My Friend Had a Cool Bike

June 22, 2025
 
Reflections from the Heart of Allan Redenius
When I was a boy, I delivered the morning Des Moines Register newspaper.  Rain or shine, hot or cold, every morning up before six.  Ride my bicycle to pick up my bundle of papers for delivery, always on the bench outside the gas station downtown.  Put them all in a bag and strap the bag onto the back fender of my bicycle, all forty pounds of them.
 
During one summer, the city must have decided to put in a sewer system.  There were no paved streets, only rough pathways upon which to ride.  Whenever it rained those pathways turned into mud.  The motto for the Pony Express was, “The mail must go through!”  So, it was for me each and every day as both my bicycle and I were covered with either mud or snow every day.
 
In less than one year, my bicycle was no longer new or shiny.  How I was reminded of that when my good friend showed up with a brand-new Schwinn bicycle with white wall tires, silver fenders, hand brakes, a speedometer, 3 speeds, and even a thingy that when you pulled up on it, it rubbed against the tire and made a whistle.  The best I could do to match that was only to put Topps baseball cards fastened with a clothes pin on my spokes to make a clickety clack sound.  Ding dong me, I probably used a dozen Mickey Mantle cards just to hear that clickety clack noise.  Why do I call myself a ding dong?  I just read that a Mickey Mantle card recently sold on auction for over $12 million.  That hurts!
 
In the 10th commandment, the Lord tells us not to covet your neighbor’s possessions.  Need to tell you, I was only a little jealous of my friend's bicycle.  As we grew older, I had a 1956 Sherman tank called an Oldsmobile while my friend drove a 1963 Chevrolet Impala with the 327 souped up engine.  Man could that thing fly!
 
Over time this is what I learned about being jealous of my friend’s stuff.  My friend spent his money and I looked pretty cool riding in his car.  What's the best kind of hunting dog?  The answer is, “Your friend’s hunting dog.”
 
Still trying to look pretty cool...just a little older, 😊
 
Pastor Allan    
 
©2025 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved