Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.  Consider the paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm.  Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil (Proverbs 4:25-27).

Breathless, bruised, and broken, miles from the end of the trail, I looked down at the hill in front of me and swallowed hard.  I was scared and uncertain.  I wanted to quit before I broke any bones or sustained any concussions.  I wanted to go home.  But as they say, what goes up must come down; and if I was ever going to make it home, I was going to have to conquer this hill first.  I gripped the handles of my borrowed mountain bike and reminded myself of the advice that my friend Brian had given to me:  "Pick your line."  There wouldn't be any time to think through the details on my way down.  There were too many contingencies for which any person could possibly plan.  I simply had to pick my line, just five meters at a time, and then go for it with reckless abandon.  Even if I ended up picking a bad line, I was better off sticking with it to the end -- as opposed to some half-hearted attempt to read-and-adjust on the way down.  So I took a deep breath, picked my line through the trees, stumps, rocks, and roots, and away I flew.  When I made it to the bottom of the hill unscathed, I was incredulous.  It really had worked.  Even though it was by far the largest and steepest hill I had come down yet that afternoon, I had survived it because I had picked my line and stuck with it, all the way to the end.  It was exhilerating.  It was liberating.  Mountain biking was never the same for me again.

Years later, after moving to Amsterdam, "City of Bicycles," I learned that many of the same rules from mountain biking apply equally effectively to urban biking.  Foremost the wisdom of picking one's own line.  Those who ride like tourists -- timid, unsure, anxious, unpredictable -- are the ones who cause the most accidents and create the greatest danger for themselves and for other bicyclists around them.  However, those who pick their own lines know how to navigate the chaos and reach their destination.  It can seem counter-intuitive at times, but the ones who avoid eye contact with other bicyclists and simply lock their eyes on their "line" are the ones who survive and succeed.  It really all comes back to that mountain biking maxim:  You've simply got to "Pick your line."

The same advice holds true for issues of community, faith, and morality.  The ability to pick one's line is an invaluable survival skill, clearly affirmed in the wisdom of Proverbs 4:25-27.  Most often, we already know everything we need to know about good and evil, right and wrong -- intuitively and instinctively.  And especially for those of us who follow Christ and have the Holy Spirit within us, we have the tools we need to pick a line that will get us safely down the hill or across the intersection.  We just have to make faith-filled decisions and stick with them -- despite the inevitable pressures that pop up from other people, from unexpected circumstances, from doubts and insecurities within us.  The whole process can be terrifying, but also exhilarating.  And besides, it's the only way home...