hopefully biking isn't too much of a metaphor...

I thought it was kind of ironic, after writing that post a couple of weeks ago, that last Thursday I had a wee bike accident. I can't blame it on anyone else...just my own absentmindedness and clutziness. I'm OK, though.

I was listening to an NPR podcast of a weekly show called "Speaking of Faith," (from 4.18.2008) which was really quite interesting--there were three Evangelical guys on there talking about generational differences in the Evangelical movement. One was Chuck Colson, the middle one I don't remember his name and don't feel like looking it up, and the other was Shane Claiborne (author of "Irresistible Revolution" and "Jesus for President"). I'm going to use some stuff they said for a paper I'm writing, like Chuck Colson saying when he's in the voting booth he's going to vote for the candidate who protects life (meaning the pro-life person regarding abortion), and then in response to a subsequent question he was gung-ho for supporting the military! I guess people only have a right to life before they're born...but to be fair, I found myself agreeing with a lot more of Chuck Colson's stuff than I expected, like his prison ministry and advocacy. Shane Claiborne seems really cool--a bunch of people I know have recommended his books but I haven't gotten around to reading anything by him. But he seems like he's standing for Evagelicalism in its ideal form, similar to how it was in the beginning of the Evangelical movement (Second Awakening), when the point was social action based on the fact that Jesus advocated for the poor.

Anyway, all that to say that when one of the headphones was falling out of my ear while I was biking I didn't want to miss anything so I tried to adjust it, lost my balance, hit a little bump and down I went. I'm sure it was pretty entertaining to watch because I just biffed it completely, landed on my hands, and my legs kept going for a little while and then crashed down on top of my bike.

I scraped up my hands, and got little scrapes on my chin, shoulder and hip, and bruises on my knees. I got right up and started walking my bike up the huge hill I was at the base of, pretending nothing had happened and trying not to get blood all over my bike. Then I got back on and rode the bike a little way until I decided I was probably going to injure myself further if I did that.

The worst injury was a sprained elbow, which is annoying and a little painful, but I'm really grateful it wasn't any worse. I didn't break anything, I can still type (which is incredibly necessary this week!), and I didn't hit my head.

That's another amazing thing--I always wear a helmet, but that day I forgot, because I stole my husband's hat so I wouldn't have to do my hair. (It's finals time, so give me a break!) The hat felt like a helmet so I forgot that minor detail...then when I fell over I thought, "Good thing I'm wearing a helmet!" and didn't remember I wasn't for several more blocks.

So the moral of the story is, wear your helmet so you won't get in a biking accident!

Hopefully this is not a metaphor for my finals week...or if it's part of the metaphor of my bike ride as my semester, the wipe-out is the mid-semester bout of sickness that inevitably hits the school. So far it's looking like finals will go fine--I have four papers, one of which is done, one is almost done, and the other two are in relatively good shape to get done on time. A week from now I'll be putting the finishing touches on a paper and turning it in in an hour...or hopefully I'll be sleeping and will have handed it in early. (One can always dream!)