Camping with children is hard work, but rewarding. Bikes are a necessity especially if the campground has adequate trails/roads that are safe for the kids on bikes.

For many years, we camped with our children at a local campground. Always going with several other families, our children spent hours riding bikes up and down the trails. At this particular campground, there was a road through the camp that provided a great downhill slope allowing riders to gain quite a bit of speed.

One afternoon, Emily, our oldest daughter, was riding an old banana seat bike with brakes on the pedals – you pushed them backward to stop. As she sped down the hill, she attempted to slow herself to turn the corner by pedaling backward, but was unsuccessful. Her bike continued down the hill at full speed, her handle bars hit two trees and wedged against them, causing her to fly over the handles, between the trees and onto the ground. It was an abrupt end to her ride.

Another year, I was riding my bike around the same area of the campground when I came to a sudden stop and I was tossed off my bike. This time, I didn’t hit a tree. There was a malfunction with my brakes and for some reason they applied pressure to my back tire, causing me to stop abruptly which in turn caused me to be thrown off the bike.

Brakes are there for a reason. They are intended to keep us safe. When they don’t work, it is harmful to the body. When they malfunction, it is harmful to the body.

Read: Titus 2:11-14

The grace of God is the safety feature in our relationship with others. It helps us to say no to harmful activity and enables us to say yes to self-controlled living. When it is applied properly, all is well. When it is ignored or not working, the body of Christ is harmed. And so is the individual.

Practice using the grace of God today to say no to anything that will disrupt your life and to say yes to habits that bring health to your body and to others.