Cycle of Fear

David Parker comes home bursting with excitement: he has bought his wife Eva a bicycle. Since he and all three kids already have bikes, and new bike trails are going in at Windmill Park, he pictures budget-friendly rides and family togetherness. But Eva keeps making excuses not to try it, and finally the truth comes out: she has never learned to ride a bike. When she was a girl, her mother tried to teach her by putting her at the top of a steep hill and giving her a shove, and Eva ended up with a broken arm and years of nightmares. She asks David to take the bike back.

At dinner the next night, the family discovers Eva isn't the only one avoiding something scary. Pastor Aldin has asked Matthew to give the message on Youth Sunday, but Matthew is terrified of talking about the Bible in front of a church full of adults who know it better than he does. And Olivia, who is always in the spring play, refuses to audition this year because at the fall play she fell off the stage into the orchestra pit and got her arm stuck inside a tuba. When their parents insist they shouldn't quit just because they're afraid or embarrassed, the kids point out that this sounds a lot like a certain bicycle. Cornered by her own advice, Eva strikes a deal: if Matthew gives the sermon and Olivia auditions, she will try to learn to ride.

The lessons do not go smoothly. Eva tips over the moment she stops moving, and when David tries steadying the bike from behind, she keeps braking and sending him flying. Desperate, David promises a month with no chores to whichever kid successfully teaches their mother. Camilla tries the power of positive thinking, which works right up until Eva can't stop and hits the side of the house. Matthew bolts wagon wheels onto the bike as a "riding aid," but Eva refuses to be the only thirty-seven-year-old at the park with training wheels. Olivia tries a gentle grassy slope, and Eva somehow steers into a drainage ditch fifty yards away and comes home with six stitches. Even so, Eva refuses to give up, declaring, "I'm going to learn how to ride a bike or die trying."

Watching his mother fall over and over and still climb back on gets Matthew thinking, because his sermon is going nowhere. His dad reminds him that heroes like Moses, Gideon, and Joshua also felt their tasks were too hard, and tells him that courage isn't about not being afraid - it's about moving ahead even when you are. Taking a smart risk pays off whether you succeed or not, because you grow.

Olivia keeps her end of the bargain and auditions for the play, reciting Dorothy's lines from The Wizard of Oz. Everything goes well until a tuba quintet troops in mid-audition and parks five tubas in the orchestra pit, staring up at her like big black vacant eyes. Rattled, Olivia stops her audition to march the tubas out of the room. She doesn't get the part, but Miss Kaminsky is so impressed by her tenacity and organizational skills that she asks Olivia to be the backstage manager, something that never would have happened if she hadn't taken the risk.

Then comes Eva's big moment. She is practicing in earmuffs, goggles, and two snowsuits when Matthew races up with terrible news: Camilla has fallen skateboarding at the Windmill Park construction area and her arm is swelling badly. With the car gone, running would take too long, so Eva forgets her fear, jumps on the bike, and pedals seven blocks to the park while her kids cheer. Camilla escapes with only a sprained wrist, but she has to admit she ignored the do-not-enter signs and tried the construction ramp because a friend called her a chicken. Her parents point out that doing something dangerous just to impress friends isn't brave at all - and the kids immediately fall to squabbling over who really taught Mom to ride and deserves the month off chores. David decides what takes real courage is raising kids.

On Youth Sunday, Matthew freezes at first, then finds his voice and shares Joshua 1:9: "Be strong and courageous, for the Lord your God is with you." He tells the congregation he watched that verse play out in his own family all week, starting with the day his dad brought home a bike.