imagine he will be pretty sore in the morning. But he realizes and the skateboarders there confirmed that he is going to fall a lot before he gets better.

We fall down a lot in life don't we? Life can throw some hard stuff at us. Jesus in Matthew 7, when talking about storms in life, says "when they come" not if. It does rain in life, we do fall a lot. This is a fallen world we live in, and we sometimes have to endure major difficulties. We need to get back up and plod along.

Morgan wasn't there by himself. I was there, I was ready to come to his aid if he needed. Some of the kids that I work with at SOY don't have that luxury. When they fall they don't always have someone who pick them back up. Watching Morgan today I was reminded of what it says in the Scriptures:

"Two are better than one because they have good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up. Also, if two lie down together, they can keep warm; but how can one person alone keep warm," (Ecclesiastes 4:9-11, HCSB).

May you when you fall down have the courage to get back up. May you realize that our Father is there watching you, and may you have someone to come alongside you to help lift you up. Also may you find others who need a companion to come alongside of to pick when they fall.