affixed ride

Today, E, Jem and I took a ride on The Van to the less explored area of Singapore. Alright, I have been there quite often but for us West-side boys, this story of our Journey to the East was pretty much the best experience I have had.

The reason for our pilgrimage is simply this: the Mecca of Bicycle Shops. The mission? To get our hands on the Holy Grail of bicycles.

The journey came about because E and I were itching to try the fixed-bikes only(i think?) available at TR Bikes. At least I was pretty desperate to try it, yet I am always quite shy to visit shops and ask for other people's service and stuff. That's why even when I'd always visit KH's place at TR, I am always reluctant to visit the shop.

Anyway, E suggested that we go round the shop to check it out since we were pretty near the place and we still had some time before the BBQ.

Alright, here's the story. Walking up to the shop, appearance kind of deceived us as the neighbourhood was basically an old, tired looking one. Most of the inhabitants were probably retirees and walking their grandkids on a lazy Saturday afternoon. A long queue formed at the at the nearby Singapore Pools outlet betrayed the romanticizing of us being in some secret suburban sanctuary.

Of course, there is the bicycle shop. One could easily spot the difference between the reason for our pilgrimage and the other local bicycle shops one might find in the heartlands. Simply, the shop was well organised and clean. The bicycles on display outside were extremely eye-catching, consisting of some really old school singlespeeds and tandems with panniers fitted at the back.

There are other bikes. Then there is the fixed-gear.

Fixay. Fixed-wheel bicycles. Track bicycle. Without being blasphemous, I call this Holy Grail of bicycles. Those who know my obsession lately with bicycles will know that I have been checking out the fixed-gear for a very long time. From videos, to websites and how-tos and even in my dreams. I can only imagine the countless hours I have wasted day-dreaming about riding on one of these myself.

The reality is, the ride was even better than imagined and definitely incomparable to reading or watching videos on it. I had a swollen ankle from a sprain 3 days ago and therefore could not go as fast or even use the toe-clips to attempt braking using the drive-train. Even with that, the feeling on being one of these was refreshing. I found myself constantly pushed up from my seat because the rear wheel was spinning the pedals against my resistance. Ridiculous as it may sound to most of you, I really enjoyed that 2-minute ride.

This experienced I had triggered this thought on the drive back.

How appropriate is it to say that once again, this seemingly worldly experience could relate back to my faith?

I have been reading and studying the Bible recently, both as an academic text and as a guidance in my life. Most of my knowledge about the Bible came during my preparation for A levels Divinity. The Bible really did come alive after studying through it and also from the guidance of my tutor. I kind of took pride in the fact that I was well beyond my peers in terms of theological knowledge. The Bible was real to me, the Word of God is not.

Alright, that sounds like a pretty blasphemous statement but allow me to go on.

Simply put, I later realised that the Christian faith that I am living simply revolved around head knowledge of a written text. The Word of God was not life to me. Jesus Christ was someone who's words appeared in red.

As with the fixed-gear bicycle, all it took was a short ride to have an experience that outweighs the hours of reading and watching.

Jesus Christ to me is my living God because He died on the cross for my sins and rose again to prove that only He can conquer that. I am told to be baptised unto His death and suffering, therefore I must experience this person of Jesus Christ myself!

Beyond the cliché that "Christianity is not a religion, but rather a relationship', there holds an important truth, we must have an experience with the person of God.

You could swing by your local bicycle shop for an experience just like me, at no cost.

Jesus Christ is also offering this experience of approaching the Father through Him. He bore the cost.

So many times we want to affix a cost and benefit to our lives and our actions. Jesus took the cost and affixed it on the cross. The benefit is there for you...

to experience.

positional santification

I took a ride on Wednesday night 30th January with my partner-in-crime Mr. FXK.

It was a short trip we shared, from school to the intersection between Clementi Road and Commonwealth Ave. As we rode in sporadic silence and sudden exclamations of how amazing our ride has been, I had an epiphany.

The part which got me thinking was the long downhill from the the point below the covered bridge linking Engine and Arts, all the way down to the OED.

That downhill is not terribly steep but it is rather long stretch. Of course as most cyclist/runners will know, usually there has to be an arduous long uphill climb you would have to overcome in order to reach the a certain peak before enjoying the descend...

Actually, you do not even need to be either to know that. Isn't that common sense?

Alright that was not meant to be insulting to anybody who till then have not been able to see that , it was however, meant to lead on to the question: why would we know this little observation to be true?

My brain does not usually work very hard to search for an answer, but as I recall that event and the words of FXK, the story presented itself nicely and hopefully I would do enough justice with words.

The uphill climb was relatively easier for me than XK because simply, my bicycle was better. My wheels were larger and I had the luxury of changing gears for climbing. XK's foldable bicycle however had no gears and had donuts for wheels(just kidding). In order to overcome that slope he had to pedal hard and pedal non-stop. Consistency and effort was important as he summed it up: "I cannot afford to lose momentum."

Epiphany #1:
There is an answer to the question on why is the observation (when you want to come down, you must get up) generally common sense. This is because this idea somehow relates to our lives. We have this goal or place we would want to reach and then we overcome obstacles along the way to reach it. Most of the time we would think that after reaching this goal or achieving something, life or that part of the journey is going to get easier or smoother.

That sounded a lot like some silly generalization but hey we do relate pretty well to that illustration.

I have been sharing to friends about how amazing it is to wake up each morning and immerse myself in the presence of God, just seeking Him in the living Word each day. I do not think this comes easily but rather through the mercies of God and realising that only by constant communion with Him can we truly live a victorious Christian life, i.e the peak I have been looking for.

Once we lose momentum, we fall off the bicycle easily and that simply makes you look very uncool.

Then of course, next is the downhill part. Trust me on this, downhill is not the easy part after the uphill. XK was the first to go and that guy sped downhill with speed of about 70km/h (I realised later that he was so fast because of his 20KG bag that is placed in front of his handlebar.) So I let go and just sped down towards the turning traffic circle without brakes on.

AMAZING.

The speed. The wind. The exhilaration. If I had to find a reason why I am blogging down this seemingly mundane stuff, this had to be it! Which leads to...

Epiphany #2:
Once we are in the place where God wants us to be, when we heed that call to go up to the mountains and look over at the glory of His promised land. Once we get our feet wet and attempt to cross the Jordan river of our lives.

Once we do all that, God works.

When God works, all we need to do is to sit back and watch in amazing wonder how powerful God is. So powerful we do not even need to lift anything in our strength.
Many times in my service to God(or so call 'service'), I would end up exhausted and jaded. Now I realise that when we are in God's service, He really does put everything in place. All we need is to put ourselves in the place He wants us to be, which usually makes us extremely uncomfortable or torn.


OK. So why is this called positional santification?

This is a theological term that I have learnt and that means once we accepted the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives, we would be santified because of our position in Christ.

I write this because I have been deceived about this.

If we subscribe solely to the above(which is absolutely true), then we as humans will take the lazy way out and forget about progressive santification.

I just wanted to put across this new positional santification as being in a position where God wants you to be. Only then will He be able to work His progressive santification in us.

If you would allow me to take this further, perhaps why we as Christians do not grow in ways that God has promised, it is because we are in a position of compromise.

Let us leave the low lands and climb the mountain of our faith.

The climbing position requires one to stand up and pedal.

Stand up for the Truth, then keep pedalling.