Embarrassed but Accepted

If you want to become a serious cyclist, you have to learn to use clipless pedals. (This term has always struck me as a misnomer, since "clipless" pedals are ones where your cycling shoes literally clip onto the pedal by means of a cleat on the bottom of your shoes, but these pedals lack the "cages" that are sometimes used to "clip" your ordinary shoes onto an ordinary platform pedal, hence the term "clipless".) When riding clipless you must learn to unclip by rotating your heel outward before you need to put a foot on the ground. On my first "clipless" ride I was with a good friend who was my cycling mentor. We were stopping in traffic during our ride when I had trouble unclipping. I ended up on the ground with my bike on top of me. It was embarrassing to say the least. It was also embarrassing explaining my injury mishap to the doctor who put a cast on my fractured radius.

We've all experienced those "life's embarrassing moments." You know the ones I'm talking about. You can remember them years later. Often they occur because we say or do something "dumb", like not getting your shoe out of a clipless pedal on time. Even worse, sometimes they occur because we get caught doing something we know is wrong. In John 4 the Samaritan woman had just such a moment when she met Jesus at Jacob's well. Jesus told her: "'Go, call your husband and come back.' 'I have no husband,' she replied. Jesus said to her, 'You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.'" (John 4:16-18) Even though Jesus commended her for telling the truth, his knowledge of the woman's lifestyle must have been embarrassing to her.

The amazing thing is that even though Jesus knew everything about this woman's sins he did not reject her. Instead he offered her living water "welling up to eternal life." Jesus was always a friend to sinners. The self-righteous condemned him for eating with sinners and tax collectors, but Jesus reminded them: "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:17)

How embarrassing it is to think that Jesus knows everthing about our sin stained lives. Even those who know us best, our spouse, family members or closest friends don't know everything we have done that we now regret. But Jesus knows it all. And the amazing thing is that he still loves us and accepts us. That kind of love is beyond our comprehension.

So the next time you suffer one of "life's embarrassing moments" stop and say a prayer thanking Jesus that even though he knows, he loves you anyway! That is truly something to be grateful for.