Don't Hit The Stop Sign | You Will Hit What You Are Looking At

Years ago Levi (my son) and I were teaching Ed how to ride a bike.

Don't Hit the Stop Sign.jpg
He really struggled with the concept. Through a series of ideas, finally, we found success.

Levi and I dressed Ed in every kind of imaginable padding.

Helmet, face guard from paint balling, water ski vest, elbow pads, knee pads, shin guards, wrist guards, jock strap, plastic jock cup to cover the weiner.

He was 7 and deathly afraid…of everything.

His utter fear of falling over and skinning a knee or something paralyzed him from doing it. Bike riding that is.

Like many kids of his generation (he’s now 17), he was raised in a soft cocoon of protection with a grandmother and mother who didn’t allow him to be exposed to much of anything.

One of oh so many Cryzo fests. That was his super hero name for a while. Cryzo.
One of oh so many Cryzo fests. That was his super hero name for a while. Cryzo.

He was actually afraid of walking on grass at that time, thanks to his grandmother.

He was petrified of water, swimming, bike riding, you name it.

Of course, I’m one to talk. My kids have some unnatural fears in life due in large part to some of the idiot ways I tried to protect them and worried over them when they were little. Happily, the boys chose service in the military. As a Marine, Jacob has had most fear kicked out of him. And as a Special Forces operative, last I heard from him, jumping out of planes at nearly 20,000 feet, Levi, too, has faced enough stuff to have most fear kicked out of his mind as well.

Well, anyway, young Levi and I deduced that if he (Ed) were to take a roll on the bike, fall, and not be able to feel anything, perhaps he might develop some sense of safety.

We were right. He did fall and fell hard the first time out with all the padding.

He cried, but only for a moment, because he realized after falling, nothing hurt.

We need this kind of walk into the areas of life that keep us paranoid and afraid.

Padding to tell us we can do it and not die.

Too many people miss out in life because they are afraid of something.

Afraid of death, afraid of any kind of pain, you name it.

It keeps a lot of people at home attempting to avoid the inevitable, as if they are going to, in some way, skirt or trick death.

In truth, no matter what you do, no matter how may ways you try and prolong your life or minimize your chances at pain or dying, you will, and I mean WILL die at some point.

God is in complete control of that. Not you, not your spouse, not your parent, not your doctor, no one. God turns off the switch on your time on earth. Period.

Why not, then, attempt to do your level best to enjoy what you have been given here on this planet for the short period of time you are here?

In this video, I elaborate on the story of the Stop Sign. It’s a metaphorical recounting of an episode that took place after Ed began riding his bike without all the padding and protective gear.

He was finally able to live semi normally. However, as I discuss in this story, he did fall down again.

Please give it a watch and learn how, as I have, that we will become, we will go toward, that upon which we gaze.

Whatever it is that we are looking at is where our mind and body takes us.

Whatever we are looking at is exactly what we will hit. At times, even against almost impossible odds.

Give it a watch.